Nothing in <it> is confused, nothing inconvenient, nothing without reason, nothing without foundation, all things have their place, not only definite but convenient and where they ought to be. Distinguished are the offices, distinguished the judgements, distinguished the orders.

Leonardo Brumi,
– as quoted in “Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Volume I”

“It is an awful thing still to dread the magic that you contemptuously investigate”

-Rudyard Kipling, Kim

Many months of frustration with Windows 8 and years of pain with Windows 7 have concluded with a dramatic and pleasant turn of events.

Wacom released a few days ago a driver (Version 6.3.6-w3) which is the solution we've been waiting for. Windows 7 and Windows 8 are usable again if you own a Wacom tablet. I'll describe the results I've had have been excellent. [For further information about the driver go here]

After you install the driver launch the Wacom Tablet Properties application –  you can find it from the Start Menu/Start Screen or from the Control Panel.

Then selection your Tablet, then under Tool select your pen you use, and under Application select All. Then navigate to the Mapping tab. Now, At the bottom-left corner uncheck the checkbox marked Use Windows Ink. Close the Wacom Tablet Properties application.

You are done –  the effect takes place immediately.

Let me explain what is fixed.

• No more Dynamic Feedback rings
• No more Press-and-Hold
• No Drag Delay

Install the Driver and Do it Now. Really.

 

Just go ahead and instill the trial edition of Mischief by 61 Solutions.

Speed? off-the-charts and as you watch the video below you will see exactly why this is amazing.

Interesting features? 50 Trillion to 1 zoom. What?

And it's vector-based!

This is an issue you'll find often in web sites. Let's take the Vimeo music store (http://vimeo.com/musicstore) where this morning I was reminded of this problems

 

Specifically I'm going to the Search box and look for “Chill out music”. Now just clicking on the search box, reverals the flyout, conveniently for me I see that it is a classic two-level flyout meny. The first level is a category. In this example, it is set to “Genre” and the seccond level a list of items in the category. Fortunately for me, “Chill-out” is already listed (highlighted in red below).

Let's see what happens: 

 

 

And now the breakdown: I click on the search boc and see “Chill-Out”

 

Naturally intend I move my mouse as shown below.

As my cursor crosses the first level of the flyout –  it selects another category.

Now keep in mind I'm not slowly moving the cursor –  I'm making a very fast gesture that will bring the cursor to my destination in a fraction of a second.

The end result is that I have find my mouse where “Chill-out” used to exist on my screen.

This is an irritating pattern because, once a user figures this out they have to carecfully navigate the maze of the flyout as shown below:

 

A couple of things I want you to keep in mind.

• Depending on the UI, the maze can get tricky to navigaste as you may have to move the mouse down some tight corridors. For example if “Genre”s had been an icon only that corridor may have been very small.
• Users may not have the physical dexterity to do this –  they have problems moving their hands and so their paths may be more erratic than very precise geometric movements
• Some users may be using a device that makes such fine control difficult
• Users may be able to perform the navigation, but it may take time doing it due to their device or physical dexterity

 

Possible solutions

• One option is to provide a delay when moving over the first category. The problem there is that for some people the delay will not be enough and also other people will perceive the delay as sluggishness.
• The most straightforeward solution is force users to click on the category to select it instead of relying on merely cursor position.