larg

Crazy alarm clock idea:

• alarm goes off, makes loud noise
• to turn off audible alarm, turn on water in the shower
• if water in shower is turned off after <10 minutes has passed, audible alarm restarts

I should start traveling to Asia. Actually, it’s the “from Asia” part that’s exciting. Arrive before you left! With the Concorde gone it’s the only consumer-accessible time travel.

Typically I don’t like software with a “do what I mean” interface. I prefer a “do what I say” interface where my input is 100% unambiguous.

Examples of DWIS:

• command line anything
• graphic design software (Visio, Pagemaker) with a good alignment grid
• PrimeTime giving an “invalid start (end) point” warning if you report timing from (to) a cell instead of a clock/data pin as appropriate, rather than assuming you meant the clock/data pin

Examples of DWIM:

• Outlook changing “RSX: subject” to “RE: subject” (instead of “RE: RSX: subject”) for replies. I assume it’s guessing RSX means RE in some other language?
• the subtle difference between the parent and child window “X” buttons in Office applications
• anything involving advice from an animated paperclip

Today, I had a DWIM epiphany, in PowerPoint of all places. I think it helps that PowerPoint makes me feel dirty, so I want to get in, get it done, and get out before the smell sticks to my clothes. I probably end up overlooking sloppiness that might usually bother me.

PowerPoint did all sorts of crazy stuff on it’s own, which on the whole I actually found useful.

• “Click to add text” labels that actually go away when you click, instead of getting highlighted. Bonus points for not saying “Click to add text” in the preview pane.
• Bullets that appear and disappear in a rational fashion, instead of sticking to text whenever you don’t want them to

This entry is dumb but I might as well post it since I’ve written it already.