David Pogue on Macro programs

Agreed on the QS comment. I was surprised that he didn't even bring it up, as you can program hotkeys in QS very easily.

I agree with John's eloquent post.

Complex macros can be more trouble to use than the time they save, plus there is the time spent creating them in the first place.

It should be noted that Quickeys is more than just a macro program, it is a full GUI automation controller, superior in many ways to AppleScript, especially for controlling apps that don't have a comprehensive AppleScript dictionary.

In fact, many times I've simply given up trying to make AppleScript do things through the tortuous "GUI scriping" method and simply made a Quickeys sequence to do it.

One application that comes to mind is a "map extractor" - having Safari automatically scroll through large sections of JavaScript based maps (a la Google Maps), so they can be snapshotted, and later pieced together.

Trying to ApplsScript that is a nightmare. Quickeys made it simple.

⌘ printed!

Cool.

☂ ☀ ☁ ☃

@Fritz > "You must be from Windows-land, boy. We 'aint got no "alt" key on our 'puters. 'Round these parts, it's called the "option" key."

I have a brand new Apple "aluminum" Keyboard (until Apple bring out a 30" iMac, that's the only component of the new iMac I'm getting) and the bottom leftmost keys read:

control

alt
option

command ⌘

(there's a symbol there which will only appear if TUAW's blog engine supports Unicode, which I doubt, so it should be the propeller thingie after command)

So, "alt" survives but the apple is no more. Kinda sad.

A really long time ago I was the product manager for QuicKeys. One of my jobs was to study if in fact a "macro" program made you work faster. My conclusion, that I ended up not sharing with the class, was no. In fact the macro "fiend" often worked much more slower then a normal tasked person. There are a bunch of reasons but the biggest one was "remembering the newly made short cut key took longer then selecting the same command using a mouse." When asked "how long did that take" nearly everyone in the study reported "instantly!"

I recorded sessions and the tapes showed a different story. There was as long as a 10-12 second delay during the learning phase of using the short cut. Yet the same command executed with a mouse always took between 2-4 seconds. Mouse tasked users reported this task, even though it was done quickly, as taking a long time. So what is going on? It's the difference between visualization based motor skills and a memory based motor skill. While the brain is engaging in trying to remember the key to press it is not perceiving time in any way. So it "seems" instant. This is exactly the opposite effect for mouse users. Visual stimuli is requires a different kind of engagement that also requires tracking time.

Users could learn some "macro tasks" to mastery. Once they did this the action was nearly always instant. More like a gesture then an action. Much like watching any user who is using their tools on a daily basis they work quickly and efficiently. Almost. What they have done more often it is get around software deficiencies by learning complex tasks.

Another crazy study I did was to task people to do a repetitive by-hand and with-macros. Almost every time a macro maker would lose out to the person that just did the task. With one exception: the same task(s) took longer then 20 minutes. This was the breaking point where you could futz with automation getting it to work then releasing the task on the pile of work. Without exception the macro makers work would be 100% correct while the do-ers work had to be rechecked as there would always be errors.

A macro programs real skillz comes from doing the simple simple. Like remapping a key to be something else (as noted), making a key do one thing over and over or mapping a function that didn't have a key (or had a stupid combo) to have one. It's a crazy fine line.

One things for sure about macro programs is that you have to pay attention to your workflow being always aware of what those keys can do for you. As we found that temporarily made key was the often the best way to go. You read that right, just one key that did one automation. Meaning there was no hesitation in selecting it after it was learned.

It is funny how Mac combination "brings light" and the windows combination shuts the crying baby up.

You must be from Windows-land, boy. We 'aint got no "alt" key on our 'puters. 'Round these parts, it's called the "option" key.

Cheers,
FL

And "Magic for Dummies". :)

In other news, David Pogue is the author of Opera for Dummies. Did you know that? Well, now you do.

http://www.amazon.com/Opera-Dummies-Book-Audio-CD/dp/0764550101

"They all fair well" --> "They all fare well"