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Apple Menu Bar is Scientifically easier to reach than Windows.

en.wikipedia.org — According to Fitt's Law the Apple menu bar is easier to reach than the Window's menu bar. Apple patented their menu bar after discovering this.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 29, 2006

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  • Napfisk, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28Are we digging Wikipedia articles now? I've got one then: the baleen whales belong to the family of the Balaenidae. Who would've thought?
  • tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24CHENEYTHEDICK: Maybe you hate macs because you seem to be confused with what the menu bar is. It sounds like you are describing dock. the MENU bar is the bar that is, rather convientently, filled with menus that run along the top of the screen.
  • thefirelane, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18You obviously didn't read the article. The reason the menu bar is better is because it lies on the top edge. Even when maximized, the windows menu bar doesn't lie on an edge. You still have to hit a little strip of pixels, making it more difficult, no matter where it lies. The mac's menu bar is easier because you can not fly off the top edge, making its size, for all intents and purposes, infinite.
  • neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18As a mac user i agree, this is somewhat irrelevant. one could argue that the mouse pointer acceleration in OS X is abysmal compared to XP, negating any advantage fitt's law might have with the menu bar.
  • neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16that's because the Apple Menu bar doesn't reside in any window... it's the white bar at the top of the screen at all times.... you surely don't use OS X.
  • mrzebra, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14Oh come on people, this isn't news!
    We're digging Wikipedia articles now?
  • usergentoo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12You have this option in KDE as well for the top bar to act like the mac os bar.
  • Oakes, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17The title needs fixed:

    Apple Menu Bar is Scientifically easier to reach than Windows/Linux.
  • tllstred, on 10/12/2007, -17/+25This is news?
  • theone3, on 10/12/2007, -31/+38That's it, this is ridiculous. I'm blocking apple stories.
  • pirco, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Beat me to it... Digg me down please.
    CHENEYTHEDICK: You can move the position of the Dock to either the right or left sides. Also, I know if you turn off auto hiding most programs will adjust to that, and the dock will not over lap a program. I'm not too sure about Aftereffects though.

  • JerodSlay, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7With windows, if you have multiple windows open and not maximized, you can go from one menu to another without first refocusing on that window. I you have a large monitor, say 24 or 30 inch, you use non maximized windows. So lets say that you have 10 windows all visible, and you're working in one at the bottom of the screen. To get to its menu, you have to go to the top of the screen in mac. That's fine because it's just a mouse throw. But to get back to that window, it's not necessarily at the complete bottom. Widows is smart to associate the menu of a window..... WITH THAT WINDOW! There's a reason i put that window where i did, not because I want it to also be at the top.
  • MrViklund, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5But isn't that always the case? People just bury any comments they don't like :/
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9If you have multiple monitors, the apple way is a huge pain in the ass. To do anything within the menus, you have to turn your head back to the center screen and move your mouse all the way back to the center screen. Which pretty much defeats the purpose of having multiple monitors if all the functions have to be done on the center menu bar.

    Of course, you all do realize this is just more of the same "one button mouse" design, which is intended to shield mac's largely computer illiterate users from having any options that might frighten or confuse them..
  • BritishGolgo13, on 10/12/2007, -12/+17In other news, Apple users suck at FPS.
  • mobilehavoc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7The funniest part of this is that anybody who posts a comment on this that is nothing short of making themselves an Apple fanboy gets their comment buried. This will be the undoing of Digg...Apple fanboys posting pro-Apple (absolutely ridiculous stories) and then hiding any comments that are not in their favor.

    it begins...
  • ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7This news is like 10 years old....wtf.
  • planksconstant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@macfanboi

    once again, no one seems to understand what a menu bar is. the thing you moved to the top in XP is called the "task bar". what we are talking about is the bar that has file, edit, view, help, etc. written on it. it's called a menu bar because it holds menus.
  • ceeam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Waitaminute... Apple users are 4-5% of PC users and everyone knows it. Do you imply that on Digg things shift so greatly that the majority of diggers are Apple users?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -13/+17I find it odd that the screenshot for the Apple example is a totally empty desktop, while the Microsoft example has like 4 windows throws all over the place, I'm not even sure what they are referring to as a menu bar, since they have some properties screen thrown up over two or three other windows!

    From a design standpoint, the screenshot examples have been rigged to bolster the theory. This is unethical for anyone who works in technical writing.
  • JakeMcMahon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6His lame?
  • LoopyChew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This would be an issue if I didn't use my keyboard to access the menubars.
  • chongli, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I have a 30" display. The mouse acceleration in OS X is based on the resolution of the display. Therefore, it is no more difficult to reach the menu bar on the 30" than it is on my 15" MacBook Pro.
  • tuna1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9I use Fluxbox w/ keybinding. So scientifically speaking, its faster then both Windows and Mac.
  • Hayl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4People that want to get their work acomplsihed quickly use keyboard shortcuts anyway so it doesn't matter either way.
  • tcoburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3add .... "for mouse users" to the title. They are the same distance if you use the keyboard hehe.
  • Mace37, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I always maximize everything, so it doesn't really affect me. But it gets annoying when I only have 1 monitor.
  • pauldonnelly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4No, he's implying that the menus in Windows are attached to the window they affect.
  • Kajico, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4*looks at 20" ADC on right side, looks at the menu bar on the left 20" ADC" OH MY GOD, I have to move my cursor all the way across to there...*flicks mouse rapidly* ZOMG~! MY CURSOR just flew across the screen, and here I thought I was going to drag my mouse all across my desktop just to cross screens. How 'bout that.

    Stop whining, its not like you have to cross the Sahara. If you use Photoshop maximized on Windows with two monitors it's the same thing. The same applies for just about every application, no matter on Apple or Windows, the Menu Bar that has File / Edit / Tools / .... / Help, will always be displayed on the primary monitor. The only difference is that Apple's will always stay on top, so if you FLING your cursor really fast across the screen to the top left, you'll be on top of the menu, or very close to it.

    Honestly it doesn't matter, when you use keyboard shortcuts.
  • NotASenator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't know.

    This kind of seems like Digg should have another category, labeled "Common Sense"
  • jool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Did somebody read a beginners book on user interfaces and decide it was news? This is almost always one of the first things that they talk about.

    And about the "law", just because it is called that doesn't make it true for all eternity. When it was published we all had mice that only approximated the position you moved it to and using edge positioning like Apple had a clear advantage. However, today it isn't as clear cut because now we have mice that accurately move the cursor. So now it is more a question of what you see more benefit from. Having all application functionality connected visually or allowing you to be inaccurate with your expensive laser mouse.
  • LtCarter47, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Something tells me that a mac user that has multiple monitors is probably more computer literate than the average user, has a multi-button mouse and uses keyboard shortcuts regularly.
  • McLurker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Personally, I find the Mezzo desktop environment to be preferable to both Windows and Mac OS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_(desktop_environment). The menus are reached by shoving the cursor to the corners. And there are no nested menus, which I hate most of all.
  • cbreaker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3eek. I am not sure about that. Lots of kids from design school weened on Macintoshes could have multiple monitors and not even know that keyboard shortcuts exist.

    I mean, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to plug another monitor into a computer.
  • Nosferax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This ain't news.
  • Metman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Accoring to Fits law its faster to bury non-AppleFan boy comments on Digg.com.

    Quick Digg run out and grab a patent!
  • pauldonnelly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree that menu bars blow, but your mouse idea sounds kind of crazy too. Maybe if the context menus were radial. The problem with doing everything from mouse menus is that you've got to have something to click *on* before you can click. This works well for some functions (copying text, changing window properties, and so on), but what about those that don't affect on-screen objects? Like if I want to allow another web site to store a cookie on my computer or add an Adblock filter. There's got to be something to click on, which means either a toolbar button or a menu, or there would have to be a nightmarish Gimp-style context menu that goes to unsettling depths. The first gets cluttered, and the second is very frustrating.

    So I'm a keyboard guy.
  • right75, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I love Macs, but this is boring. Who cares.
    Tell me when the new PowerMacs with Intel chips are coming out.
    I don't give a crap about Fitt's law.
  • cbreaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Whether or not your acceleration is based on pixels is irrelevant - the fact remains that if you're using a really large display (perhaps a couple of 24" or 30" displays) you have to physically move your head back and forth to use the menu bars. On a system where the menus are attached to the Window, you can keep looking at the application.
  • Yamanba, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4why is this news? i own a mac, and i really dont care...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Fact: 100 percent of all mac noteboosk ever built only have one mouse button.

    Fact: Even if you use a keyboard shotcut to avoid moving your mouse all over the desktop when using multiple monitors, you still have to TURN YOUR HEAD TO THE CENTER MONITOR, instead of keeping your eyes on your appliation window in the other monitor. Why can't mac let individual applications have their menu bar in the top of its own window?

    Why does every application have to share the same menu bar space on the mac? Face it- the reason is because applie is worried the average mac user would get confused if they saw more than 1 application menu on the screen at the same time.
  • swindmill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Fast switching b/t applications makes this point at least mostly mute. Using cmd tab would be an example - it takes a fraction of a second to switch the menubar to the app you want. Also, the use of 10 windows on a 30" monitor probably applies to about .5% of the computer using population. There are arguments that can made for and against the wiseness of the Apple menu bar, but once someone has been exposed to it for a sufficient amount of time, it will be recognized as far more intuitive and easier to use than window specific menu bars.
  • vinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In order for "Apple Fan-boys" to bury every comment that doesn't support Apple, wouldn't they have to account for at least 50% of the users? Think about it. Apple must have a significant fan base to be able to bury the other users negative comments. Or, maybe the comments that are getting buried just suck?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm getting sick of this Mac vs Windows crap. Who cares if a ***** Apple Menu Bar is Scientifically easier to reach than Windows?
  • vinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow, nice comment. Do you think everyone who doesn't agree with you is an idiot?
  • vinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You do realize that the Mac UI was established first right? You also realize that Fitt's law is a scientific method for designing UIs, right? It's what I learned in my interface design classes while getting my CS degree. It sounds like professor was slightly Windows biased. Get over yourself.
  • Dakk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Oh no, someone found out... Apple uses OpenGL instead of Direct X. Damn open source technology for its shortcomings!
  • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"No, it is Apple rump swabbery."

    What the hell are you? A pirate?
  • quoigonfishin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Where do I click to subscribe to the wilkipedia RSS feed since it seems to be such a great source for tech news? /sarcasm
  • marksy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1haha awesome. just like that t-shirt "your retarded"
    :)
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