HCI and the inadequacies of direct manipulation systems

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Abstract
The Direct Manipulation (DM) style of user interface made popular by the Macintosh is becoming a de facto standard. Rather than being taken as a point of departure, it appears to be taken more as a standard to achieve. Using the specification of scope as an example, DM interfaces are shown to be deficient in supporting a transaction fundamental to word processing, information retrieval and CAD. This essay is a plea for designers to break out of the complacency that surrounds the DM approach. It also calls into question the methodologies of HCI for the very limited degree to which they have challenged the DM approach and their paucity of ideas for generating strong new alternatives.

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