“Jim Gettys gave a keynote speech at Linux Expo, wherein he
spoke of the need to support disabled users. He’s quite right. We
need to support them — not out of any bleeding-heart concern for
them. We need to support them because the interfaces that enable
them to use computers *at all* enable us to make better use of
them. A good interface is a good interface whether you can’t see or
can’t hear or can’t type or can do all of these. In particular,
people who can’t see have trouble with a GUI, and people who can’t
type have trouble with a command-line.”
“You may have noticed some tension between users of the
command line and the GUI. There is a very simple explanation. The
command line is based on recollection, and the GUI is based on
recognition. This paper explains why each has its place, and
explores ways in which they can be combined. We start by
explaining how a “pure” version of each works, how they are
combined in real life, and how we can use this perspective to find
new avenues for exploration.”