Re: Menu-based tutorial?

[rusi]

On May 18, 6:37 am, Karra <karra....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, May 17, 2012 1:12:35 PM UTC+5:30, Thien-Thi Nguyen wrote:
> > Implicit in menu presentation and interaction is a (usually)
> > inscrutable ontology, which personally, i find extremely
> > intimidating.
>
> You mean an incomplete, and often poorly thought through taxonomy? Calling it 
> an ontology is bestowing too much prestige, I'd say.

Any taxonomy implies an ontology -- implied, unconscious or
intentional is another matter.
And the atomic building blocks for communicating these are likely to
be completely arbitrary.
We dont ask questions like:
- What in the (shape of character) '2' suggests that it is twice of
'1'?
- What is the logical progression from 'A' to 'B' to 'C'?

These signs are less arbitrary in a pictogramic language like Chinese.
And presumably we all found these signs arbitrary at some early age
and then we 'grew up' by getting used to such arbitrariness.

Likewise the details of the contents and organization of:
File Edit View.... Help
is likely to be arbitrary, but no more arbitrary than the progression
of keys:
C-x 1, C-x 2, C-x 3, C-x 4.