Are UI developers all left handed?

[David Klasinc]

On 08/08/2012 08:15 PM, Dale Amon wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 08, 2012 at 01:52:45PM -0400, John Moser wrote:
>> I hate Unity but I think I'd have trouble making a decent argument,
>> given the above.  Really I just want to know why EVERYTHING except
>> Windows (which doesn't do anything useful in the first place) puts the
>> useful stuff in the top left when it's ergonomically and
>> biomechanically [B-B-B-BUZZWORD C-C-C-COMBO!] easier to move your hand
>> away and outward from your body.  I don't think we can really blame
>> Canonical for that.
>
> I can tell you the historical reasons. All windowing systems
> began with their coordinate systems with 0,0 in the upper left
> because that is where the scan lines begin. Lines are written
> from left to right, top to bottom.

Why the top left corner? I believe that even those historical reasons 
are there for a, hehe, reason.

It has nothing to do with the hand movement and in which direction it is 
easier to move the mouse. Honestly, moving mouse to the left or to the 
right feels pretty much the same to me. We're moving a relatively small 
and light mouse, we're not rowing a boat.

Focus is the key here. We are more focused on the top left corner 
because (most of us) read from left to right and from top to bottom. 
That is why putting everything in that corner is completely natural and 
most ergonomic.

It really has nothing to do with the hand movement.

Regards,
David