on 11/1/02 10:58 AM, Mark Rollins at mark_at_mrollins.com wrote:
>
> Ummmm, it IS *just* magnification (i.e., like sweeping a magnifying lens
> across the screen). There's no shuffling, it's very smooth, even, gradual
> and looks EXACTLY like a large magnifying lens. As with any magnifying lens,
> the center is larger than the area around the center, and the area around
> the center is larger than the edges of the virtual magnifying lens. Really.
>
Nope. If my eye is fixed on the center of something and I slide a
magnifying glass into my field of view, I don't have to move my eye to still
be looking at the center of the object. In the Dock, though, the center of
the icon moves up the screen. I suppose we could get into a lengthy
discussion about foveal vision and stuff, but suffice it to say that whoever
designed the Dock to work that way didn't know much about how human
perception works.
Secondly, a magnifying lens doesn't work anywhere close to the way you
describe. The magnification doesn't change depending on where in the focal
plane you are. Magnification is fixed. (Very near the edges, depending on
the quality and prescription of the lens, there is some region of
aberration, but that's aberration, not a change in magnification.) That's
why I described the process as morphing -- the icons morph gradually into a
larger version, quite unlike what a real magnifying lens would do.
- Eric.
--Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)
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