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Intuitive
Intuitive means that the use of the system is obvious and that the software performs as the user would expect it to. The software must ‘know’ the next steps in any process without ever forcing the user to take that next step. For example, if the user draws a trend line, the obvious next step is to extract a parallel. If the user does not wish to do so, then they do nothing. However if they do wish to, they may do so by simply clicking and dragging a parallel away from the original line. There are thousands of instances of intuitiveness, which go to make the perfect system.
Configurability
Extensive use of defaults also makes a Technical Analysis system quick and easy to use. For example, once there is a chart on the screen, what would be the first thing the user would wish to do? Scroll back and forth, zoom, draw a trend line? Being able to choose which of these will be the ‘default’ tool allows the user’s favourite tool to be used immediately as a chart is drawn, without having to select it first. But configurability goes further than that. In order to provide a vast range of indicators, it is imperative that the user can set default periods and many other settings which most systems require you to select at the time of using the chart. This just wastes time and frustrates the user.
Mouse or Keyboard
There are those that prefer to use a mouse and those that prefer to use a keyboard and no amount of debate will reconcile one with the other. The glory and the curse of windows is that it introduced the mouse to us all. The mouse is regarded as easy to use and certainly it is when drawing trend lines, but it is not so smart when you want to draw a series of moving averages because it requires you to use the keyboard as well to enter the moving average period. This is slow and inefficient. The perfect Technical Analysis system should be designed so that at no time is it compulsory to use the mouse and the keyboard. You may use one or the other to complete the task but if you want, you may also use both. For example, to draw three exponential moving averages of 13, 21 and 34 days using the keyboard you would simply press El3 enter, E2 1 enter and E34 enter. Or you could use the mouse by clicking on the exponential moving average tool, using the spinners to scroll the period you wanted and click OK. You would do this 3 times. Or you could use a combination or mouse and keyboard by clicking on the exponential moving average tool, entering the period with the keyboard and click OK. Even charts and indicators may be selected by simply pressing a key. Allowing the user to decide on the keystroke to assign to each and every chart and tool makes the system perfect. So instead of selecting Zoom from the toolbar, you could just press Z for zoom.
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