Re: 'Transparent to the User'

["Jens Reineking" <J -dot- Reineking -at- interkomelectronic -dot- de>]

I encountered this phrase (to be exact, the German variant of the phrase) before. That time it was
an elaborate way to say "it is so easy to understand (from my point of view), I don't need
(care/bother) to explain any details".

Jens


<zitiere wer="tech -dot- writer1 -at- verizon -dot- net">
>
> I have come across this phrase in a system description I am editing: "The
> creation of index files is transparent to the user."
>
> I'll check with the SME, but I think his intent of the phrase is to
> describe a process that is invisible or requires no user intervention. But
> it seems to me that "transparent to the user" could also mean that the
> user can "see" what is happening (if it were "opaque", it could not be
> seen).
>
> This web page http://www.sju.edu/~jhodgson/gui/cogn.html uses the phrase
> as such: "The goal is to make the computer transparent to the user, just
> as a pencil is transparent to its user."
>
> In what sense is a pencil "transparent" to its user?
>
> If the intent of the phrase "The creation of index files is transparent to
> the user" is to mean that this process is invisible to the user, is this a
> correct or incorrect use of the phrase "transparent to the user"?
>
> Thanks for shedding some light :-)
> Michael


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