Author: Anthony Cozzie
Date: 06:39:50 04/07/04
Go up one level in this thread
On April 06, 2004 at 18:04:52, Sune Fischer wrote: > >>>Seriously. >>>You are expecting programmers to design software for users >>>*) who are scared of techno, >>>*) who can't install from a CD, >>>*) who doesn't know what a file is, >>>*) who can't browse a menu and >>>*) who can't push buttons. >> >>If software just must take into account those points then it's still easy to >>create software. > >Name me one piece of advanced software the user can operate without knowing >anything. > >>Software also needs to be >> >>*) foolproof >> >>Because in general a reasonable % of the users after installing new software >>product is getting an information overload. the reaction that happens then is at >>best described as: "Utter panic and clicking all clickable areas until the >>software shows some type of response they recognize. Usually combined with 100 >>times pressing the ENTER key" >> >>>Good luck writing software to these people, I give up on those. >> >>Don't worry, i happily create software that's foolproof. > >Don't put words in my mouth. > >>>Luckly, I think we are dealing with a minory among the computer chess interested >>>folks! >> >>Computerchess is a technical sport. >> >>If you do not see the average chessproduct user as a computerchess enthusiast, >>because he doesn't know much from computers, then there is something very wrong >>with you. > >It strikes me a being somewhat selfcontraditive to be a computer chess fan and >still hate computers. As you say yourself it is a technical sport. > >So I really do believe those represent a minority within the group, most >probably computer chess enthusiasts are not ordinary users at all. > >-S. Sune, there are three kinds of people in the world. 1. People that can't edit configuration files (90%) 2. People that don't want to edit configuration files (9.9%) 3. System admins (0.1%) IMHO, the best linux programs have text configuration files (so that almost limitless configurability is possible) and GUI frontends (so that when I just want the stupid thing to work, it works). I think the whole book is pretty interesting, but for a start, read this chapter (Joel Spolsky on UI design): http://joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000064.html anthony
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