[Top][All Lists]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability
From: |
Tom Lord |
Subject: |
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability |
Date: |
Mon, 21 Jun 2004 13:35:11 -0700 (PDT) |
> From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden>
> >>> Tonight I bumped into an online book that covers usability
> >>> with GUI programs.
> >>> Though arch isn't a gui program, enough of the concepts still
> >>> apply that I'd like to humbly suggest that others may be
> >>> interested in it.
> David> Interesting reading, thanks.
> I'm curious what you found interesting about it.
> To expand on my earlier "-1": I thought that for its target (programs
> whose market is bigger than a 100% share of Mac users) it was about 3X
> as long as it needed to be, and that for JB's implied context ("arch
> isn't gui, but") the self-evaluation that the book is relevant to
> programs with more than 10^7 paying customers is correct: it's not
> really very applicable to arch design.
Seeing as how I am behind in so many old things and working so hard on
some new things, I have skipped following the link. But...
> Certainly, some of the principles are, but those also tend to be the
> principles that Tom (primus inter pares) explains regularly, some of
> them daily. On the contrary, one of the book's main themes was "ask
> any five random people, they don't even need to be users yet, and do
> what makes them happy", which contradicts Tom's regular statement that
> even if everyone who posts to to arch-users agrees on a UI issue,
> that's of less importance than the instinct of any _one_ of several
> experienced developer/users.
"contradicts" or "qualifies"?
Satisfying 5 random users is close enough to exactly what I do as to
make for nevermind. But what kind of "random" selection of users are
we talking about? Not very random but not deterministic, either.
For me, it's very simple:
Consider the population of people with whom I can talk about arch as a
peer rather than as a mentor. Consider the subset of that who is
willing to speak up thoughtfully on UI matters. Consider the subset
of that who are people I reliably have very pleasent interactions
with, even if we are fighting. On most minor UI-tweak topics, I
sample their opinions and act on the basis of rough concesnus. On
major UI topics, I randomly sample many many messages; I give some
weight to the peers; having observed the raw data of subjective
reports, I meditate on what I know about objective possibilities. I
perform a ritual involving some candles, some water from a spring in
the mountains of Marin, masturbation, exactly 7/8ths of one beer,
tinctures of this and that, some dusty tomes, and a careful
observation of the shape, length, freshness, and stickiness of
snail-trails in the garden my landlord's keep. Then I forget all
that, make something up, and do that.
Ok, not really.
Here's a really good book which I've recently been re-reading and
meditating upon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195121236/qid=1087849492/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-4239373-0976969?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
-t
- [Gnu-arch-users] Online book for usability, James Blackwell, 2004/06/18
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability, David Allouche, 2004/06/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability, Tom Lord, 2004/06/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability, Juliusz Chroboczek, 2004/06/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Online book for usability, Aaron Bentley, 2004/06/24