I'm glad you're interested. I love to spread these computer revolution memes.
If you consider programs as static, then indeed, there exists a dichotomy of ease-of-use vs customizability. But, ideally, the program (at least the visible part of the program) evolves with the user. Whenever a user runs into a "wall" (as described in my post above), he could either unlock the advanced options he wants or write his own commands (hopefully in an intuitive visual language tying program variables to "user variables" in obvious ways).
Seriously, a small FAQ about how to optimize the commonest use cases would be a huge improvement in many existing applications. I kinda feel like my suggestions are an extra luxury, given what's missing today.
The reason some programs are hard for the beginning user, e.g. your grandmother, is that they give the user too many choices, and it becomes hard to find the simplest commands.
Maybe the above statements don't apply to some kinds of programs. Can you help me think this through?
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krja
(no subject)
Date: 2003-03-15 10:40 am (UTC)If you consider programs as static, then indeed, there exists a dichotomy of ease-of-use vs customizability. But, ideally, the program (at least the visible part of the program) evolves with the user. Whenever a user runs into a "wall" (as described in my post above), he could either unlock the advanced options he wants or write his own commands (hopefully in an intuitive visual language tying program variables to "user variables" in obvious ways).
Seriously, a small FAQ about how to optimize the commonest use cases would be a huge improvement in many existing applications. I kinda feel like my suggestions are an extra luxury, given what's missing today.
The reason some programs are hard for the beginning user, e.g. your grandmother, is that they give the user too many choices, and it becomes hard to find the simplest commands.
Maybe the above statements don't apply to some kinds of programs. Can you help me think this through?