Quotable quote on software usability philosophy...

[Sporkman]

Humanized's eight philosophical precepts, which Vice-President Atul Varma wrote as a sort of manifesto, might seem like common sense to the average PC owner. The first rule, for example, is, "It's not your fault." In other words, if a user has trouble getting a program to perform an action, it's because software writers failed to anticipate users' thoughts and assumptions. But not all coders see things that way. "Programmers often think: 'This is how it works. If you're not good enough to understand that, go read the manual, don't bother me,'" Raskin says.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db20080214_532057.htm?campaign_id=yhoo

[Shippou]

Nice one... :)

Personally as a programmer myself, I think this quote is right. Anyway, that's what manpages are for... :)

To Users: Do you know that making manpages (or whatever you call it) is the most "irritating" part in a programmer's life? So read the manuals... :)

[leftorvo]

To Users: Do you know that making manpages (or whatever you call it) is the most "irritating" part in a programmer's life? So read the manuals...

They're often extremely complicated. but others, like mplayers, are really good.

[Shippou]

Nice one... :)

Personally as a programmer myself, I think this quote is right. Anyway, that's what manpages are for... :)

To Users: Do you know that making manpages (or whatever you call it) is the most "irritating" part in a programmer's life? So read the manuals... :)

[Shippou]

sorry double post.... I have some problems with my net connection... :) by the way, what is the counterpart of winamp in linux? I've been trying to play .nsv files... there is video but no audio... :(

[amingv]

My overall experience with POS software (See the documentation panel):
http://philhord.com/phord/wp-content/development.jpg

The worst part is that the "developers" have an air of God-touched. Maybe I'll write a good POS program... someday...

[p_quarles]

sorry double post.... I have some problems with my net connection... :) by the way, what is the counterpart of winamp in linux? I've been trying to play .nsv files... there is video but no audio... :(
XMMS is the original, Audacious is the more recent one. There are a couple of others as well, I believe.

[kanem]

Humanized's eight philosophical precepts, which Vice-President Atul Varma wrote as a sort of manifesto, might seem like common sense to the average PC owner. The first rule, for example, is, "It's not your fault." In other words, if a user has trouble getting a program to perform an action, it's because software writers failed to anticipate users' thoughts and assumptions. But not all coders see things that way. "Programmers often think: 'This is how it works. If you're not good enough to understand that, go read the manual, don't bother me,'" Raskin says.
Yeah. This reminds me of how last week I drove into a tree. But it wasn't my fault. The person who designed the car failed to anticipate my thoughts and assumptions. The brakes should have been on the hand grip like they are on my bike. And I though the car would just automatically stop before it hit anything. Don't they have microchips in there? Sure, I guess I could have just learned how to drive a car, but that's not my responsibility. I should be able to just hop in the car and go.

[Shippou]

Yeah. This reminds me of how last week I drove into a tree. But it wasn't my fault. The person who designed the car failed to anticipate my thoughts and assumptions. The brakes should have been on the hand grip like they are on my bike. And I though the car would just automatically stop before it hit anything. Don't they have microchips in there? Sure, I guess I could have just learned how to drive a car, but that's not my responsibility. I should be able to just hop in the car and go.

Just want to share this: our CS professor always says to us: Assume the user [of your software] is always dumb. Sounds degoratory? Yes but true. You see, end users are usually that way, and that's what manpages are for. :)

Also, we are also told that in the real world, users demand things from, not only just in programming, but from every manufacturer, many things, but describe those things somewhat ambiguously. This is what is said by the tree pic (in my analysis) and what I have just quoted. It's just a pity that the end user gives a vague and ambiguous description of what he wants, and the programmer is left to assume what the end user really wants to do. Then after doing what the end user wants, the programmer (or manufacturer, in general) is still blamed upon because of the inconsistencies noted by theuser who in the beginninggave only a vague and ambiguous description of what he really wants.

[Shippou]

XMMS is the original, Audacious is the more recent one. There are a couple of others as well, I believe.


Thanks for the help... I installed xmms but found it hard to use... I managed to install WinAmp through wine. :)

[LaRoza]

Saving Users from themselves (http://linuxgazette.net/issue83/evans.html)

Note: I am a programmer, and I think if someone writes software that works and has no side effects, don't complain. Use it, or don't use it. (For Free software, if you are getting paid on the other hand, you have to deliver)