Re: [Gramps-users] Basic/Advanced Switch - New Feature Idea

[Tim L. <guy...@gm...>]

On 14 Feb 2014, at 21:40, Jesse Meyer wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 11:51 AM, Tim Lyons <guy...@gm...>  
> wrote:
>> jerome wrote
>>> Nothing changed since 2002! ;)
>>>
>>> http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html
>>
>> Matthew Thomas' original argument can now be found in the internet  
>> archive
>> at http://archive.is/ERg9V.
>>
>> And an expanded version called 'Why Free Software has poor  
>> usability, and
>> how to improve it'  is at
>> https://web.archive.org/web/20130703171433/http://www.mpt.net.nz/2012/06/why-free-software-has-poor-usability/
>>
>> Just to save you having to search for it too!
>
> I read all three of those with interest.  None of them really suggest
> metrics to measure good UI with bad UI.
>
> I'm not even sure a productive discussion about what is good UI could
> be had in regards to Gramps unless
> it is first defined what the target audience and usage of Gramps are.
> It's the equivalent of designing a vehicle
> without understanding the target market, their usage, and how narrow
> or widely that group would be defined.


I just sent the links as a convenience, not in any way to either  
endorse or refute what they said.


I'm afraid that I am a bit of an iconoclast on UI. I don't think there  
is any point in asking the users what they want (I know that is not  
quite the same thing as whether you define your target audience). As  
Henry Ford is quoted as saying "If I had asked people what they  
wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Look at Steve Jobs:' "It's really hard to design products by focus  
groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you  
show it to them." https://www.helpscout.net/blog/why-steve-jobs-never-listened-to-his-customers/

Even when working commercially and studying what the existing clerks  
are doing, there is a grave danger that you get stuck in automating  
their processes, rather that devising something radical that does  
things entirely differently and perhaps cuts out a whole number of  
steps that are unnecessary.

I think vision and creativity are the most important thing. I read a  
lot about Steve Jobs, and am constantly amazed at the innovation and  
style of the Apple products. But unfortunately, his sort of approach  
is not possible in open source, and could almost be characterised as  
the very antithesis of open source.

Even the idea of "the hardest decisions are what you leave out, not  
what you put in" although we could apply it, it is hard to do so.


"You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards  
to the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to  
figure out where you're going to try and sell it.....we have tried to  
come up with a strategy and a vision for Apple, it started with “What  
incredible benefits can we give to the customer? Where can we take the  
customer?” Not starting with “Let’s sit down with the engineers and  
figure out what awesome technology we have and then how are we going  
to market that?” And I think that’s the right path to take."   http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2011/10/steve-jobs-simplicity-the-art-of-focus.html


Tim.