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Post by trgywft on Jan 5, 2006 13:47:27 GMT -5
I have two questions, the first is for anyone and everyone, excluding Tim, and the second is specifically for Tim. My intent in asking these questions in a new thread, entitled "Layman's Corner," is quite simply to get layman's answers. I've read every post on this new board and on the last board, and am not ashamed to admit that I was baffled a number of times with all the jargon. So help us laymen out, though I may be the only one. Here are the questions:
1) What is it about Keynote that made you chose it over some of the other programs out there, programs like TexNotes Pro, OneNote, etc? Is it just that it was free?
2) What exactly will Novo Libera be able to do that TexNotes Pro, do-Organizer, OneNote, etc. is not able to do? You've mentioned a little about how Novo Libera will change the way we use computers, can you maybe expound on this, in broad terms even if it is easier for you at this time?
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Post by Tim Penrose on Jan 27, 2006 10:12:44 GMT -5
Hi trgywft,
I know you asked me not to answer #1, but I will anyhow. I chose Keynote because I could not find any additional features in commercial alternatives that I considered worth paying money for.
Now for #2; I've intentionally responded in vague terms because my product is not yet out. I don't want to give my competitors a head start on implementing those features. I will say that my ultimate market is somewhere beyond those applications. Competing with those applications is merely my starting point. One thing that I dislike about the products you mention is that they really don't seem to offer enough flexibility when it comes to mining and viewing information. I wrote an article entitled "Programming as a form of communication" that I'm going to try and publish in some form when I have an opportunity to clean it up a bit. The gist of the article is that effective communication involves a sender and a receiver, for example a writer and a reader, or a speaker and a listener. When it comes to trying to improve communication, most focus seems to be put on the sender (writer/speaker), rather than the receiver (reader/listener). What I believe is that there is improvements that can be made to communications by improving the ability of the receiver to search and modify information to fit his/her needs. So you can expect to see better data mining and analysis tools, utilizing text analytics.
The main distinguisher, though, is that from day 1, my intent was to produce a product that satisfies both ends of the information spectrum; Be profoundly useful to the individual (as easy to set up and use as keynote), and yet could scale across an enterprise. The features I am planning for this aspect are not even on the periphery of these other products.
Thanks for your thoughtful questions,
Tim
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kf2
New Member
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Post by kf2 on Jan 27, 2006 10:55:49 GMT -5
Or, in the software example: the GUI designer rather than the GUI user! I'm starting to get fed up with GUI's that refuse to respect the end user!! Funny thing is, software designed for the corporate environment is the worst offender in this regard from the programs I've used.
Kevin
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Post by Tim Penrose on Jan 27, 2006 11:22:22 GMT -5
I own a PC and an Apple. Doesn’t that, alone, qualify me for GUI design? I’m just kidding. I hope that people always describe me as a person who doesn’t rests on his laurels.
There’s alot of really bad GUIs out there. GUI development cannot be a haphazard afterthought. I have a keen interest in GUI design and have taken classes specific to it. I think there is developer aptitude, but most important there must be a willingness on the part of the developer to be open to the various studies that have been performed, and enough sense to know when to violate rules.
Perhaps if you have an opportunity, you could share your experiences with me, or else provide a link to an article on it that really rings-true to you.
Thanks,
Tim
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kf2
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Posts: 18
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Post by kf2 on Jan 27, 2006 12:56:47 GMT -5
Basically you hit the nail on the head: "... there must be a willingness on the part of the developer to be open to the various studies that have been performed, and enough sense to know when to violate rules." I'm an electrical engineer designing flight sims for the Navy. I just worked on a system for a particular sim with a mechanical engineer. He got his design done then handed it over to me to "wire" it. To get inside 15 bolts need to be taken off and the lack of any room inside the device made any maintanence laughable. His response was, "well, they shouldn't have to do that." That sums up my ideas about user interface (kind of generic, I know!). Too many designers don't want to take the time to polish their designs. Sure, it works, but how intuitive is it? How easy are the basic functions? From the limited programming I've done (VB-ish mostly) I know that when you develop something you make it easy for the developer. Sometimes the developer needs to hit a certain button 100 times in a row to check a condition. The problem is that the user needs to hit it just once! The best interfaces come from designers who USE their creation. In my case, the mechanical engineer just needed to design the device, not use it... why should he care if it's hard to get into? In theory, it would be nice for a newcomer to be able to sit down and within a few minutes grasp the major actions required for a given program. Also, in theory, it would be nice for the experienced user to do most common actions with as few mouse clicks or keypresses as possible. Our CM tool at work requires about 20 clicks to check a file in... ridiculous!! (Ok, a few of those are due to our own process, but it is a very clicky piece of software!) Those are just some ideas. Obviously it will depend on what user feedback you get. Regarding Apple... I haven't experienced a company so willing to take over my machine just by installing one piece of software (itunes) since M$! I also have a lack of respect for the itunes interface (confusing options and menu layout). But, that's ok... I don't use it much! Some people love it, others dislike it... whatever works for the user! Kevin incidentally, here is a blog on GUI design I have found to be interesting now and again: miksovsky.blogs.com/flowstate/
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Post by Tim Penrose on Jan 31, 2006 14:27:48 GMT -5
Haha. I will certainly agree that Apple can be very "agressive".
I haven't used iTunes much, so I can't really comment (I have a two year old Apple Powerbook that I haven't turned on in 8 months. Uggh.. I'm letting a $1500 investment squander). But I can say from first hand experience that subtle differences in GUI guidelines (between MS and Apple) end up affecting the user experience far more than would at first seem possible. And no, I don't believe that Apple always gets the UI right. For all my drooling and lusting over the OSX “Dock”, I found in practice that I was forever launching stray applications from that stupid thing. Then I’d have to sit there and do nothing for two minutes while it loaded the application, just so I could tell it to close itself back up. This is something that almost never happens to me in Windows. If you saw my taskbar, you’d know I LOAD it with quick-launch icons… So I’m using it in almost the same way. Its not even clear, to me, what the difference is. Perhaps its that there is nothing on the bottom of a Windows application window that requires clicks, so I’m not fumbling around down there. Or perhaps its that Windows “persuades” its users to maximize applications, so they aren’t constantly resizing their applications.
Oh boy, I’m going to get emails… Good thing I’m writing it in .net!!! I’ll balance my comments by saying that I love OSX and would use it if I wasn’t developing Windows applications..lol…. and also if I wasn’t such a cheapskate. You can’t own an Apple if you’re a cheapskate!!!! But seriously, I think its important to evaluate everything level-headed-ly, rather than with venomous contempt or blinding love … That goes for everything in life, not just software.
Thanks for the link. I will read it today!
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Post by trgywft on Feb 1, 2006 12:59:22 GMT -5
Before you two go any further, and even though one of you is the administrator of these boards, remember, this is the layman's corner. But thank you for the reply before the tangent sprang up Tim. I don't know how you're going to do it, but I'm anxious to see how much better this thing will be than my program of choice right now, do-Organizer.
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