[TYPO3-hci] The Paradox of Choice

[JoH asenau]

>> Many of you probably already saw this, but still I think it's worth
>> reading. It's a blog article on the way Windows Vista's shutdown
>> menu is organized. Looking at TYPO3 in its present form, I think
>> there are lessons to be learned here.. ;-))
>>
>> http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/11/21.html
>>
>> Bas
>>
>> PS. I missed a few days of traffic. Any news on the survey yet? I'm
>> ready to start bugging our users with it! ;-)
>
> 'Can we top this? Yes we can!' :D At least when we're looking at the
> many possibilities to create a new page within T3.. ;) Via content
> menu, via page module (many different icons and buttons) or with
> templa voila... I think it's very important to go on simplicity with
> this issue.. One way (or two) is good enough.

This simply shows that both, you and the author of this blog didn't
understand the principles of having a choice. In fact you don't have to
choose each time you want to close down your windows system, since you
already made your first choice and then go on sticking to your preferences.
So the next time you want to shut down your system, you will just do it.

If the blogger and this Barry Schwartz where right, we wouldn't even need a
shutdown menu since there is a switch attached to the box which is labeled
"off".

Same principles are true for TYPO3 (even though I don't think it's a good
idea to compare an operating system that is made for the masses with a
specialised tool like TYPO3, which is made for a much smaller group of
specialised people) - Even though there are many different ways to choose
from, in most of the cases this choice will only be made once and then the
user will go on with his preferred way of working with TYPO3. If you go for
TV as a templating tool, fine for me, but please don't force me or others to
do so.

In many of the threads about the so called "usability problems" people might
run into while working with TYPO3 I often heard somehting like: There's the
Joomla way of doing things, the Drupal way of doing things or the XYZ way of
doing things and people would go for these systems because they like the
simplicity of having just this one way.

IMHO it's the TYPO3 way of doing things that there is _no_ TYPO3 way of
doing things.
After all TYPO3 is a framework that is offering people a most comfortable
base to create their own way of doing things. This is why there's always
more than one way to solve a problem with TYPO3 and this is why so many
people prefer this system.

If you want to sacrifice this TYPO3 way just to please the masses that might
be too dumb to make their personal choice I think you are heading into the
wrong direction.
To improve the usability of a complex system like TYPO3 you can't always
follow the KISS principle since the system itself is neither simple nor
stupid.
KISS might work for doorknobs, ticket machines or gaming consoles but not
for TYPO3.

There may be some areas of TYPO3, especially when it comes to the editing of
content, where the KISS principle could be applied to make the everyday work
of the editors easier.
But that's it. The major part of the system is made by professionals for
professionals and most of these people are perfectly able to choose their
personal way out of the many ways TYPO3 has to offer.

But it seems that you are just following a trend that can be noticed in
almost every area of life: In many western countries the average Joe is less
skilled than he has been 20 or 30 years ago. Instead of improving the
education of all these average Joes, they just dumb down the whole system
including the language to make sure that the same number of students will
get a final college degree. Today there are students at German universities
with average skills below those of a secondary school student of the early
80s.

Of course we could dumb down TYPO3 in a similar way, just to make it an
average system for average users.
But why not improve the possibilities of learning the different TYPO3 ways
instead?
Wouldn't it be better to improve the documentation, the videos and the
knowledge base instead of reducing the features?

If the understanding of "improving the usability" in this team is "dumb it
down until everbybody can use it" I think I am wasting my time here.
Since there hasn't been any response to my "aims of a real life meeting"
yet, I start feeling that this might be true.

So I would really like to hear other opinions ...

Joey

-- 
Wenn man keine Ahnung hat: Einfach mal Fresse halten!
(If you have no clues: simply shut your knob sometimes!)
Dieter Nuhr, German comedian
openBC/Xing: http://www.cybercraft.de
T3 cookbook: http://www.typo3experts.com