[TYPO3-hci] The Paradox of Choice

[JoH asenau]

> I gotta ask you - who is the typo3 end user?
> Is it you - "the typo3 specialized (and certified) developer", or is
> it your client?

Yes.

> IMHO it's your client..

No. - And I can explain why ...
I am the end user of TYPO3 and I use it to create something for my client
he/she can work with. The clients are only using a very small part of the
system which is necessary to add, delete and/or edit different elements
(content, news, sometimes users and newsletters).

The major part of TYPO3 will remain unseen for those clients so _if_ you
want to call them "end users", they are end users of the editing features.
They will never change a template, be it pure TS ore TV based, they will
never use the kickstarter, they will never touch a constant. They will never
use all the other features outside the editors view.

> She simply expects it
> to work, the way she expects it to work, so she can get on with other
> business.
> But sadly typo3 doesn't always live up to the expectations. Heck - I'm
> too *dumb* to fully grasp the ideas behind many things in typo3.
> If only things behave the way most expect them to, it would also be
> more powerful to many more. Ease of use = power! :-)

This is definitely true for almost any part of TYPO3. But "Ease of use"
doesn't necessarily mean to reduce the features or dumb down the system by
forcing people to work in just one way just to prevent them from having to
make a decision. For example: If you would force me to use TV because it
would be the only templating system of this "improved" new version X.0 of
TYPO3, all my clients would have to pay at least for the double amount of
working hours. From a commercial point of view this might be regarded as an
improvement, but my wife woul kill me and my children would call me "uncle"
;-)

> > Today there are students at German universities
> > with average skills below those of a secondary school student of
> > the early 80s.
>
> Well - maybe our tools simply got better?
> Today we have MS Word or OpenOffice which both includes an excellent
> spell checker. So the importance and benefits of being a good speller
> isn't what it used to be, cause it doesn't really matter anymore. What
> matters today is the end result.

Which is still bad, since the people I am talking about are not even able to
phrase a correct sentence when they are _speaking_. Since Word doesn't offer
a "laguage improver" the result is still the same: Dumb! If these people are
goin to edit content with any CMS they will always complain it is too
complex for them and the result (if any) will be dumb too.

>  > 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.
>
> The way I understand "improving the usability" is "smarten it up so
> that average joe can use it effectively - and brilliant johnny finds
> and uses the advanced features if he needs to".
> This doesn't mean sacrificing anything, but rather hiding some things
> away until needed. In a smart and effective way.

If we really do smarten it up instead of dumbing it down, I have no problems
with that "evolution". IMHO Anything else would be "degeneration".

Joey

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