[TYPO3-hci] The Paradox of Choice

[JoH asenau]

>> 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).
>
> For better understanding: So you mean the OS could have bad Usability,
> so long the eMail-Client is fine? Why??

It seems that you simply refuse to understand my points.
Of course the OS should not have a bad usability.
But this doesn't mean that every part of the OS has to be dumbed down to
make it usable for people who's skills are restricted to receiving, writing
and sending mails.
In fact this would reduce the usability for those people who are skilled
enough to choose between more than 2 different options. "Ease of use" can be
something completely different and it is always depending on the target
group.

>> 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.
>
> I don't get it why a admin/dev don't need
> a better Backend or better usab.?

If (user == admin) {
    Better usability != less options
} else {
    Less options = Better usability
}

See the difference?

>> 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" ;-)
>
> A way is not a Function or Module! We, or better I was talking about
> (mainly in my PPT) ways for exp. to create a new Page. There I don't
> see one Pro to have in a 30px Radius 5 ways to do just 100% the same.
> This is't a Future this is just bad Usability because it
> confuses _every_ User.

No it doesn't.
Even the editors I have trained during the last years always understood that
there are different options to choose from and that this is good for them
since it enables them to choose the way they prefer.

The difference here seems to be, that you expect TYPO3 to be working for all
users without training, while from my experience I understood that a system
with the complexity of TYPO3 will never be usable without training.

So it depends on the skills of the trainer if those options will be
confusing or helpful.

> To your exp.: I don't know where you read this?
> One big Point in Typo3 is backward compatibility. So, it can't be
> right!

Well - this might be true for TYPO3 4.X. But for the upcoming 5.X version
backwards compatibility is just a nice to have but not a must. There have
been several discussions about different "improvements"  from "let's kick
TypoScript and use XML instead" up to "let's make TV the only templating
tool for TYPO3".

>> 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.
>
> Sorry I think you make it much to easy!
> What hast writhing skill todo with a CMS?

Well - take a look at the so called "content" some editors are producing
with TYPO3 and you will know the answer yourself ;-)

>> 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".
>
> I have ready all this (mostly senseless) HCI posts, but i can't
> remember any really discussed "dumbing it down" post. How/Where do
> get all this ???

What else is reducing options and kicking functionality if not "dumbing
down"?
Making a thing less complex means to "dumb it down" - this doesn't
necessarily mean something bad, since one of the definitions of "dumb down"
is: Reducing the intellectual level to reach a mass-market, which is exactly
what you are going to do.

> Sorry, but all those discourage/bearish Posting you make, dosn't
> help in any way. So do I feel! And slowly it turns me into anger.
>
> Present as your much better solution!
> It's easy to say ... all what you make just suck! (My Words.)

And this is where we come to the conclusion that you didn't understand any
of my postings in this list.
Of course I won't present "my much better solution", because I don't think
it makes any sense if everybody in this list is presenting "his better
solution" just to waste precious time with discussing every single chart of
all these presentations.
Instead we should have a real life meeting for a weekend or so where we
should decide _what_ should be improved, _how_ this could be done and _who_
will be responsible for _which_ part. This way we could create "our better
solution" within a given timeframe instead of having a highscore list of
solutions where everybody is claiming to have presented the "better one".

So I don't say, that what you made just sucks. In fact you did a great job
and the result is quite good. But I think that you missed the networking
component and created too much in advance, thus wasting a lot of your
precious time.
If you had invested the same amount of time _after_ the decisions for the
"big plan" had been made, the result would have been even better.

> BTW: The guy who wrote the article has a damm skill and is a Usability
> Freak!

So what? - Does this mean that I have to change my way of working just
because he decided that it must be ineffective or confusing for me?
Fortunately I am able to take my own decisions and I am not too much
confused if the options to choose from are more than just two ;-)

Joey

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