[TYPO3-hci] Open Source usability sucks?

[Christopher]

Hello again,

Erik Svendsen wrote:
> Hello Christopher,
> 
>> Erik Svendsen wrote:
>>
>>> To Tapios point with bad labels. He may have a point, but I don't
>>> know how many times i have found labels nearly impossible to
>>> understand in commersial software. But in most Open Source can I
>>> change the label, something thats impossible in commersial software.
>>> Else, to me "unlink" are perfect, because it exaxtly what it does
>>> (and not delete).
>>>
>> Well, this is a usability issue too--in fact it illustrates both
>> points rather nicely:
> 
> I didn't say that it's not. But you missed the important point, here has 
> Open Source a better usability, because it's easier to change the value 
> of a label. Else, labels are very often a difficult issue, because even 
> different end users may have different interpretations of the same 
> label. As I said, to me "unlink" are perfect, but that doesn't mean it 
> perfect for the other 99 % (or 10 %, or 60 %).

Heh :) I didn't miss what you were saying. I was just using your message 
as a jumping-off point.

>> "2. Open Source development focus on functionality, and not so much on
>> usability"
>>
>> From an end-user's perspective (i.e. from the perspective of the user
>> who will be using the TV Page module in the BE every day), what is the
>> difference between 'Hide' and 'Unlink' except that 'Hide' is easier to
>> undo?
> 
> Is it? If you are using "hide", you have to change to list module to 
> "unhide" it. With "unlink" you don't have to. And as I know it's the 
> same in classic page module as long as you don't mark for show hidden 
> content elements. So maybe the problem isn't use of the words 
> "hide"/"unlink", but more fundamental questions about the design.

Agreed. (Is it meaningful that I almost always check the 'show hidden' 
box as soon as I start working on a page?)

>> "1. Open Source very often has little user interaction in
>> development."
>>
>> TV's 'Unlink' function is an example of 'functionality' that, IMO, has
>> no clear purpose in the general use of the BE unless possibly in
>> highly specific circumstances. Moreover, it takes the place of (and in
>> both major BE skins shares an icon with) a function that /is/ both
>> needed and lacking in the TV Page module--the ability to delete
>> content elements from the site.
>>
>> -Christopher
> 
> I use the "unlink" function, also my clients. And the delete are there, 
> maybe not so easy to find. But I agree in the bad use of icon.
> 
> But at this moment I feel a discussion about labels (details), more and 
> less counterproductive. There are many reasons for it.
> First: What labels TYPO3 has in english, doesn't botter me at all as 
> long as they are understandable. All my clients (users) are using 
> translated labels.
> Second: To me the logical structure of the backend (how it can fit with 
> the typical users workflow), much more important at this moment. Then 
> it's the time to look into details as labels, best icons and so on.

So we miss each other's points ;-) The details here are, I think, /very/ 
useful as concrete examples of where the process has, in the past, 
strayed from the ideal. The logical structure is of the BE and users' 
workflow are /exactly/ what I'm getting at with the TV Page 
examples--they show that one of two things has happened:

either a) the typical workflow has been misunderstood to some extent 
during development, or b) though the users' requirements were 
understood, the end product failed in some respects to meet users' 
actual needs.


-Christopher