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Free software scares normal people

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Re: Free software scares normal people

#531

Post by balamatom »

autoexec wrote: post #237
strix_varius wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progressive disclosure can be intensely annoying to actual power users. Definitionally, it means you're hiding (non-disclosing) features behind at least 1 secondary screen. Usually, it means hiding features behind several layers of disclosures. Making a very simple product more powerful via progressive disclosure can be a good way to give more power to non-power users. Making a powerful product "simpler" via progress…

Just add an option for "advanced mode" that if clicked toggles to "basic mode". Power users are going to be looking for advanced features and only have to click it once. People who can barely read and are scared by anything advanced will get the interface they can use best the first time they open the app

>People who can barely read and are scared by anything advanced

I wonder who is responsible for the existence of such people.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#532

Post by dwaltrip »

nerdponx wrote: post #214
LegionMammal978 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, I've not uncommonly seen this idea misused: Alice asks for Y, Bob says that it's an XY problem and that Alice really wants to solve a more general problem X with solution Z, Alice says that Z doesn't work for her due to some detail of her problem, Bob browbeats Alice over "If you think Z won't work, then you're wrong, end of story", and everyone argues back and forth over Z instead of coming up wit…

Bob saying "you should use Z end of story" it's just as a hardheaded and unhelpful as Bob saying "X doesn't do that end of story".

Unfortunately, still quite common. The ego is quite the tricky one.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#533

Post by sharperguy »

SoftTalker wrote: post #87
sharperguy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A "normal person" is just someone whose time and mental energy are focused on something other than the niche task your app is aiming to solve. With enough time and focus, anyone can figure out any interface. But for many, something which requires a smaller investment to achieve the results they need is preferrable.

Also, even the most arcane and convoluted interfaces become usable with repetition. Normal people learn the most bureaucratic business workflows and fly through them if that is their job. Then if you dare to "improve" any aspect of it you will hear them complain that you "broke" their system.

Well yes you force them to find other workarounds because their current workaround are no longer relevant. Because no system will ever fit everyones usecase.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#534

Post by nradov »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #356
nradov wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most organizations the problem is lack of urgency rather than lack of developer hours. The developers sit in isolated siloes rather than going out and directly engaging with business units. This is mostly a management problem but there are plenty of individual developers who wait to be told what to do rather than actively seeking out better solutions for business problems.

This usually comes back to maker time vs manager time. If you want a developer to write good code quickly, put them in an isolated silo and don't disturb them. If you want a developer to engage with the business units more, be prepared for their productivity to drop sharply. As with all things in tech, it's a trade-off.

Actually there is no trade-off. That's a common misunderstanding. Reducing latency creates more business value than increasing productivity.

http://lpd2.com/

Re: Free software scares normal people

#535

Post by balamatom »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #30

Over the years I've gotten really tired of this obsession with "normal people" and not just because I'm one of the so called power users. This is really part of a growing effort to hide the computer away as an implementation detail. https://contemporary-home-computing.org/RUE/ That's what "UX" is all about. "Scripting the users", minimizing and channeling their interactions within the system. Providing one button tha…

Normal people are the problem.

Always have been.

We could argue about the exact value of N, but in the present universe nearly anything that scares at least 1 out of N normies into coming back to their senses is literally a heroic act.

EDIT: You linked a great post btw. Consider: "Rich User Experience" as the experience of being a rich person who uses. It's all right there in the etymology, after all words are also designed artifacts. "You wanna be rich? You gotta be our customer."

Re: Free software scares normal people

#536

Post by nradov »

RobotToaster wrote: post #503
nradov wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course this is ultimately the IT department's own fault for not responding quickly enough to legitimate business requirements. They need to actively look for ways to help rather than processing tickets.

Which is ultimately the c-suite's fault for not requiring that and allocating a budget for it.

Nah. It's usually a culture and organizational structure problem, not a budget problem.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#537

Post by Nifty3929 »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #522

Ultimately free software isn't beholden to its users, as they aren't paying customers. Free and open source developers are free to build whatever the heck software they want on the basis of "I find this software neat/useful/funny, you can use it too if you'd like". The way it works is you grab the sources, make a fork, implement your desired changes (e.g. hide 80% of the features), and do a release that is in line wi…

"free to" - of course! Everybody is free to do mostly anything.

TFA is making the point that, if your goal is to make software that is broadly useful (and maybe that's not your goal), then you should try to make the most common use-cases easy and intuitive, even if that means compromising on complex ones or edge-cases.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#538

Post by bruce511 »

tombert wrote: post #355
sudobash1 wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I'm not interested in re-teaching her every bit of software, and she's not interested in relearning every bit of software. I don't see Windows as having much of an edge there. Lots of things seem to change on Windows just for change's sake. I get so tired of the churn on Windows versions and finding how to disable the new crummy features. If you want to avoid relearning all the time, something simple like XFCE…

And Linux won't arbitrarily irrevocably brick your computer because of an automatic update. In my opinion, having your computer bricked because of an automatic update is a very large change to adapt to. I feel the need to constantly reiterate this; if someone who works on Windows Update reads this, please consider a different career, because you are categorically terrible at your job. There are plenty of jobs out the…

I think (in general) the number of machines being bricked because of an update is about a rounding error from 0.

The biggest brick event in recent times was Shockwave, not Windows. Personally I've never seen a bricked machine, not at home, not at work, not at family.

Of course my anecdata is meaningless as is your annecdata. Ymmv.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#539

Post by teekert »

I often wonder why stuff like handbrake does not have an overlay ui, just a “drop video” field, then select “YouTube” “max quality” “Send via WhatsApp/signal” or something more logical. And then a button that says: “I’m a pro” that drops this UI. It would make the target audience so much larger.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#540

Post by aleph_minus_one »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #205
galagawinkle489 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they work for pay on free software? Nobody expects to be paid to work on the software itself. Yet artists expect to be treated differently. If it is your job, then go do it as a job. But we all have jobs. Free software is what we do in our free time. Artists don't seem to have this distinction. They expect to be paid to do a hobby.

Doing a pro graphic design treatment is lot more than just "drawing a few pictures," and picking a color palette. It usually involves developing a design language for the app, or sometimes, for the whole organization (if, like the one I do a lot of work for, it's really all about one app). That's a big deal. Logo design is also a much more difficult task than people think. A good logo can be insanely valuable. The on…

> It usually involves developing a design language for the app, or sometimes, for the whole organization (if, like the one I do a lot of work for, it's really all about one app). That's a big deal.

> Logo design is also a much more difficult task than people think. A good logo can be insanely valuable. The one we use for the app I've done a lot of work on, was a quick "one-off," by a guy who ended up running design for a major software house. It was a princely gift.

A lot of developers also tend to invest quite an insane amount of work into their preferred open-source project and they do know how complicated their work is, and also how insane the value is that they provide for free.

So, where is the difference?

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