On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 4:05 AM, xor <xor at gmx.li> wrote:
> We DO NOT need a new web interface. Our current web interface is easy to
> use, works well, is sufficient, and it is also easy to write plugins which
> use it - I've worked with it for WoT and Freetalk and it was fun.
>
I hope this is true, but I'm skeptical. I'd recomend getting some
non-techies to try Freenet, without guidance from you, and to point out
anything in the web interface that doesn't make sense. I'd like to think
that they won't find anything to point to, but I doubt it :-)
We're all steeped in a pretty good understanding of Freenet, and the
terminology used, but newbies aren't. A term that makes perfect sense to
us, such as Matthew's use of the term "node" in the progress page, is likely
to confuse newbies.
I think to create a good UI, we need to mistrust our personal perceptions of
what makes sense, because, frankly, we aren't our target audience. I'd
encourage everyone to find newbies whenever possible, and watch them install
and try to use Freenet, reporting any issues they run into to this list, or
as bugs. Get them to give you a narrative of what they see ("not sure what
that button does" or "hmm, not sure what I'm supposed to do now"), and
report it. Anything you need to explain to them is a *bug*, because most of
our future users won't have you sitting there to explain it.
I'd prefer to avoid a ground-up redesign of the UI too, but for anyone that
wants to work on the UI, please grab a friend or relative unfamiliar with
Freenet, and watch them trying to install or use it.
Ian.
--
Ian Clarke
CEO, Uprizer Labs
Email: ian at uprizer.com
Ph: +1 512 422 3588
Fax: +1 512 276 6674
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