> > An easy measure of usabilty :- If you gave a squeezebox to your > > granny for Christmas would she use it to play music or as a door > > stop ? > A tired analogy - Granny's are not the universal measure of usability. > My Granny could give me a set of kintting needles for Christmas and I > wouldn't have the first clue what to do with them, although of course > she finds them trivially easy to use. I'd search in vain for the > documentation telling me how to operate these needles, and then maybe > go to some kintting forum complaining that this stuff should be easier > for the non-Granny to pick up and use. > > When writing documentation and designing interfaces there is always a > level of assumed knowledge and experience - there has to be. Cars do > not come with books telling you how to drive - it's assumed you already > know. Likewise, when designing the interface for the car, the > manufacturer is careful not to stray to far from the conventional. > Computers do not come with operating instructions either, you typically > get a piece of paper showing you how to connect the wires, and then some > quick start guide to Windows XP. Really pretty useless for most people > who are either completely new to the whole thing (what's a mouse?) or > already know the basics and need to be told the more complex stuff. > > Now I'm not saying the SlimServer UI/docs are perfect - far from it - > but assuming a basic level of domain knowledge (what's an mp3, what's a > tag) is perfectly fair - the trick is to get it right. Set the bar too > high and you're flamed for being exclusive, or geek oriented, set it > too low and you waste time writing docs which no one will read. > > > When I "browse music" why does "browse music folder" play songs > > in a different order to "browse album" ? > Because one reads the tags and one doesn't. Personally, from a UI > perspective, I think BMF is a mistake. I know lots of people love it, > which is why it's there, but if the DB based browses could be > customized to allow people to order things how they like then hopefully > the need for BMF would vanish, and with it a lot of headaches. > > > Where do I find a definitive tagging guide for each music format ? > > > Agreed - a list of tags read and their interpretation would be > extremely useful. > > > -- > radish
Well written post, radish. And entertaining, too! I'm in full agreement. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
