David, it seems odd to me that someone with your expertise and obvious
interest in bettering Jmol would construct this hypothetical "divide" in
this way. That's not particularly helpful. People have different opinions,
and those are more of a continuum than a dichotomy. There are many subtle or
not so subtle ways that Jmol could be/will be improved. Originally the frank
was just that -- exactly that -- a mark. No more, no less. When we found out
that some Mac users were not able to access the popup menu the suggestion
came that perhaps the frank could be used to access it. So that was
implemented. That's all.
In particular, Bill Reusch in no way was suggesting that he believes "that
software like Jmol should only be used by advanced users." I'm not sure how
you concluded that. On the contrary, what Bill was saying is that he
specifically targets novice users who use the Jmol applet for what it is
designed for -- as a value-added object within the context of a web
page-based presentation. The point he was making is that there really is no
need for his users to ever use the menu. So why make it more obvious? For
his interface making the frank more obvious would, I think, actually be
counter productive and, dare I say, make his interface oddly "defective" in
that it would not in anyway enhance the user's experience of the page and
would certainly detract a bit from the esthetics and possibly lead them down
paths that are not at all intended, thus detracting from the task at hand
(to learn organic chemistry).
I think you have to realize that Jmol is what you make of it. If you are a
web page developer, there are all sorts of ways of helping your novice
users, from bits of instruction to providing your own toolbar above or below
the applet, to providing buttons and links, to providing your own customized
menu. Just adding a link to the menu is not necessarily going to make it a
lot better, of course, because the menu itself is only useful to those who
know what the terminology there means and have some sort of independent need
to utilize it.
The general philosophy behind the applet, as I see it, is minimalist. Give
the web page developer a black box and let them customize it. That has
worked for hundreds of sites, and it is really great to see what people have
come up with to make the applet a good solution to their problem. No one
purports to have made the perfect interface for such a complex object as
Jmol. Certainly not us. The strength of the design is in its simplicity.
No one doubts that the Jmol interface can be improved. One of the things we
like to see is improvements "mocked up" like you did. That was fine. You got
some feedback that the mock-up was too obtrusive. Are you planning to show
us some more examples? Several suggestions were then made in response to
that, so I don't think reference to past "deaf ears" is of any use at all.
All it means to me is that you did not follow up yourself with more
suggestions, did not use the recognized methods (bug reports and feature
requests) and so somehow thought no one was interested. That, I believe, was
an unfortunate and false conclusion.
You say you speak for those who have formal training in human computer
interface design. I ask that you do not do that. Please speak only for
yourself. That sounds a bit harsh, as I read it, but what I'm trying to say
is that rather than constructing hypothetical divides between this supposed
group and that supposed group and to then claim that you somehow represent
one of these groups, it's more productive to say that, based on your
experience, interfaces can be improved when functionality is more obvious,
suggest ways that may be accomplished, provide references that those of us
not as experienced in the field can read and learn from, and thus contribute
to the solution.
So if you are really interested in this, let's get you on board and see what
sort of improvements to the Jmol interface an expert in the area would
suggest. Please do send your credentials in that respect -- I'd be
interested in what sort of formal training you are referring to, just
because I'd like to hear more about how people learn about these things. Was
this your Ph.D. work? Do introduce yourself.
Bob
___________________________________________________
>
> Dr. David P. Leader, Faculty of Biomedical & Life Sciences,
> University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
> Phone: +44 (0)141 330 5905
> http://doolittle.ibls.gla.ac.uk/leader
> http://motif.gla.ac.uk/
>
> The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401
> ___________________________________________________
>
>
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>
>
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--
Robert M. Hanson
Professor of Chemistry
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave.
Northfield, MN 55057
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr
phone: 507-786-3107
If nature does not answer first what we want,
it is better to take what answer we get.
-- Josiah Willard Gibbs, Lecture XXX, Monday, February 5, 1900
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