On Monday, November 18, 2013 8:56:20 PM UTC+1, rengel wrote: > > In his post 'This, and *only* this, can make Leo more > popular<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/leo-editor/hl1ulaq7Bcg>' > Edward is asking how to make Leo more popular. > > Well, after a couple of years I decided today to give Leo another try. I > was working on a Django project (with a couple of folders and files). My > first impression: > Leo is too hard to work with! Even seemingly simple things are way to > complicated to figure out. Just two examples: > > First: The default font size is too small (this has been discussed > elsewhere in this forum). No problem??? Just change some settings? But > where? leoSettings.leo? myLeoSettings.leo? And then search for a font size > in larger block of code? Without reading the documentation quite hopeless. > It just takes too much time. > > Second: I wanted to import a Django project structure into Leo. Leo has a > File|Import command that works well - but only with files. Now, a project > folders/files structure is a perfect example for hierarchically arranged > things, and thus it should be easy to import such a structure into Leo. I > would expect the Import command to do this. But I had do research just to > find out, that there are some obscure plugins or scripts that do the job. > > Don't get wrong. IMHO Leo is a brilliant tool, but apart from the rather > steep learning curve its usability is wanting. > > Alan Kay has said: "*Simple things* should be *simple*, complex things > should be possible." > Leo shines when it comes to the second half of this sentence. > > What I want to say: People that are willing to try out some new tool, > don't want to wade through documentation in order to accomplish simple > task. I you want to break out the narrow group of developers who like such > things, finding out common tasks like changing settings, importing files > and file structures etc. shouldn't eat up all the time people are willing > to invest in trying out a new product. There are just too many competing > tools on the market... >
This is exactly the point that I was trying to make in my earlier posts. You have nailed it down too. In terms of potentiality, Leo is a nuclear powerhouse. But in terms of actual power, only a few people can really benefit from it. That's because most of the Leo functionality is not easily accessible to the average user. The overcomplexity of certain things (e.g. the settings) and the fact that you need to know a lot of the intricacies of Leo to accomplish anything beyound the simplest tasks... all this, cuts down Leo's actual usefulness a lot, notwithstanding Leo's really massive potential. As a newbie, I can say that I sort of 'feel' the power of Leo, and I am aware of the many things that Leo can do and other outliners/PIMs can't. And yet, I feel sort of excluded from most of this bonanza, because of my limited expertise (which I am striving to improve) AND of some seemingly unnecessary complexity inherent in Leo. Many things could certainly be simplified, without taking anything away from Leo's power and usefulness. Sorry about the rant. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
