As mentioned earlier, I'm currently trying to review the "entry path" on lilypond.org, particularly from the potential new user perspective.
Thank you all for these opinions that I'll take into account. Urs James Harkins <[email protected]> schrieb: >On Monday, December 9, 2013 12:02:31 PM HKT, James Harkins wrote: >> On Dec 9, 2013 11:52 AM, "Mark Stephen Mrotek" <[email protected]> > >wrote: >>> >>> Mr. Harkins, >>> >>> Two or three hops are not too much for anyone that reads and follows >> directions. >> >> Then you have more faith than I in general usage patterns on the >internet. >> (As in, you still think people read and follow directions online.) > >Hm, actually, I take that back. > >The more relevant point is that it takes time to build up a mental map >of >information on a website or in a reference book. When you've already >looked >around lilypond.org for some time (once in a while over a period of a >couple of years, say), it seems quite obvious to reach the "easier >editing" >page by way of two other clicks. If you're coming to the site for the >first >time, even in just those two clicks, there are plenty of places to go >astray. > > - Download page (assuming someone actually wants to try it, this is > where she will go next) > - The eye goes immediately to the logos for operating > systems. That's normal -- usually, when you're downloading > software, you're focused on finding the file for your OS. > - "Before downloading LilyPond, please read about our Text input." > Clear enough to follow -- but, there's an assumption here that > the reader will have an inkling of how crucial this page > is. Without that intuition, I think it's fairly easy to skip > this link. > > - Text input page > - "Easier editing" is one of some 10 links in the navigation > bars. Unlikely to draw attention here. > - "Text input"'s focus is on the input format. It doesn't give a > potential user a clear picture of the system architecture, in > which the editor is one program and the compiler is another (not > even in the "Easier editing environments" section of text). Even > a careful reader couldn't be blamed for coming away from this > without a clear understanding of how important it is to have a > good editor for LP code. > >My flippant response makes it sound like any reasonably intelligent >person >would find the right information fairly quickly, casting the problem in > >terms of user carelessness. That was a misstatement. My point is that >reasonably intelligent, reasonably careful readers can visit >lilypond.org >and get from it no strong feeling for the importance of downloading a >dedicated editor *in addition to* LilyPond itself. > >I answer a lot of questions on the SuperCollider mailing list -- a LOT >of >questions. Often the answers involve "See ***** in the documentation." >At >some points, I would get frustrated with this... "Why can't people find > >this information? Aren't they reading the help pages?" Then I realized, > >it's not that it all -- it's just that there are so many help pages >that >nobody can get intimately familiar with them quickly. I have something >like >a 10 year head start over new SC users in that regard. That's a >valuable >resource on my part, but not a failing on their part. > >Anyway, back to the thread topic: If Windows users get scared off by >the >fact that double-clicking LilyPond.exe does not present a working >environment, and if they expect that result from double-clicking >LilyPond.exe, then they aren't getting sufficient information about the > >structure of the working environment from lilypond.org. A minor >redesign of >the Download page would help a lot with that. > >Carl's two-column approach is pretty much what I had in mind. Although, >he >suggests this would be only a slight improvement. I think it could be >more >than that. Suppose we introduce the downloads with a couple of >paragraphs >across the top: > >~~ >IMPORTANT: A complete working environment for LilyPond consists of two >components: LilyPond itself, and a music editor. If you have installed >only >one of these, then you're not experiencing LilyPond's full power. > >NEW USERS: After installing LilyPond for your operating system, review >the >editors in the right-hand column and install one of them. Use the >editor as >your primary LilyPond interface. >~~ > >hjh > >_______________________________________________ >lilypond-user mailing list >[email protected] >https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user
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