On 2008-03-25 23:28:34 +0100, Joost Verburg
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
Anyway, writing down her comments I've certainly learnt a lot. Most
importantly that there can actually be some thinking involved in
creating stuff like this!
Yes. Personally I think a nice website and logo are quite important. Of
course many developers and current users just care about the quality of
the software, but effective marketing can attract new users and
developers and generate more activity and interest. Products like
Mozilla Firefox have become very popular because of good advertising
combined with good software.
That is like the neverending discussion about what one finds important
in a relationship or what criteria a possible partner would have to
meet. Humans _are_ visually orientated beings and so attractiveness
_is_ important to us.
I personally completely avoid using ugly software from ugly websites,
unless it is really, really good. But I am a Mac-User and probably more
sensitive about these kind of things. A software must be really, really
to for me to use it even though it is ugly. For example, Inkscape is
sooooo ugly on Mac (the website is okay though), but it is quite a good
application, so I use it. LyX is not too ugly (though the website is),
but it is a brilliant application, so I use it. OpenOffice/X11 has a
confusing pseudo-business-like website and is because of its use of X11
way too ugly (for Inkscape there is no alternative to X11), so I
completely stopped using it. This is because when working with a
computer I do not want to work _for_ the computer but rather _with_ the
computer and an app should be easy, nice and intuitive (which LyX in
many ways already is). And such things as nice websites, splash
screens, logos, document icons and the general appearance are important
and can evoke positive emotions in the best case and negative emotions
in the worst case -- just think of your reactions when someone sends
you, say, a .doc instead of a .rtf or .pdf or when someone sends you a
.bmp that will not open instead of a .png or .jpg -- at least I feel
negative emotions coming up at the very moment I spot the word icon...
Maksi
