-----Original Message-----
From: Paul M Foster [mailto:pa...@quillandmouse.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 6:31 PM
To: php-general@lists.php.net
Subject: Re: [PHP] What do you call the end-user?
On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 01:26:50PM -0400, Tedd Sperling wrote:
> Hi gang:
>
> I can't wait for tomorrow -- so here's my off-topic post today.
>
> First question:
>
> What do you call the people who ultimately use your code?
>
> I call them the "end-user", but others have stated other terms, such
> as "customer" or "user".
"User", because I'm writing the code for *my* customer. The person actually
exposed to my code may or may not be a customer of anyone. They may simply
be an internet surfer at my customer's site.
>
> Second question:
>
> Are you concerned with their ("whomever") experience in using your
> code?
>
> This question transcends your code working correctly, accurately, and
> securely -- no need to comment on those aspects. But rather more
> specifically do you consider how easily your "whomever" can use your
> work efforts?
>
> As you may have guessed - I just attended a UX conference and they
> provide an interesting perspective on UX. I was wondering how php
> developers typically address the subject.
I'm interested in user experience to a limited extent. My interest stops
when a user wants the code to wipe their nose for them. "Can we make the
website automatically update our accounting system and then write a check
for the cost of goods to the vendor? Sure. How much money do you have?"
(Their accounting system is some inscrutable pile of Windows COM objects,
like SAP, behind a firewall. And they don't even know which vendor to write
the check to. I guess mental telepathy is a part of the PHP libraries not
installed on my development system.) Or "when someone sends the form on the
website for an appointment request, can you make a reminder pop up on all
the desktops in the office? No, I can't. Here's an idea: assign someone to
check the email for appointment requests throughout the day, and contact the
customer to confirm, based on you actually *looking* at your appointment
calendar." Sheesh. Apparently, computers (not mine) are capable of
performing magic tricks.
I think my screens should be fairly self-explanatory, if possible. But I'm
averse to making them idiot-proof. If you're an idiot, get someone else to
operate your computer for you. You shouldn't be using one. But there may be
times when a computer screen or set of screens will absolutely require some
training, rather than someone completely unfamiliar with the workings of the
office just sitting down and being able to guess how to operate the system.
You didn't learn to drive by just sitting in a car and guessing how it is
done. Don't expect a web-based application to be operable simply by
guessing, necessarily.
By the way, I'm quite happy to write documentation for systems.
Unfortunately, more than half the people who read anything can't actually
*apply* what they read to whatever system they're working with.
Supposedly they can read. But somehow they still need someone to explain it
to them, no matter how good the docs are.
Paul
--
Paul M. Foster
http://noferblatz.com
http://quillandmouse.com
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LOL Paul,
You are so very spot on, I have a current customer who would like
the website to just load when he logs in. I wish I had not agreed to writing
him a startup script to load the interface for him because NOW he wants it
to auto login for him. They use a random key generator as a portion on their
login authentication. So let's see: The system sends you a report every hour
on the hour. You no longer have to navigate to the interface. It auto logs
into the system for you.....
I pander to these kind of people like there is no tomorrow when they are the
ones who sign the check, because anything outside of scope cost BIG TIME. :)
I have gone so far to create training aids that are system mimics to explain
to them what they are doing wrong and what the next step is. I use to write
SCO compliant learning systems and let me tell you there is NO such thing as
idiot proof.
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