[mythtv-users] Why Free Software has poor usability ?

lists_mythtv_users lists_mythtv_users at bigpizza.co.uk
Wed Aug 6 15:02:28 UTC 2008


Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 08/04/2008 06:21 PM, Matt S. wrote:
>   
>> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:15 PM, Brian Wood wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Param Singh wrote:
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> Interesting article :: Why Free Software has poor usability, and how
>>>> to improve it
>>>> ============================================================
>>>> Link :: http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability
>>>> ============================================================
>>>>
>>>> Major Points in the article
>>>>
>>>> * Weak incentives for usability.
>>>> * Few good designers.
>>>> * Design suggestions often aren't invited or welcomed.
>>>>         
>>> Well those first 3 certainly do not apply to the MythTV project.
>>>     
>>>       
>> You are joking right?  These first 3 defintely apply to myth and if
>> you don't think that, then that's exactly the kind of behavior that
>> this article is pointing out.
>>   
>>     
> ...
>   
>> *Usability - could be WAY better.  I would never want to deploy myth
>> to someone who wasn't technical like me.  However, I like it, because
>> I am a power user.  But, usability has never been a primary focus of
>> the project, it's always been secondary to functionality.  In fact, go
>> search the archives and you'll get nearly 500+ emails on usability:
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/engine?list=mythtv&do=search_results&search_forum=forum_1&search_string=usability&search_type=AND
>> not to mention I remember a thread from a couple years ago where
>> someoen was offering to do usability testing on myth because they felt
>> usability sucked, but it wasn't really welcomed - I think it might
>> have been this thread:
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/158724?search_string=usability%20test;#158724
>> or this great example:
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/172094?search_string=usability%20assessment;#172094
>> (couldn't find the whole thread on Gossamer).
>>
>>   
>>     
>
> OK.  My view of MythTV (based on what I've seen on the lists) shows that 
> the biggest usability problem with MythTV is the sheer number of options 
> that users must configure appropriately when first setting up their 
> system.  That's also the reason for "competitors" (are we really 
> competing with anyone?) use "mythtv is a lot of work" as a marketing 
> tool (as pointed out by the OP in a follow-up at 
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/344625#344625 ).
>
> So, a while ago, as part of the Google Summer of Code, a very zealous 
> student decided to help out with usability by making it easier to setup 
> and configure ( 
> http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/SoC2006#Settings_Rework.2FEnhancements 
> ).  So, he posted a message to the -dev list with his proposed changes ( 
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/dev/207059#207059 ) and all 
> sorts of users came out of the woodwork to tell him exactly why all the 
> /completely useless/ settings he was proposing to remove needed to stay 
> (read the whole thread to see--my favorite was the "Time offset for 
> thumbnail preview images," which some clueless users still think is useful).
>
> So, what happened?  The poor kid basically didn't have a chance at 
> finishing the project because we were forced to:
>
>   
>> * Placating people with options. - Seriously, do I even need to point
>> out the hundreds of discussions on simplifying settings?  Also, what
>> about the "hidden" options that are only available by directly editing
>> the database.
>>     
>
>   
Sounds like guided procedure could help.  Keep all the options, default
to having some of them hidden (unless the user chooses to switch on some
sort of expert mode) and have a "Help me setup" guided procedure that
asks as few questions as possible with the goal of creating a working
system using sensible defaults.

Steve.



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