[mythtv-users] Why Free Software has poor usability ?
Michael T. Dean
mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Wed Aug 6 15:20:32 UTC 2008
On 08/06/2008 11:02 AM, lists_mythtv_users wrote:
> Michael T. Dean wrote:
>
>> 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.
Though it's getting a bit off topic, that was similar to the overall
plan for the GSoC project (basically hiding some settings in an "expert"
mode), but in addition to being unable to remove any of the useless
settings, separating the wheat from the chaff (for normal and expert
modes) proved extremely difficult, too. Your approach would be even
more difficult as it requires identifying all the possible "basic"
configuration paths used by different users in different areas of the
world (i.e. master backend/slave backend/frontend/..., analog or digital
capture, Schedules Direct or XMLTV, ...).
If anyone wants to do what you suggest, the patch would be /very/ much
appreciated. Even if the one who choses to learn MythTV setup (for all
areas/TV types/...) well enough to identify these paths (or who
coordinates the effort of identifying them) isn't a coder, having the
paths identified would be a /huge/ help to the person writing the code.
And, writing the code probably wouldn't be that difficult once the paths
are clear, and it could probably be done as part of the mythui
conversion (though mythtv-setup and frontend settings are getting closer
and closer to the top of the "next-to-be-converted" list).
However, I'll say that I (a non-dev) don't plan to spend my time doing
this because, well, my system is already well configured, and in
configuring it, I figured out how to use the current approach.***
Mike
***No, that doesn't mean I wouldn't spend my time doing stuff to help
others. It does mean that I only spend my time doing stuff to help
others when there's some benefit to me (for example, the backup
functionality I'm slowly adding to Myth helps me to more easily answer
questions/help users who destroy their DB's). I don't spend enough time
helping others with initial setup to warrant the kind of time a complete
settings overhaul would take.
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