Re: Panes vs. Separate Windows
Re: Panes vs. Separate Windows
- Subject: Re: Panes vs. Separate Windows
- From: Matt Reagan <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:57:00 -0800
> If you make it flexible, you risk getting 40% lovers and 40% haters, and 20% people who are annoyed because it’s too flexible or too complicated. That’s a net loss in satisfaction.
How about: 40% lovers, 40% haters, and 20% people who *are initially frustrated by the complexity, and then take a few minutes to learn how to leverage its power / flexibility.
That is most definitely a net *gain*.
This is the thing that is personally upsetting to me about this simplification trend in modern software, it's the idea that all users should be treated like children. There is a balance between simplicity/usability and flexibility/power to be found, and I think a lot of software these days veers way off the mark.
Of course as an abstract philosophy there's always scenarios in which providing a flexible system isn't worth the frustration it will cause with its learning curve, but Xcode is a perfect example of when this is _not_ the case (IMO); Xcode users should generally be expected to be reasonably intelligent folks who are willing to learn a tool's nuances if that means it will improve their workflow / development efficiency.
-Matt
> On Jan 11, 2016, at 2:17 PM, Quincey Morris <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> On Jan 11, 2016, at 13:06 , Lee Ann Rucker <email@hidden> wrote:
>>
>> no system is going to make everyone happy, so go for the most flexible one if you can
>
> I’d like to advocate the opposite point of view: no system is going to make everyone happy, so go for the the one that works best.
>
> (Yes, I understand what’s wrong with that statement.)
>
> My reasoning is that if you make it inflexible, you risk getting (say) 50% lovers and 50% haters. If you make it flexible, you risk getting 40% lovers and 40% haters, and 20% people who are annoyed because it’s too flexible or too complicated. That’s a net loss in satisfaction.
>
> (Yes, I understand what’s wrong with that statement, too.)
>
> My point is philosophical. You’re the developer. You’re supposed to know what works best for your app. If you haven’t decided yet, then your job isn’t done.
>
> (I also don’t want to restart Xcode wars, but I do actually believe that the unified window style that arrived in Xcode 4 was an actual decision about which worked best, made by clever people who actually thought about it. It wasn’t — I believe — merely clueless. I also want to point out that Xcode 3 was *hugely* criticized for its window bloat.)
>
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