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Re: Maintainability Gary Wheeler23-Mar-04 5:47 Gary Wheeler 23-Mar-04 5:47  Software Zen: delete this; Although... John Kuhn22-Mar-04 13:23 John Kuhn 22-Mar-04 13:23  Although I think that ease-of-use should follow from good looking UI. What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Re: Although... Nemanja Trifunovic22-Mar-04 15:11 Nemanja Trifunovic 22-Mar-04 15:11  How so? Good looking means "pretty", and it has nothing to do with usability. Re: Although... John Kuhn22-Mar-04 15:46 John Kuhn 22-Mar-04 15:46  It depends on your universe of discourse; in this case, we're talking about desktop applications. In this context, is it not true that when someone says "good-looking UI", they are usually referring to one that is clean, neat and well-designed? Is is not also true then, that those kinds of user interfaces are intrinsically easy to use? What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Re: Although... p daddy23-Mar-04 1:54 p daddy 23-Mar-04 1:54  John Kuhn wrote: In this context, is it not true that when someone says "good-looking UI", they are usually referring to one that is clean, neat and well-designed? Is is not also true then, that those kinds of user interfaces are intrinsically easy to use? I'd agree with you there John. I yo-yo'd between easy-of-use and good-looking UI before choosing the latter; a good looking UI (by my standards) is an easy-to-use UI! Cheers, Paul Re: Although... Jim A. Johnson22-Mar-04 18:53 Jim A. Johnson 22-Mar-04 18:53  John Kuhn wrote: Although I think that ease-of-use should follow from good looking UI. Ummmm - not at all, no sirree, uh-uh, dead wrong, sorry, next contestant please. It's true that butt-ugly UI's can't be easy to use, but fuufy "graphics uber alles" Uis can be harder to use than anything. Re: Although... John Kuhn22-Mar-04 19:15 John Kuhn 22-Mar-04 19:15  Perhaps a good-looking UI needs to be more narrowly defined. As you state, poor UI design can be difficult to use; but a good-looking UI is not necessarily an extremely graphical UI, either. There are, of course, many web sites that fall into this category: visually pleasing, but nearly impossible to decipher as a user interface. On that point, perhaps those should be counted as "Graphic Art" and not "User Interface" -- for is it not true that the words "Good Looking UI" imply that it is an interface designed for users? And, if so, wouldn't a "Good Looking UI" be intrinsically useful? Take for example the Windows Media Player. Is it not good looking? And does its simple, good-looking interface not benefit ease of use? What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Windows Media Player isn't easy Nathan Holt at EMOM23-Mar-04 5:30 Nathan Holt at EMOM 23-Mar-04 5:30  John Kuhn wrote: Take for example the Windows Media Player. Is it not good looking? And does its simple, good-looking interface not benefit ease of use? Windows Media Player is an example of simple, good-looking interfaces falling short on ease of use. When I started with Windows Media Player, I tried to open a music file. There was no Open File, just an Open Location. I clicked that and got a dialog to open a web location with no browse button. I did finally got the music to play by opening windows explorer and double clicking on the file, but I was annoyed that I had to do it. To be easy to use, a program should provide the options that people are used to having and in the places that they are used to looking for them. Nathan Holt Re: Windows Media Player isn't easy John Kuhn23-Mar-04 9:48 John Kuhn 23-Mar-04 9:48  Are we both referring to Windows Media Player 9? Perhaps you should switch to compact mode. Even in "full" mode, you have basic controls that you would have on a portable MP3 player or walkman, everything discloses its own function with tooltips, there's online help... Not that I think WMP is the best software ever for multimedia, but it covers the bases. But then again, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Re: Windows Media Player isn't easy Nathan Holt at EMOM25-Mar-04 5:12 Nathan Holt at EMOM 25-Mar-04 5:12  For what it's worth, I think it was versio 6 or 7. I didn't look at the version, but I remember it was a year or two ago. Nathan Holt Re: Windows Media Player isn't easy John Kuhn25-Mar-04 15:13 John Kuhn 25-Mar-04 15:13  oh well. What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Think of a woman. Paul Watson22-Mar-04 21:51 Paul Watson 22-Mar-04 21:51  Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Christopher Duncan quoted: "...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives" Crikey! ain't life grand? Einstein says... Re: Think of a woman. p daddy23-Mar-04 1:55 p daddy 23-Mar-04 1:55  Paul Watson wrote: Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use. Re: Think of a woman. Navin23-Mar-04 4:55 Navin 23-Mar-04 4:55  Paul Watson wrote: Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use. Or, the best looking ones tend to be the most expensive. Remember, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat. Re: Think of a woman. Alvaro Mendez23-Mar-04 7:27 Alvaro Mendez 23-Mar-04 7:27  Yes, especially since everyone else is trying to use them too. Regards, Alvaro Give a man a fish, he owes you one fish. Teach a man to fish, you give up your monopoly on fisheries. Re: Think of a woman. John Kuhn23-Mar-04 9:01 John Kuhn 23-Mar-04 9:01  I can't argue with that... I just hope my wife doesn't find this post. What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Unconvinced Joel Holdsworth22-Mar-04 12:32 Joel Holdsworth 22-Mar-04 12:32  This poll would be a lot better if the user was forced to rank those choices in order of importance. The way things are going right now everyone's going to put #1 for all 6 options! Joel Holdsworth Re: Unconvinced Roger Wright22-Mar-04 13:14 Roger Wright 22-Mar-04 13:14  I did take the time to rank them, though having 7 factors and only 5 levels of importance required doubling up a bit. Oh well... Will Build Nuclear Missile For Food - No Target Too Small Re: Unconvinced Chris Maunder22-Mar-04 13:18 Chris Maunder 22-Mar-04 13:18  I screwed up. It was meant to be a single choice, not a rating choice. Sorry everyone. All votes have been reset. cheers, Chris Maunder Re: Unconvinced Marc Clifton22-Mar-04 14:48 Marc Clifton 22-Mar-04 14:48  Chris Maunder wrote: I screwed up. Now there's a quote for the history books if I ever saw one! Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog

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