Re: dselect survey
Blunt Jackson <bluujack@gmail.com> wrote:
> Do I consider this a problem? Not particularly. It is my problem, as
> much as anyone's. This is a sophisticated sysadmin tool, and I am only
> an occasional sysadmin, by no means sophisticated.
So, I guess some people simply don't like the *type* of control
interface dselect offers, cause they want to see menus and widgets all
around instead of having to learn that $keystroke will perform $action.
Their main grief towards dselect is therefore formulated as "awkward,
non-intuitive user interface" as you wrote above. Well, I don't think
that is so important because I use dselect relatively often and this
type of interface allows very efficient operation. Of course, things are
a bit different for you since you said that you can spend six months
without using it.
The situation is IMHO a bit similar to the vi case: I find vi's
interface awkward, non-intuitive, just as you qualified dselect's one.
But I can understand that some people happen to get used to it, find it
efficient and even like it. It's their right, after all. And claiming
that vi is a POS just because I don't like its interface is probably not
right.
> important, you even have to think about how to make *them* happy. An
> owner, interested in user interface, might take it upon him- or
> herself to start a thread asking for interface suggestions, in a place
> where users congregate. Ask questions like: "What text-based
> applications do you consider to be examples of good design?" Focus on
I haven't witnessed any discussion of this type, but I suppose that
users would have conflicting views on the subject. Some would want a
very easy to understand interface where you just have to follow menus
without having to learn any keystroke, while others would prefer an
interface where a limited number of keystrokes is enough to get the job
done. And, er, I like dselect as it is[1], and am not particularly
interested in such a discussion. :-p
[1] That doesn't mean I think it's perfect (for instance, I dream of the
day where debtags will be fully operational and integrated in
dselect). Simply, I wouldn't welcome radical changes in the control
interface that would make it less efficient.
--
Florent
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