ANN: Global freeware laptop diary tool in REV

[Garrett Hylltun]

Mark Schonewille wrote:
> Dear Garrett and Bill,
> 
> Maybe you and everyone else on this list remember that Kresten asked you 
> for your opinions. Have you told Kresten how bad the interface really is 
> in your view?
> 
> Also, my impression is that one needs to look just a little bit further 
> than the interface. The idea behind it is very nice and it might help 
> people change their lives. I also know that for researchers, the 
> interface is the least important thing. Researchers want to collect data 
> and don't have time to be bothered by something silly like an interface. 
> (Even though as a software developers and researcher, I know that good 
> interfaces help collecting accurate data).
> 
> Now, I agree that the interface needs some severe adjustments and I 
> expect Kresten and his team to work on this in the future. However, I 
> think that the way Garrett and Bill critisize this work is indeed a bit 
> harsh. I know that Kresten is fully aware of the problem, but if you're 
> a scientist, it may be a little difficult to pay equal attention to 
> functionality and looks. Perhaps, as a member of this great Revolution 
> community, you could help him?

After my email I did attempt to look further into the program.  The 
whole glyph idea just doesn't work for me.  I'm just not able to 
associate the glyphs in my mind to functions of a program.  Of course 
we're all accustomed to visual representations of cut, copy, paste and 
the sorts, but this is just too much glyph to mind processing for me. 
The gui might also have a major play in this problem since the gui is 
far more distracting than the glyphs themselves.  It's too hard to 
concentrate on the representations when the gui is screaming at you like 
that.

I also think that the whole idea is (IMO) bad since it will require 
users to think more upon the what the glyphs represent than thinking of 
what they want to convey from their mind to the program itself.  There's 
just too much involved for the task that it's suppose to handle.

If my previous email was considered harsh, I'm glad I didn't say what I 
really wanted to say.  I wanted to be helpful with that last email, but 
hey, I tried.  Don't shoot me for at least trying.

-Garrett

"Rush Rush, Straight Up, Opposites Attract"