Open Source Kickstarter Report Card

[RunRevPlanet]

Richmond said:

 > I'd be interested to know where one can
 > find these "usability standards", and by
 > whom they are authorised to be 'standards'

I know of no single website to visit that lists usability standards.

When I think of such a concept, it is more about tools working in a way that I
do not have to switch my way of thinking too much when I go from one to another.

As a concrete example, in the Windows world Ctrl+H is most commonly used as the
keyboard shortcut for Find and Replace. No one is bullying tool vendors into
using this shortcut, but muscle memory is a wonderful time saver and stops me
from having to think so hard when coding when a tool vendor does follows the
convention.

A different type of example of what I see as a usability standard, is that all
the other IDE's I use do not put the Variables and Breakpoints list on different
panes of the same window. Forcing me, not only to use he mouse to switch between
them, but also preventing me from viewing them both at the same time.

Such an arrangement that currently exists in LiveCode does not break any rules,
but is hardly what I would call as good an arrangement used by other IDEs where
I can see them both *and* the entire call stack list simultaneously. There is no
good reason for LiveCode to be different when the current arrangement is less
convenient and forces me to work harder.

These are just two examples, but the are other issues listed in my previous
post.

As far as I am concerned, the Next Generation IDE is not about making something
new and shiny just because it looks cool and copies what every other tool vendor
is doing.

It is instead about making LiveCode a tool that doesn't make me have to remember
a different set of rules and conventions while working in it and doing common
basic actions, as compared to other popular editors and IDEs.

Following expected conventions also reduces the chance of new users dismissing
LiveCode immediately they try do some simple actions that all of the other
programming tools do, but LiveCode cannot.

To me usability standards are all about increasing the user base, and reducing
the effort of my hands and brain when in LiveCode.
--
Scott McDonald
"Components, Controls, Tools and Resources for LiveCode"
www.runrevplanet.com