First experience with LC 8.0's Interactive Welcome

[The Floridude]

Good stuff, Quentin! Having worked as a technical writer, I know from firsthand experience the importance of oversimplifying the user experience. In fact, one of the first things a budding technical writer is taught is “to know your audience.” Because one of LiveCode’s goals is obviously to attract new users, the initial experience is extremely important. (You know the reality of first impressions.) If a new user can delve right in and actually accomplish something, the seed is thus planted and the user will return for more. On the other hand, if the experience is “daunting” and counterproductive, then the user will likely move on to other pastures.

Creating a productive and intuitive interface, along with good documentation, is not an easy task for sure—but doing so is every bit as important (at least in my opinion) as the product itself. A company can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one can learn to use it, then what’s the point?

Learning LiveCode has been a rewarding experience for me personally, but I probably picked up a lot of the concepts due to “transference” from other programming environments (none of which I am an expert, but I am sure the learning curve was greatly reduced). As some folks here have pointed out, I think it would be beneficial to monitor newbies and learn from their experiences; some research is definitely in order. Personally, I sometimes  find myself “too close” to my projects and often lose sight of the user experience. (A mistake.) I cannot stress the importance of an intuitive interface with good documentation—written with new users in mind. 

Kudos to the LiveCode team for a great product, and I look forward to its continued development!

Best regards,

Keith “Boo” Long
Gulf Breeze, Florida

 


> On May 6, 2016, at 11:28 AM, use-livecode-request at lists.runrev.com wrote:
> 
> Re: First experience with LC 8.0's Interactive Welcome