Metacard support

[jbv]

Alejandro Tejada a *crit :

>
> I expect to see a more user customizable interface
> in the future.

Well, I'm not sure... depends on what you mean by
"customizable"...
I'm afraid that too many degrees of freedom in
customisation might lead to totally non-consistent
interfaces. Just consider the incredible number of
ugly webpages on the net, the incredible number of
non-consistent (often impossible to use) interfaces in
websites and online flash movies...

The problem with interface design is the same as with
desktop publishing : in the late 80's there was a widespread
illusion that anyone with a Mac and PageMaker could
become a layout designer. And finally it became obvious that
only those with real & professional artistic skills would
survive. Mac & PageMaker were only tools.

It's the same with interface design : the (apparent) ease of
use of HTML and Flash has lead to great productions, but
also (IMHO) 100 times more crap.
The birth of the Mac interface in the mid 80's had lead to
some very strong & efficient interface design set of rules,
(for instance having a File menu and an Edit menu with more
or less the same items in each app) that was indeed a very
good thing after years of anarchy in the Windows environment.
But the widespread use of HTML and the many other development
tools have started to dilute those rules (many newbies aren't even
aware of them). You have no idea what I've been asked to do by
clients with no computer interface culture... It's sometimes hard
to resist...

Well, as long as end users only design crap interface for their
own IDE, it's not a too big problem (although it might affect
their productivity by several orders of magnitude)... But their
choices might extend to apps for clients, or stuff they put online
for others to download...

I have the feeling that switchable (on/off) parts of the interface
(palettes, etc) might be a better option...
AFAIR this option of switchable options has been already discussed
last summer on the MC list...

JB