LC8DP15 feedback-IDE Issues

[J. Landman Gay]

On 3/2/2016 10:04 AM, Mark Waddingham wrote:
> Just to clarify my comment, what I was trying to point out (in an
> attempt at a humourous way) is that invoking a 'interface designer' does
> not magically mean you end up with a user interface which any one person
> agrees with, or actually works for all use-cases.

Oh yes, absolutely, and I've found the team to be remarkably responsive. 
I was very impressed with Ali, he really listened and was intent on 
making the IDE as perfect as possible. I wanted to hug him, I was that 
happy.

That said, there are certain established expectations for how computer 
interfaces work, how people read/scan written material, how layouts are 
most easily accessed, and so forth. Every time a tool breaks any of 
those expectations the user will be frustrated or annoyed, even if it is 
just momentary. That's what happened to me when I recently started to 
explore the new IDE.

I have very strong motivations to use LC, it's my whole business. But I 
was frustrated enough that I went back to vs 7 after each attempt with 
8. I will learn it eventually, and I'm willing to do so, but I wonder 
about the new users we want to court. If they need to read documentation 
(currently lacking) and expend a lot of effort to learn how a tool works 
("selections aren't as you'd expect, we do it this way,") they won't 
bother. We'll lose them.

I could make a list if that would help. There are too many small things 
to write reports about each one, but I do think that attention to these 
little details would improve the user experience. The team may think my 
criticisms are trivial, but they did cause me trouble. And I very much 
want new users to intuit the IDE immediately and get drawn in. Surely 
making them fight their instincts can't be productive.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com