Mark Johnson wrote:
>
snip
> >terminal (as in kill your computer) problems. Some examples could be:
> >
> I think this is a wonderful idea too, but why PDF? I'd rather HMTL or plain
> text...
I never really thought much about it, I just like pdf text. it reminds
me of books. My objection to HTML is how it looks on different browsers,
but in thinking about it that would not be an issue here
> > I did a portion of my Master's work on usability problems. Much of it based on my
>long, difficult, and destructive attempts at learning linux.
> >
> Wow, do you have anything published that I could read on this subject. I very
>interested in this sort of thing.
No, I never published anything on my own, some of my stuff went into
work one of my professors was doing, but I can't point wiht pride to
scholarly writing.
> It seems that one thing MS and Apple have is a dedicated group that help
> solve usability problems that are not so closely tied to the >techy/developer
>mentality. I don't know for sure but I don't think this >is true for the KDE, GNOME,
>etc. groups (correct me if I'm wrong), my >impression is that there is some gathering
>of ideas from the community >about usability issues, but the ideas come from and are
>processed by >folks higher-up on the computer food chain instead of from the middle
>or >lower regions.
I think this is one of the major problems with Linux in general.
Documentation is written for techys by techys (sorry for the derogatory
tone, I hold techys in high esteem and aspire to that status someday).
It needs to be written for Joe Computeruser by people who understand the
software but can look at the systems the way a user does. Telling me
after about 40 installs to partition a drive has a much lower fear
factor than a roookie. If I screw up I can start over again without a
problem, Joe might not know how to recover.
snip
>
> Just recently my wife has shown some interest in installing Linux >because she wants
>to see what the gimp is like since she is a web >developer. And though I am a little
>apprehensive about this venture, it >will be when folks like her reach a critical
>mass that some usablility >innovation will show up in the OS.
Right, I agree with that 100%
--
Jim
--
James Mellema, CRNA
--------------------------
Linux User # 71650
ICQ #19685870
