2013-07-17, 10:20
I have tried this program several times and was very positively impressed by its capabilities each one of them. And yet I do not use it on a regular basis (the tool I use is Media Companion), for the following reasons relating to its user interface/ergonomics:
My verdict of this program is that though it is the most complete, advanced, and useful library manager available, it is rendered useless by its silly user interface. And yes, silly is the right word.
I know there are many developers out there who don't give a damn for ergonomics, instead thinking of themselves as mad artists who owe to society an articulate expression of the extravagant and the surreal. My advise to them is as follows:
(1) The path to greatness is humility.
(2) Look beyond your limited digital environment to the analog word of art. Society is already well served in terms of extravagamce and surrealism by artists such as Max Ernst or Egon Schiele. Your artwork does not measure up to them.
(3) If you care nothing for art, take a basic course in cognitive and behavioral psychology to learn how the mind responds to such silly interfaces as you produce. While it may be OK for a developer to care nothing for art, I submit that he/she is serously deranged if he/she also cares nothing for science.
I should add as a concluding remark that the combination of genius in code design and silliness in interface design should not surprise us. Silliness in some parts of the brain is sometimes the necessary corollary of genius in the brain at large (think of Sir Isaac Newton), and as for developers it is I believe a well accepted rule that they should never ever be allowed to design their interfaces.
- The color scheme is horrible and tiresome to the eye. Ever heard of black on white?
[item] The font is too small and barely legible. Ever heard of the invention of the roman typeface back in the Renaissance?
- The organization of everything into a single screen with every sub-function leading to a new screen from which one has to return to the main screen is a nuisance. Often you need just the sub-function, and the best way to organize all main screens and sub-functions is by tabs.
- Fancy symbols/graphics are a distortion.
- Icons which are not explanatory to a text are at best useless, at worst a distortion.
My verdict of this program is that though it is the most complete, advanced, and useful library manager available, it is rendered useless by its silly user interface. And yes, silly is the right word.
I know there are many developers out there who don't give a damn for ergonomics, instead thinking of themselves as mad artists who owe to society an articulate expression of the extravagant and the surreal. My advise to them is as follows:
(1) The path to greatness is humility.
(2) Look beyond your limited digital environment to the analog word of art. Society is already well served in terms of extravagamce and surrealism by artists such as Max Ernst or Egon Schiele. Your artwork does not measure up to them.
(3) If you care nothing for art, take a basic course in cognitive and behavioral psychology to learn how the mind responds to such silly interfaces as you produce. While it may be OK for a developer to care nothing for art, I submit that he/she is serously deranged if he/she also cares nothing for science.
I should add as a concluding remark that the combination of genius in code design and silliness in interface design should not surprise us. Silliness in some parts of the brain is sometimes the necessary corollary of genius in the brain at large (think of Sir Isaac Newton), and as for developers it is I believe a well accepted rule that they should never ever be allowed to design their interfaces.