Re: Idea!

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 2581

Posted by srdiamond15
2005-01-17 16:36:08

Sycon uses the application mostly in tandem with consultation work. I think they intend the program to be intuitive but not self-evident. That is, intuitive after the user has learned the basics, and the basics aren’t easy to access without the developer’s help. Functions are hidden away where you wouldn’t think to look, but in this case, once you know where they are, you don’t easily forget. At least that was true of me. Although intuitiveness in apprehension and intuitiveness in use seem to covary pretty strongly, they can come apart, and I think they do with Idea! (I’d say BrainStorm is another program that is more intuitive in use than in initial apprehension, with the difference that you can easily learn it from the help file.

The thing to do if you want to persevere is when you run into a problem, tell the developer, and he might point out a feature you didn’t take notice of that resolves the problem. At least he’ll tell you why it’s organized like it is, which in itself could help orienting to it.

Stephen R. Diamond

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