[TextMate] Preferences solution

[Michael Gregoire]

No software needs to explain that why there is a lack of 
preferences...even "PROFESSIONAL" software. That's because they HAVE 
preferences. Standard usability. Like I said before. It is a design 
flaw if you need to place an explanation where the preferences should 
be in order to avoid including preferences.

Let's see, if I look for Preferences in the menu and then I have along 
winded explanation why there are no preferences after I've selected the 
"preferences" menu item, that seems to me to be rather useless, better 
off not having preferences in the menu. Of course I still feel strongly 
that there should be a preference pane.



On Oct 7, 2004, at 2:32 PM, Eric Ocean wrote:

>
> On Oct 7, 2004, at 11:16 AM, Michael Gregoire wrote:
>
>> I also think that if needs to be explained, then there is definitely 
>> a design flaw.
>
> I'm not sure where this bit of "wisdom" originated, but it's simply 
> not true. I'm not sure how many of TextMate's user base have used more 
> complex, task-specific software (such as a $600,000 video editor) 
> where efficiency is paramount, but I have yet to encounter a 
> professionally useful software application that did not require 
> explanation as to how to use it. I consider TextMate to be geared 
> towards professionals who essentially create and edit structured text 
> for a living. I fully expect TextMate to require explanation, if it is 
> to be truly as efficient as say, vim or Emacs. Indeed it must, because 
> both those apps have a very strong conceptual framework that they work 
> in.
>
> Giving a preferences explanation after invoking the Preferences menu 
> command is simply a convenient time to explain a feature (not a design 
> flaw, at least as far as the creator's are concerned) of TextMate at a 
> time when the user is likely to be extremely receptive to such 
> information. (A tip-of-the-day is for, well, tips–not the 
> application's philosophy of use.)
>
> What most people mean by a "design flaw" is something that "once you 
> understand the application (which hopefully didn't take much 
> time/effort)", doesn't make sense according to that understanding. By 
> that metric, the preferences "flaw" in TextMate is not explaining 
> TextMate to the user, so that they expected it to be like the other's 
> they already knew. There's no harm in explaining things, so long as 
> the explanation makes sense. People can learn (and seem to enjoy it, 
> if it makes their life better).
>
> The number one job of any UI designer is to establish a "contract" of 
> sorts with the user as to how the software works, and then to make 
> damn sure that it actually does. That's much harder than it looks, but 
> it's where greatness lies. TextMate's developers at least seem to be 
> on the path...
>
> Regards,
>
> Eric Ocean
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