[PD] PD usability

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,
martin pi hat gesagt: // martin pi wrote:

> some points to this - or "why is pd really not
> friendly to the user"
> 
> 1. it has modes (as opposed to modeless
> environments (this is why people do not like vi,
> too). modes are hard to understand - especially
> for mac people since the mac interface is
> traditionally modeless

(j)Max has modes as well. Word 5 for Dos had modes. Reactor kind of
has modes, as well. I don't think, modes are bad, but I'm a Vim user.
Of course, 'normal' users, i.e. those used to the whole Windows/Mac 
desktop paradigm will hate modes.

> 2. it does not support the usual features like
> drag and drop, cut & paste (in message boxes for
> example) thus it is inconsistent (and that is the
> main point why people from the commercial side
> have problems with free software)

Yes, this isn't good. It is in part due to the cross-platform nature
of Pd, but I'm sure this can be fixed. It's just, that there are other
things that will be fixed earlier. I mean, up to 0.36 we didn't have
Undo!

> 3. it does not have a clear rythm of behaviour -
> sometimes it is fast as light, sometimes just
> stuck. most times inbetween. worst when audio
> processing is on (and realtime on my comp).

This is one of the thing that should be fixed before drag'n'drop, but
might be much harder, because it seems to be deep in the current
architecture. But the close dependency between DSP and GUI must go, as
Thomas wrote. 

> yet it is mostly verb-noun based thus good in the
> general flow

Patch-writing is very much like creating a world, and may I remember
you: a Creator's job isn't an easy one, and even HE made a lot of
mistakes so it seems... (No religious harm intended. ;) 

ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                               _ ______footils.org__