[PD] PD usability

[pix]

don't forget that open software is a two way street. if you are the kind
of person that likes docs, every time you learn something and couldn't
find it in the documentation, perhaps you should make a help patch and
send it to miller?

pix.

On Wed, 12 Feb 2003 18:13:25 -0500
"Matthew Nish-Lapidus" <mattn-l at rogers.com> wrote:

> i would have to say the biggest issue that i have with PD is docs. 
> MAX's help files are amazing.. if PD had help files like that there
> would be a lot less difference between PD and MAX in the learning phase.
> 
> matt.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "mark" <mark at junklight.com>
> To: "'Marc Lavallée'" <odradek at videotron.ca>; "'pd-list'"
> <pd-list at iem.kug.ac.at>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 5:59 PM
> Subject: RE: [PD] PD usability
> 
> 
> If it where me that wanted to make PD more "producty" (technical
> term that :-) - and its not -  I already have enough joy with this
> at work with users/support/testing/load testing/a development
> team/a dept. head/etc. - Then I would try to establish a small group
> of volunteers to do the work. I am sure the rest of the community
> would support such an effort if it didn't mean much work on their
> part.
> 
> The key areas I see as being vital are;
> 
> installer - not always an easy job 'cos of the platform thing (and the
> quality of the tools). As a guide I have had a team member put in
> about 6 man months over the last two years on our installer.
> 
> Config - midi/audio selection would have to be a preferences
> dialog for the more casual user. I guess this would have implications
> on how PD starts up too.
> 
> GUI - you can argue its fine until you are blue in the face - people
> are used to and expect pretty interfaces - if you want
> minimalist/functional
> then it needs to be *designer* minimalist functional (think Peter
> Saville/factory
> records). Its just the way it goes.
> 
> Docs - there needs to be a reference manual. Again you can argue
> about it all you like - not having one means that the beginner has to
> do a lot more work to get into the product.
> 
> Support - who is going to provide support to people. What happens when
> the mailing list is full of people going - "it does't work on my
> pc..why?" or
> "I NEED feature X..why can't you make it do that"
> 
> Don't get me wrong - PD is just great as it is as far as I am concerned
> - what
> I am talking about is making it accessible to a wider audience. It
> will grow larger as time goes by and by having a high level of knowledge
> needed for entry we make life easier for ourselves.
> 
> Again - not trying to pour water on ideas but if you want to make PD
> accessible to a wider audience you need to consider what is involved
> 
> cheers
> 
> mark
> 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pd-list-admin at iem.kug.ac.at
> > [mailto:pd-list-admin at iem.kug.ac.at] On Behalf Of Marc Lavallée
> > Sent: 12 February 2003 22:37
> > To: 'pd-list'
> > Subject: RE: [PD] PD usability
> >
> >
> > Le mer 12/02/2003 à 16:59, mark a écrit :
> >
> > > Sorry to be blunt about this but I did say I had my day job hat on.
> > > :-)
> >
> > I actually resigned from a well paid job in a university
> > center because I was unable to bring artists to use free
> > software and be more responsible. I had to manage a bunch of
> > projects, buy computers and softwares, and program "art". It
> > was a stupid and impossible mandate, because artists
> > (especially students) must do their own stuff, not always
> > rely on programmers to hold the mouse for them. Of course,
> > most artists were asking for Macs/Max/MSP/Jitter, leaving
> > little money for anything else, including humain brain juice.
> >
> > So for me, a "better" PD would have been cool. I won't accept
> > such a job unless artists agrees to change their tools and
> > their attitude toward technology. But we need to help them a
> > little bit, or I might never work with them again.
> >
> > --
> > Marc
> >
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