linuxaudio.org

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 12:52:50AM +0200, Arnold Krille wrote:
> On Wednesday 13 October 2010 22:21:04 you wrote:

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> > On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 07:52:29PM +0200, Arnold Krille wrote:

> > > [*] No, I don't have references at hand. I just look at the big projects

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> > > with their usability experts and their guide-lines. Which they create so

> > > that developers like you and me don't have to worry about colors,

> > > knob-behavior, widget movement and key shortcuts...

> >

> > A few comments:

> >

> > "Usability experts" in big projects are more often than not just

> > market researchers. Which means that whatever they produce amounts

> > to the desires of a population whose preferences are in most cases

> > not the result of any rational process but of commercial manipulation

> > combined with ignorance. And in any case what they turn up would be

> > completely irrelevant in the context of any specialised application

> > domain. I'll let audio engineers tell me how an audio app should

> > look on screen, not any of those 'experts'.

>

> That is not very fair to the usability experts working in universities, doing

> usability-studies on free software and for free software. Yes, they try to

> sell something. Free software for example...

I'm pretty sure that none of them is evaluating audio software from the

perspective of an audio engineer.
> Ok, so my suggestion of using CTRL+Q for 'quit' is bad. Probably my suggestion

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> for using 'whatever the user wants as shortcut for quit' is also bad.

Of all actions a program may perform, quitting is probably the one that

*least* of all needs a shortcut. If you quit, your work is finished. Compared

to all others it's a very infrequent action and there is nothing urgent about

it. Your window manager will provide a 'Quit' button, and that's really all

it takes. It doesn't even depend on the application.
Things that require shortcuts (in audio) are editing actions as in Ardour,

actions that change the visual presentation in a live context (e.g. opening

a window with plugins in a mixer), triggering real-time actions (e.g. start

recording), etc. Instruments implemented in software require them as well,

but I wouldn't include them as general-purpose audio apps - they are really

a class apart. 
There are no sensible shortcuts for 'Aux send 4 on channel 23 on/off' or

similar actions you would perform on a mixer. And even less for changing

values of continuous controls. The only function shorcuts can have in an

app that may have hundreds if not thousands of controls is to help you

reach them as fast as possible. And that will always be specific to the

particular application. 
> And using the colors the user wants (or needs!) instead of inforcing ones own

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> ideas is also bad.

I'm currently working on an app that could easily have more than a

hundred functions (some unique, some replicated over many instances)

a particular rotary control could have. The color scheme and layout

will be designed to help the user find the control he/she needs as

easily as possible. Not by thinking but by following hints he/she

will in many cases not even be aware of. Do you really think a user

would be prepared to organise that on his/her own ? 
> > As an example, the typical GUI toolkit slider is a *joke* for pro

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> > audio. It's just good enough to control the volume of a media player.

> > One could expect it to be useful as well for e.g. controlling the

> > gains of a soundcard, but even in that modest role it fails (see a

> > recent thread about an improved envy24control).

>

> I agree on the typical slider. The typical rotary knobs are bad too.

> But that doesn't really mean that every app should use its own invention

> with own graphics and own use-method, does it?

Why not ? If it does the job its OK. And if it's designed by someone with

real-life experience in the particular field of application it is probably

close to what another designer with the same background would provide, and

to what an experienced user would expect. And anyway, what is the alternative ?
Ciao,
--

FA
There are three of them, and Alleline.
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