On 02/18/2013 07:19 PM, Tom Horsley wrote
But if you read some of the articles where the justifications for things like Gnome 3 have been presented, the developers are constantly talking about how they are doing it all for "typical users". The problem is that these typical users are all totally imaginary and exist inside the designer's heads. If they developed stuff they actually wanted to use themselves, there would at least be a few real users instead of a crowd of imaginary typical users.
I just dismiss that "typical user" stuff as PR fluff. What they going to say? We develop it for atypical users?
I think developers, not just FOSS developers, usually make an effort to create software users will like. I just think FOSS developers are poorly positioned to find out what users need. (Indy OS X developers are in a similar position. They are often single developers trying to make money selling at Apple's App Store. Many don't have resources to support real user testing, either. So, they play it by ear, like FOSS. Except they know down to the dollar how popular their products are.)
I also think it's almost impossible for an experienced developer to intuit what users expect from software.
The thing about designing software is that you just can't ask users what they want, or what they like. They often say crazy things. You need to spend time with users observing, and asking questions about, the activities your software is supposed to support. It's the difference between this: Ask a desert villager carrying a bucket of water back home what he'd like. He's probably going to say, Make me a lighter bucket. And this: I see you need to walk two miles to find water. Did you know we can run a pipe out there?
-- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
