2006NOV081200

I'm playing around with stickit. Now I'm being hyper critical. It's easy to be critical with *other peoples software* so while I bear this in mind I'm also conscious of the fact I've just been re-reading Alan Coopers (father of VB) , 'Inmates Running the Asylum' over the Cup week break.

 

Doing some very basic input I came across some pet hates:

 

* how do I add a (foo) new note?

- eventually found it (far right hand button)

 

* wasted screen space

- each entry field is box constrained

- so much wasted space

 

* plain text entry

- difficult to reach goal unless you read docs

- functionality hidden in commands not shown

 

* buttons are for location not functionality

- press a button and you might expect to do something not go somewhere

- exception is *New stickit*

 

The most annoying things ...

 

* could not create a new note

* could not do things using command text + data

 

Why is the new note the most obscure icon to the far right ignoring 2000 years of heritage of written language that says read from left to right, top to bottom?

 

The natural language parsing gets in the way of the novice by hiding commands (had to read help) and grates at experts by having no computer hinting. For example a Markdown syntax checker.

 

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