Re: Dia's user interface

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Sun, 21 Apr 2002, Adrien Beau wrote:
> On Sunday 21 April 2002 14:43, Lars Clausen wrote:
> > <URL:http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html> about
> > user interfaces in open-source software, I would like to hear
> > if anybody on the list knows something about user interfaces
> > (more than just from having used a bunch).  If there are any,
> > could you point out the worst problems that Dia has in its
> > interface?  I'd like to turn some attention to that as we
> > work towards a 1.0 release.
>
> Regarding user-friendlyness, there are two other major
> issues. First, the website badly needs to be updated more
> often. Second, Dia needs more shapes.
>
> As for the website, it is still a mystery to me that none
> of the developers have the time to update the news section.
> Pointing to the page that contains the CVS snapshots is
> important, too.

News section.  I don't actually think much about that.  Yeah, it's pretty
thin, isn't it?  Looks like nothing's going on.  Of course, there hasn't
been a new official release since 0.88.1, but there's been other stuff.
Those who announce 'official' stuff to the list (Windows port updates, Dia
in the press, shape collections available etc) should make sure to get the
news updated (either themselves or by reminding the maintainers).

> As for the shapes, I'm not sure the users of this list can
> do much - if they can, I guess they've already done it. I
> think Dia needs more publicity, and it must be made clear
> that if someone finds a shape is missing in Dia, he should
> at best provide it, at worst, describe what is missing.
>
> What do you think of having a "shape missing" report page
> on the site, not unlike a bug report page?

A good idea.  If it contains pointers to the definitions, anyone who wants
to experiment with shapes could go at it.

This would go well with a shape repository.  Michael, would it be difficult
to have the Shape editor being able to download stuff from the net?  Maybe
with a default address of the 'official' repository?

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?