Re: [Gimp-developer] Search Action dialog feature

[peter sikking <peter mmiworks net>]

Mitch wrote:

> I really don't know where the problem is here.

now that I was asked to get involved, read the spec and
made an analysis, here is what the problem is:


TITo, as it stands today, is a UI subsystem for which it
was never decided whether it was a search/help system or
a command interpreter. trying to be both, it is simply
substandard at either tasks.

(yes, there is a hard trade-off between the two:
a search/help system must be compassionate and forgiving,
mapping a large set of search terms to a range of answers.
a command interpreter has a tight, _designed_ command set
whose only goal is to get users as fast a possible to
one unique command to invoke.)


since it is a 100% UI subsystem and I am involved anyway,
I realised that the only thing I can do is to help the makers
step by step to get TITo into a shape that makes sense to
release. (OK, the other thing that I can do is to refuse
that this goes into GIMP, but that is not constructive).

we are at step one which is simple and hard at the same time:
define what TITo is and why it makes sense in a GIMP context.

already a couple of surprises came out of the woodwork,
information that was not available to me before. for the rest
it is slow going, ‘why does it make sense in GIMP?’ seem to
be a fresh question, where the answers still need to be found.

up to now various people have offered a lot of tautologies, and the
fact that it has been implemented in completely other contexts.
that is not convincing at all. also that answers from everyone
have a different view on whether it is a search/help system or
a command interpreter.

this reflects exactly the jumbled state TITo is in.


    --ps

        founder + principal interaction architect
            man + machine interface works

        http://blog.mmiworks.net: on interaction architecture