[mythtv] MythTV Usability Report

Brad DerManouelian myth at dermanouelian.com
Mon Jan 9 04:05:51 UTC 2006


On Jan 8, 2006, at 10:56 PM, Steve Hodge wrote:

> On 1/9/06, Donavan Stanley <jdonavan at jdonavan.net> wrote:
>> Craig Tinson wrote:
>>> well.. personally I think this is a good report.
>> You honestly think that a report on an old version of the software
>> posted to the developers list by someone who didn't read the existing
>> documentation is a "good report"?
>
> You mean the current stable release. If you don't want people
> reporting their impressions of the current release of the software,
> just where are you going to get feedback from?
>
>>> I've read through all the replies and to be frank I think they are
>>> completely out of order.
>> Really?  Maybe I should start posting usability reviews of rocket  
>> design
>> software.  After all I have no clue how it works and I'm sure they
>> should jump to implement my suggestions.
>
> You are not the target user of whatever rocket design software you are
> talking about. Jono, OTOH does seem to be the target user for MythTV,
> i.e. anyone who can get it installed. Or am I mistaken - is MythTV
> only intended for use by developers?
>
>> There's a huge difference between usability testing and Joe random
>> spouting off about crap he doesn't understand.  Hell even Tivo comes
>> with a manual.  If he had said something to the effect of "the
>> documentation"  doesn't make this clear it might have carried more
>> weight but he didn't even read the documentation.
>
> I don't buy it. A documented poor interface is still a poor interface.
> And Tivo may come with a manual but it's still designed to be used by
> someone who hasn't read that manual.
>
> Steve

Again, I need to point out that my 8 year old daughter can work  
nearly all of my mythTV system and never read a word of any manual.  
My 14 year old can do it all and never read the manual. They're below  
the grade-level of the average Mythtv user.

Also, it's pointless to complain about things that have been fixed in  
SVN. Developers knew it was an issue and fixed it. What more can you  
expect them to do??



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