Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Sample code and utilities?

Author:Andrew Duncan
Posted:3/29/1999; 12:43:19 PM
Topic:Sample code and utilities?
Msg #:4656 (In response to 4636)
Prev/Next:4655 / 4657

Caveat: To avoid hurting anyone's feelings, I'll attempt to say this with as much sensitivity as I can muster...

I've been with the Frontier community for a while now, and I have noticed that, periodically, usually when some significant piece of technology has become somewhat mature, this topic is raised again.

There's a pattern to it. Usually it starts with a mention of the LTODBS, it shortcomings, and the shortcomings of its various successors. And leads quickly into "Well, now we have Technology X, we can easily do..."

That's fine by me, it's a natural reaction for the kinds of people that get involved in the topic. If you don't see the pattern, that's also fine, it may or may not be there anyway.

But I do have a suggestion: get Bernie DeKoven involved. Let's attempt to define the thing we are trying to build. Who, what, why, where, when. Take the time to get it right.

I guess I've been thinking about usability a lot lately, like web applications running on intranets, and editorial systems. Understanding the user's needs is the most critical aspect, the cost of getting it wrong is huge. The more you know upfront, the better.

I think we can do *anything we want* with the available technology. Lord knows, Frontier provides enought to choose from! But let us see if we can make the design process user-centered, before we leap on any specific technologies.

A humble suggestion, that's all.

BTW, Tomalak's Realm linked to a great Phil Greenspun piece which speaks directly to Dave's concerns about the time needed to run such a system:

http://photo.net/wtr/thebook/thesis/overview.html

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:49:08 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.