kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Nick Østergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think Simons slide introduciton concept could be usefull. It could
well be used with the new Kicad interface Dick has been talking about
some months ago. (The python one)  But it should not be obstructing to
the normal (the expert?) user.

2014-09-10 17:48 GMT+02:00 Simon Schumann <simon.schumann@xxxxxx>:
> On 10/09/14 11:25, Javier Serrano wrote:
> [snip]
>>
>> Watching 15 minutes of your video has been a very painful experience.
>
> Yes, utterly painful...
>
>> I could not take in the whole 30 minutes. There are clearly things
>> that could be more intuitive. Things which cannot be considered
>> controversial. I think those things could be the object of a detailed
>> work package to be included in the roadmap. Then there is the
>> controversial/religious stuff. How to copy/paste and such. I think
>> that part needs more debate, but it looks to me that if one accepts
>> the premise that KiCad should be very usable by a new user, the
>> *default* behavior for things which are done in a given way in 99% of
>> the graphical applications out there should be that de-facto-standard
>> way. And users who are expert users should know how to customize KiCad
>> in a way that maximizes their productivity. That customization could
>> very well include very fast and efficient ways of cutting, pasting,
>> moving, rotating, etc. Another option would be to try to make the two
>> types of methods co-exist at the same time. It's difficult to discuss
>> how possible this is without getting into a lot of detail. BTW, the
>> fact that KiCad is undergoing major change in several important areas
>> is not helping in the usability/coherence department. Things should be
>> better soon even without major efforts.
>>
>> The good news is that, as you say, the effort to improve in this area
>> is not that great. There is some low-hanging fruit. KiCad is already
>> very powerful, and the work on usability is probably smaller than
>> several of the big work packages people have been taking on lately. I
>> think KiCad should have a usability team as it already has people
>> concerned with libraries, documentation, etc. Same goes for testing
>> BTW. If some people (maybe also from the users list) step up for the
>> task and Wayne thinks it's a good idea, I think it could do a lot of
>> good to the project. If the idea moves forward, you can count on the
>> help of the CERN team in this domain.
>>
>> Many thanks to you and to all KiCad developers. These are exciting times
>> for us.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Javier
>>
>> [1] Search for "ergonomics" in
>>
>> http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~kicad-product-committers/kicad/product/view/head:/Documentation/development/road-map.md
>>
> I don't think KiCAD's usability is particularly bad. The problem is that by
> simply
> clicking around it is very hard to figure out how stuff works, especially
> since every
> EDA-tool works a little different / has a different concept. In my opinion
> KiCAD
> needs to throw some guidance at the user (not hidden in a menu), otherwise
> people do trial&error and get frustrated very fast..
>
> The project window that opens on startup is pretty empty. So there would be
> plenty of space to offer some guidance. I think making a few online
> slideshows
> to cover the basics and linking them each with a nice picture in the project
> window
> could do the trick. To give you an idea of what I mean, here are a few
> sample/concept slides on how to create schematics:
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19005544/kicad/startersguide_mockup_00/02.html
> (Sorry for potential eye bleed, I'm wether a web developer nor a designer :P
> )
> I think these are the keys to make useful and non boring slides:
>  * Pictures (!), show where to click
>  * Short texts
>  * Embrace some shortcut usage
>
> A few of these like
>  * General workflow (tool order, components separated from footprints, etc)
>  * Small sample project (basic usage of eeschema, cvpcb, pcbnew)
>  * Creating components
>  * Creating footprints
> offered in the project window should make KiCAD rather easy for beginners.
>
> Cheers
> Simon
>
>
>
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