zim-wiki team mailing list archive

[Dotan Cohen <dotancohen@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Thanks for the nice discussion, although the topic sounds a bit like
> flame-bait... It is not my intention to compete with other project for
> competition sake - believe me if there is a project out there that satisfies
> my needs I will be glad to use their code instead of my ow. Would save a
> heck of a lot of time for me..
>

Not for competitions sake, but to get new users. New users is good for
every application except for KDE.


>> * however, tomboy works right out of the box, while the first screen of
>> zim, asking to configure a notebook, requires some thinking. It's not
>> easy to understand what's the Domuent Root, or how you want to use the
>> notebooks before yuou know what the application is for. Some casual
>> users might decide not to try the application. However, once the first
>> notebook is working, anyone can learn most of zim without reading a
>> manual. I'd even say it's easier than tomboy, because the toolbar has
>> more of the good staff.
>>
>
> I think this is a good one. Anyone feel like designing a wizard (or
> "assistant" in gtk jargon) for first time users ? It should just explain
> what a notebook is and ask for the location to store notes and other
> properties with some meaningful defaults or select an existing notebook.
>
> After creating the first one, the "open another notebook" menu item would
> still trigger the current dialog. But the "add" button in that dialog could
> trigger the wizard again.
>

I think that this point needs addressing, too, but having good
defaults is better than poping up a wizard. I personally like when
software asks me on first use how I'd like it configured, but I know
from taking an interest in usability that most end users do not
appreciate that.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il