[Digikam-users] Users manual?

[Tom Cloyd]

On 01/05/2010 12:14 PM, Wilkins, Vern W wrote:
> One thing people tend to forget is that the majority of people working on projects like digiKam are not getting paid in any way for their work.  I think it's reasonable to ask developers for things, but complaining about all that is wrong with an application or Linux in general is not productive.  The fact that people are donating their free time to write code I can use is good enough for me.  If I have to give up some of my precious time to understand how to make it work that's a compromise I choose to make instead of buying propriety crap from MS, ADBE, or anyone else.  If you don't want to make that compromise, it's understandable, but it's not simply the fault of developers for not making things easy.
>
> Assuming that digiKam developers have limited time I'd be ok with never seeing any documentation and having them concentrate on new features, new releases, bug fixes, etc.  Yes I always want more, but I'm happy with whatever I get!
>
> Vern
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Cloyd [mailto:tomcloyd at comcast.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 3:07 PM
> To: digikam
> Subject: Re: [Digikam-users] Users manual?
>
> On 01/05/2010 07:20 AM, BGP wrote:
>    
>> Tom Cloyd wrote:
>>      
>>> I STRONGLY think links to immediately available documentation should
>>> be visible in the main menu's Help item drop down or some other
>>> VISIBLE space. When I recently installed Digikam on my Kubuntu 9.10
>>> OS, it came with NO help, no documentation a human being could easily
>>> find, and a lot of frustration. All help links, context help, etc.,
>>> led to "no documentation available" messages.
>>>
>>> It took me close to 2 hours to find the solution to this problem.
>>> This is NOT good customer relations.  It's been three days and I
>>> still pissed.
>>>
>>> I find this program to be quite interesting, and likely very useful
>>> to me in the immediate future - BUT ONLY IF I CAN GET DOCUMENTATION
>>> ON ITS FUNCTIONS WITHOUT CLEARING MY SCHEDULE AND JUMPING ONTO THREE
>>> FORUMS (mild hyperbole there, but you get the idea) to find out where
>>> the stuff is hiding and what I have to do to get it on my machine..
>>>
>>> I really do NOT want to hear why I had this experience. I'm not
>>> interested. I don't care. I don't have time. I want to hear that it's
>>> going to be fixed, that in the future I'm going to get a complete
>>> program when I install digikam. A user interface that isn't rather
>>> easy to get into or get figured out is a failure. Period. I'm far
>>> from computer illiterate and I simply fell into a deep hole with my
>>> initial installation of digikam.
>>>
>>> I continue to be amazed that this sort of thing is simply accepted in
>>> the Linux world. You want acceptance? Make yourself acceptable.
>>>
>>> (And thanks for this great program - as I'm getting into it, it looks
>>> very fine. I'm grateful to have it. Now please fix the damn packaging
>>> problem.)
>>>
>>> t.
>>>
>>> On 01/05/2010 06:28 AM, BGP wrote:
>>>        
>>>> Gilles Caulier wrote:
>>>>          
>>>>> install digikam handbook package.
>>>>>
>>>>> Gilles Caulier
>>>>>
>>>>> 2010/1/5 BGP<bigskypa at gmail.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>>            
>>>>>> Gilles Caulier wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>              
>>>>>>> as a separate package. anyway it's there :
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.digikam.org/drupal/docs
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Gilles Caulier
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2010/1/5 BGP<bigskypa at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>                
>>>>>>>> Where do I get a users manual for Digikam?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 (if that matters).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Digikam-users mailing list
>>>>>>>> Digikam-users at kde.org
>>>>>>>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>                  
>>>>>>>                
>>>>>> How do I configure Digikam so that when I hit the F1 key to get
>>>>>> HELP the
>>>>>> help/users manuals come up?
>>>>>> Or, does everyone just download the PDF file and use it that way?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>              
>>>>>            
>>>> How do I do that?
>>>>
>>>> Where do I get it?
>>>>
>>>> I just downloaded the Digikam.pdf file which I can open seperate from
>>>> Digikam.  Is that what everyone does?
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Digikam-users mailing list
>>>> Digikam-users at kde.org
>>>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users
>>>>
>>>>          
>>>
>>>        
>> I second your comments and it's exactly what I've thought about Linux
>> for a long time.  Make it easy to access, understandable and not some
>> computer geek techno-talk.  I have spent TOO MANY HOURS reading trash
>> from people that, for whatever reason, think they are the high-priests
>> of Linux, understand the system perfectly but have no brains in their
>> head or ability to tell others how to solve their problems with Linux.
>>
>> Heck, I still don't even know how to download a program with that that
>> Tar ball or Tar bag or whatever it's called!!!!
>>
>> Linux would've slaughtered Windows years ago if it had been as easy to
>> use (with some exceptions) as Windows.  I have no intention of going
>> back to Windows for most of my work but do not like having to put up
>> with nonsense from a poorly presented system.
>>
>> On the other hand.....I really do like Ubuntu.  But, it's just a
>> system, a bunch of code lines and not a person.  It's a product with
>> no emotion and no soul so I'm under no obligation to regard it with
>> the affection or loyalty I'd have for a person.
>>
>> Digikam is a good program.  Much nicer than that wretched Picasa (and
>> any thing that fool Google comes up with). The developers have done a
>> good job of making it....but they could add on a few more things
>> that'd make it the best.  To get a help manual requires a PhD just to
>> download and install.  Really, how hard could it be to include all of
>> the extras we need to start with ?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>      
> Wow. I expected to be slaughtered for my observations, to which I was
> also prepared to cling firmly, as I'm confident of their soundness.
> Instead, you agree. Excellent. Thanks for the supportive response.
>
> I make my living working with people (as a psychotherapist) - which
> doesn't mean I'm always very agreeable to be around! But, I do know that
> people require management, and fostering. Computer aren't about
> programmers, they're about users. Something as probably-terrific (I'll
> know soon) as DigiKam, needs to give a LOT more attention to public
> relations. My standard recommendations ('cause I've had this
> conversation before):
>
> 1. The folks driving the software need to slow down feature development,
> pull together a mechanism for getting and using customer feedback, and
> then visibly make some usability changes. Documentation is only the
> first step - not that many folks read the stuff (I do), but it still
> needs to be there. Observing and responding to user interactions with
> the interface IS the answer.
>
> 2. I strongly believe in the value of a user drive documentation wiki.
> Just do it. Then promote it. DO NOT ALLOW good ideas which come out of
> any related forum to lay buried there. Move them into the wiki. STOP ALL
> CODING AND DO THIS FOR 30 DAYS, for pete's sake. Help us catch up with you.
>
> Bottom line: Computer literate as I am (mainframe operator experience.
> programming experience in multiple languages - currently Ruby,
> professional web site design experience), I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WORK MY
> WAY THROUGH GEEKSPEAK, much less go on a g.d. treasure hunt to FIND the
> damned stuff. Since I often have little alternative, I give up time I
> ought to be skiing, practicing guitar, publishing, developing friends
> and lovers, just so I can locate the g. d. documentation for something I
> really really need to use. Not good for my mental health, and you don't
> want to meet me in a dark alley if I know you're the author of this ship
> wreck.
>
> For what it's worth . Gotta get back to work.
>
> t.
>
>    
I'll say it again: This looks like a great program. I'm eager to use it. 
But not if I have figure it out by trial and error or spend hours 
guessing where I might find instructions which the program interface 
plainly says exists. In my initial contact with it, it took two hours to 
find any real documentation. It should have taken two seconds: Help > 
User Manual.

A confession: My complaint has a purpose - I want the right people to 
get it that naive users don't bear up well under such insults. It 
doesn't matter how many unpaid hours you put into a project. Good 
intentions don't count. Just usability. Sorry if that upsets anyone, but 
it's just the fact of the matter.

If you want the program to be used only by experts, geeks, and folks 
looking for a nifty way to fill up hours of empty time, hide the 
documentation. Or put the program out and let others (like packagers) 
worry about whether the documentation goes along with the binary or not. 
You're just doing it for the love, right? Well, that must be self love, 
'cause frustration on the user end of things breeds no love.

So, if anyone felt my pissed-offness, good. That was my purpose. Wish 
you'd been in the room a couple of days ago, when I was having the 
experience. You'd really have felt it then. This program immediately 
looks like a lot of intelligence went into it. And you're not going to 
make it easy for me to learn what all that technobabble means and does? 
Really? You don't care???

Believe me, if *I* have trouble, many more who know less than I do will 
simply walk away in disgust. I'd hate to see that happen with something 
as fine as Linux in general the DigiKam in general. What a tragedy.

Obviously this is NOT just a Linux problem. Designing good user 
interfaces, in the  most general sense of the term, is really hard, 
which is why we see so few of them, and why we have to keep listening to 
users (that would be me) and thinking about the problem. That's why I 
FILL my own profession website with all manner of documentation for what 
I do (which helps, but does not solve the problem, in truth).

It's not a computer problem, it's a human cultural problem, and most 
programmers simply aren't up to it, which is why there needs to be a 
handoff to someone else.

As it is, most people in my profession - highly educated folks, all of 
them - can barely use computers, and very few programs ON those 
computers, at that. Sigh. We have much work to do.

t.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<<  tc at tomcloyd.com>>  (email)
<<  TomCloyd.com>>  (website)
<<  sleightmind.wordpress.com>>  (mental health issues weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~