[Kstars-devel] On the popularity of KStars

[Aleksey Khudyakov]

On 25 January 2013 20:04, Bruce <lists at faintfuzzies.ca> wrote:
> I quite agree with Bogdan.  Kstars maturity is also an issue when you compare
> it to other programs free and commercial in all platforms.  Kstars is just now
> at the beginning a full usable alternative to other programs.
>
> I also agree with Akarsh that we need to look at our menu system to make it
> more human friendly.
>
I would say that biggest problem is lack of polish. KStars have many
features but
not a single one works flawlessly. It's easy to stumble into some
glitch. Sometimes
something doesn't work at all. While there's a lot of stuff some
important features are
missing. For example there's no cross-referencing stars and other
obects between
catalogs.

GUI is not convenient to use. Just to name a few. Some important
information (I cannot
remember what exactly) on object properties dialog is hidden on next
page. Right click
on planet brings up context menu with like 20 entries.

And finally it's buggy. Handling of time zones is completely broken.
It's also quite ugly
on the inside which makes bugs harder to fix. Fixing time zones needs complete
overhaul of time management.

I think kstars need bug fixes, GUI improvement.


> What is the Kstars mandate or statement of purpose?  It seems that we are now
> leaving the world of education and entering the world of full featured
> program.  In which case we need to define what we want to achieve, who is our
> user base now and who do we wish to target in future.  We have beginner,
> intermediate and advanced users.  What feature do we need to fulfil the
> expectations of each group.  How best to we give each group what they need.
>
And all kstars users who happens to read this list. It's great chance
to contribute.
Please tell us how do you use kstars. Is there something that annoys you.
I think it's most important thing right now. Poor user experience is
built from minor
inconveniences. Is there something that you want to do but can not.