Re: User Experience Engineering

[Rick Hansen (aka RickH)]

Linda Seltzer wrote:
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> Having previously worked at AT&T Labs, where I was a member of the User
> Experience Forum, I would like to make a few comments as a relative
> outsider seeing the Lilypond project for the first time.  This is a great
> endeavor and the software output is beautiful.
> 
> I would greatly encourage the project to focus on the user interface and
> the user experience if this is to catch on in a large way.
> 
> Having to install separate editors (and who knows what bugs that will
> bring and what other mailing lists one will have to subscribe to...) or
> get into the system with DOS commands, and to understand what is wrong if
> the flags are wrong, etc. does not constitute user interface engineering.
> 
> A smooth user interface employing the standard already-debugged platforms,
> such as Notepad and Word on Windows, with everything bug free, is more
> important than more and more detailed features, which can be added later.
> 
> Every 10 minues spent system administrating and installing things is 10
> minutes that real work doesn't get accomplished.
> 
> User experience engineering is just as important as other areas of
> software development.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Linda Seltzer
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> lilypond-user mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user
> 
> 

Linda,

I use Windows and I stopped using GUI based notation simply because I am, I
estimate, about 50 times more productive with lilypond.  But this
productivity did not come without the pain of learing the language and
writing my templates to be re-useable.  Also a good text editor that
supports lilypond syntax, and separates scheme syntax, is essential for the
beginner.  I suggest you use the Context editor for windows from here:

http://www.context.cx/

And also download the extensive lilypond hilighter I wrote for Context, it
has over 500 reserved words hilighted from here:

http://forum.context.cx/index.php?topic=1396.0

This is an excellent editor that will launch lilypond adobe and the lilypond
manual which will become your best friend, just like the soldiers best
friend is his rifle, it's all in the manual, or just ask here.

To give you an idea of productivity... I have scored some 200 of my own and
others arrangements to date.  If I were to do this in GUI I would still be
"massaging" the first 10 scores with my mouse, all piece-meal.  With
lilypond you can write batch jobs to make global changes adcross all 200
scores very easily.  With GUI all your work is one-at-a-time and laborious.

Good Luck, (and your choice of computer platform is irrelavant, Windows will
work just fine as any).
Rick









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