I think one of the main causes of winrot are the sheer number of services that run at startup (and don't shut down) that phone home every x seconds to see if there is a new version of some piece of software.
Me personally, I disable every single one of them because they seem utterly useless to me. Most of the software packages that use these things, have an option to check for updates whenever you launch the program itself too. This looks way more efficient to me.
I was asking myself what the reason is for companies like Adobe and Apple to create such services that bog clients' computers down and at the same time increase the burden on their own update servers for what looks to me as very little return value for neither of them.
My client requests such a service, but I don't see any reason for it. I want to make sure I'm not missing a piece of the puzzle so I can come back with an educated opinion on why this is should or shouldn't be a desired functionality.
It's usually a desire by management to get brand recognition. It goes something like this:
Oh no. If our program just does its job, the user will never see that it's there, and they'll never find out who we are, and what a great company we are.
We need an icon in the tray; we need a shortcut on the desktop, and in the quick launch toolbar, and at the top level of the Start menu. If we could add a control panel applet, and an item on the right-click menu in Windows Explorer, and an icon in Internet Explorer, that'd be fantastic.
Of course, since our program's so important, the user's going to be using it a lot. Let's add a "speed boost" program that runs at startup, that makes sure that all of our binaries and dependencies are pre-loaded in the cache.
Oh, and we'll need an automated update program, to make sure that all of these components are as wham-bam-great as we can make them.
And can you put a splash screen on that as well?
Can you tell I'm bitter?
Roger's spot on.
Plus, once an application has developed to the point where it already has all the features you could expect it to cover for its intended purpose, the vendor is stuck. They need to keep banging out exciting new versions, so scope bloat creeps in. Instead of doing one thing well and getting out of the way, we must do everything related to it. We must always be in the user's face; they must never be allowed to use software that isn't ours; they must always be interacting with our brand. And of course we must take care to always start an updater task in the background, because we added a completely unnecessary internet-facing browser plugin/toolbar/ActiveX thing that will surely turn out to have security holes.
Acquisitive software is a huge problem that is steadily degrading the user experience on Windows. And it's an arms race: Microsoft hide old application surface interfaces (deprecating the classic start menu, removing quick launch, hiding system tray icons, auto-removing inactive Desktop icons) as they become so full of acquisitive-software junk that they're basically unusable, whilst introducing new ones that "will be better". But how long until applications start "helpfully" adding themselves to the Start menu's MRU list (because you're definitely going to want to use our great software a lot!) and pinning themselves to the Windows 7 dock?
Linux is doing better here because the distros own access to the user and aren't going to put up with any of this crap. Not something Microsoft can get away with though unfortunately.
Bonus Did You Know Fun Fact: Once upon a time, Nero was a nice, elegant CD-burning tool.
Related
I have an application that has to support modifying some registry data depending on the kind of 'installation' that is desired. At present, I have no problems hard-coding to either get elevation and do the changes to the entire local machine, but it is far from nice as ideally, I would also like to support per-user installations. I could hardcode that, but then I lose the local-machine stuff. To be precise, the changes in question involve file association changes, COM stuff etc.
How can I properly support both usage scenarios? Currently I use a set of ON/OFF checkboxes for the variety of associations.
Should I change this meaning on, for example, a MachineInstall file existing in my apps directory, and if not assume User install?
Is it an expected/valid/whatever usecase to say that someone might want to do some things for the entire machine, and some things only for the user? (E.g. mixing of the two.)
Or should I change the entire UI, move away from checkboxes and move to some sort of combobox going 'None/User/Local'? Then again, I think this might have some sort of breakage once you involve multiple users and combinations.
To give an indication, I personally expect the application in question to have its uses for everyone on a computer and as such lean towards the Local-Machine as a 'default', if that makes any sort of difference.
I am likely overthinking the matters quite a bit, so any and all input is very much appreciated. :)
P.S.
Now, someone is probably going to say 'do not do all that stuff from your app, do it from the installer instead'. And they probably have a point, but the point is to allow easy changing of these settings from within the application. To top it off, I am not using .MSI install packages because they make working with 32/64-bit specific executables a disaster requiring merge modules, spawning other MSI's depending on the situation, and so forth (I forgot the details last time I dug into it and forgot about the matter). I don't have that knowledge, nor the time to learn all the intricacies of MSI installations, so it is out for as far I am concerned. To boot, my application is perfectly capable of functioning without any of those registry entries being present, and that is by design. In a way, one might compare it to be like Process Explorer from Sysinternals, which does not require an installer, but can be unzipped and take over the task manager etc without a problem if a user wants, or simply run stand-alone.
Mac OSX has this feature called (I think) 'Services'. It is available in the menu bar under the filename of the application (e.g. Finder) and then selecting 'Services'. This gives you access to a list of applications that provide 'services'. For example, if you are browsing a website with firefox and you have some text selected on the page, the services list has an entry for Mail > send selection.
I've been using a Mac for almost 3 years and I've literally never used it (but I've known it to be there from the beginning).
So, is it worth for an application developer to provide support for this (i.e. provide some services actions)? Or would it be a waste of effort (because no one, or very few people, uses it) ?
I've attempted to use it a few times over the past ten years.
Previously, the menu was cluttered with disabled items, and uselessly disorganized. Actually making a selection was unpredictable, as the few items that weren't disabled were often supposed to be. The appearance of possibly doing something was itself just a bug.
However, it appears to be much improved in 10.6. If you want to provide a universal, context-sensitive service, I'd say go for it. Maybe it will be the killer app for this decade-dormant delivery doodad.
I have used Mac OS X since Developer Preview 2 (and earlier versions of Mac OS before that, though they didn't have the Services menu), and I have never used the Services menu.
I'm sure some people, somewhere must use them occasionally, though I have never seen it. I would say it's likely a waste of effort unless one of your users specifically requests the feature.
I use them from time to time. But other pretty high profile users seem to think they're the dog's bollocks. So I suspect it depends on your audience.
Only you can judge whether there's the remotest chance your users will care, but I certainly wouldn't rule it out. If your software genuinely does provide a service that would be of benefit beyond its own application context, exposing that as a service definitely seems like something worth considering. You wouldn't neglect copy and paste out of hand, would you?
In 10.6 they are a lot more useful (as Potatoswatter indicates, they are properly Contextual in 10.6, so that it only displays text based services, when you have text selected).
For what it's worth - I've rarely used the Services menu at the top, but have sometimes used them via the context menu - but primarily with Apple's own apps (send to iPhoto, open in Preview). There aren't many third party apps that offer services I find useful.
However, I am aware that some users of journaling/clipboarding software swear by them. WalkyTalky has the right view - if your application exposes a service that is useful (or if you think users would want to regularly select and push data into your app) then adding support would be useful.
(In contrast - if it doesn't, then adding one is just adding to the 'noise' - I have a notebook application that adds a service for every single new notebook created).
For some time I've noticed how much the File Open and File save dialogs vary between Windows itself and Applications. In Delphi for example (which I use) you can use the built-in dialogs (which have a folder tree) and direct calls to the Windows API which produce variants of the Windows version, with or without large buttons for 'Desktop', 'My Computer' etc (At least on XP).
As an application developer I'm interested in providing the User with a clean, simple way of loading and saving files. Typically, this requires that I propose a preferred folder where my Application data files are stored but that I allow the User to access other folders - often the desktop and other local drives, and sometimes the network - without difficulty if required.
With the introduction of Vista, we seem to be favouring a 'bits missing' folder navigation tree for Windows dialogs and now, Windows 7 has another 'line-less tree' for navigation. I suspect that if one conforms to Microsofts assumptions and stores everything in ~/documents it's not a big problem. However, if one has to start at the root of a drives tree and there are many directories then it's a right pain - there is no horizontal scrolling so directory names get truncated.
My question is - what do other Application developers use? I wonder whether I should be following this Windows lead or simply sticking to a simple cut-down version of File dialogs over which I full control but risk falling into the past....?
Thanks
Brian
Always use the OS defaults - it'll be what your users are used to, and what they expect. Whatever you do, don't astonish the user. Whatever you do, please don't write your own file-open/file-save dialog.
FWIW, I'm not a great fan of Vista's file-open dialog (why do I have to work so hard to navigate my folders?), but I'd rather that than have to get to grips with something new. The less things your users have to learn, the easier your product is to use.
Since I am currently only coding for customers with Windows XP (in a corporate environment that isn't upgrading just yet) I use the standard dialog boxes.
When we do upgrade, I will most likely continue to use the standard old fashioned dialog boxes, until our customers are ready for a change.
In all honesty, I involve at least a few users in the development process, and I won't start new features unless I can bring one in to sit in front of my development PC to see how it works, and they sign off on it.
For those apps that we write for our web site, we tend to be conservative as well... Focus on clean, understandable design, and introduce fancy new features only when there is a compelling reason, and even then, we tend to involve focus groups.
So all that was a long way of saying "Ask your customers". Give them what they want.
Personally I hate auto-created desktop shortcut icons, but some folks seem to think that unless your installer clutters up your desktop, it hasn't worked correctly!
Are there definite guidelines for this (for Windows?)
(Having a "Leave clutter on my desktop?" checkbox in the installer is one option, but to my mind, that's just put MORE clutter into the installer...)
From here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/winenv-desktop
If your users are very likely to use your program frequently, provide an option during setup to put a program shortcut on the desktop. Most programs won't be used frequently enough to warrant offering this option.
Present the option unselected by default. Requiring users to select the option is important because once undesired icons are on the desktop, many users are reluctant to remove them. This can lead to unnecessary desktop clutter.
If users select the option, provide only a single program shortcut. If your product consists of multiple programs, provide a shortcut only to the main program.
Put only program shortcuts on the desktop. Don't put the actual program or other types of files.
My take is this: the installer must ask me if I want a desktop icon - to which I can reply yes or no.
Any app that just blindly and without asking installs its icon on my desktop is a bad installation in my opinion.
Ask for permission - if I deem your app important enough to me personally, I might say yes (but most likely I won't). Give your users a choice - don't just assume since it's your app, it's so darn important to everyone that everyone will want to clutter up their desktop with your program icon.
The same goes for the installation directory - unless you have a very good technical reason why you can't install anywhere, allow me to change the program's installation target directory. Not everyone is a big fan of the "c:\program files" folder hierarchy (I'm not, for one - I like to keep my apps in C:\bin for instance).
So in general: any decent installer should ASK the user installing for these things and present sensible defaults - but always give me the option to change the settings to my liking (to my standards).
I don't know of any meaningful guidelines, other than your conscience. As a programmer, I sympathize: I don't want icons on my desktop, either :-) However, having watched non-technical family members struggle with installing software and then trying to run it, I think it's worth noting that
1) There are more non-techies than techies
2) Techies can cope with checkboxes on installers
Based on that, I usually go for having a checkbox on the installer for creating icons, which defaults to on. I don't mind anything other than the "always create icons" approach. (I'm looking at you, Adobe.)
I think that depends on what you see your client doing with the app, the level of the client's expertise with computers and how frequently you see him using it.
If the client is not very well versed with computers he would prefer to have the icon on the desktop where he can access it. If you target market is experienced users you don't need to bother because he can make the icon himself if he wants it.
If the application is for daily frequent use like a web browser the client would want it on his desktop for quick access.
Finally the decision rests on you. If you're being obnoxious you can create 4 icons on the desktop (I've seen apps that do that).
I don't think asking for permission is a bad idea. After all the installation needs to be done only once and it's just one checkbox to tick.
I've no particular love for desktop (or quick launch) shortcut icons either, but I think that you should still give your users the option in the installer to install neither, one or both of these shortcuts.
Depending on how computer literate your users are (if it's possible to determine this) you can default the two options to either enabled or disabled accordingly.
We've got products built both with GUI and CHUI. Going forward, we're looking at redesigning a lot of our software and mainly taking the route of going all GUI. My question to the group is, do we need to account for keeping a CHUI around? What are the advantages of CHUI over GUI? Many times in the past people have said that CHUI is faster because you don't need a mouse. I argue that GUI can be just as fast with the right keyboard shortcuts, hotkeys and/or touch screens.
Is CHUI something we should no longer consider if hardware no longer provides a constraint?
Also to clarify, when I speak about CHUI I mean a CHaracter based User Interface, and I'm also mainly concerned with the effective presentation of data to an end user.
There have been some fantastic responses that have highlighted the importance of having a command line based interface for automation and scripting based tasks which I will certainly take to heart when we begin the design!
The primary benefits of a CHUI (that is something with forms and fields, not necessarily command line interfaces) is the keyboard for navigation and consistent layout. That is key.
If your GUI can be completely, and efficiently, keyboard navigated, then your CHUI user base should be happy. This is because in time, the users simply "type" their commands in to the system without "seeing the interface". They don't need to "discover" the interface, which is a primary feature of the GUI.
While CHUIs appear to be dinosaurs, they are still functional and usable. Most folks once they're trained (notably POS/Counter workers, but even back office scenarios like factory or warehouse floor, etc) have no problem using a CHUI.
But the key is the keyboard support so the user don't have to wait for the screen to catch up with them. Seeing a skilled operator with a mastery of the keyboard can make an application fly. You barely have a chance to see popup windows and what not.
You should poll your customers, not programmers. If your customers, who use your applications, want a CHUI, even if all your developers think it's a waste of time, you build it, because the customer is always right (except for when they're wrong).
You should absolutely still consider it. Most importantly, command line programs can be automated (and chained together in scripts) much more easily than GUIs (typically). I can't imagine working with a source control tool which didn't have a command line interface - although obviously having a GUI is useful too.
Now whether you need a command line version for your particular app is hard to say without knowing what your app does. Do you need automation and scripting? Might someone want to VPN in and run it from a very bad connection, and thus appreciate low bandwidth?
Note that MS certainly doesn't believe the command line is dead - or they wouldn't have created PowerShell.
I agree with Eli that your customers should have final say, but if you can keep the meat of your program from being too interwoven with the GUI(or CHUI), then production cost to make both available should be minimal.
If you write apps for unix and you need to handle users who telnet / ssh to your box then you will need command line interfaces.
I would say it depends on your target. Do you script your code from other apps? That would be a requirement to keep the interactive version (or some piece to avoid the GUI startup).
We usually do one or the other. But sometimes we have utils that have to be deployable through ftp and run ssh. Or we have tools that our users embed into their apps and don't want to expose a UI (data migration / conversion).
To this day, some of the most efficient user interfaces I've ever seen were plain old terminal-based character interfaces.
Anecdote: I was once part of a project to "modernize" a terminal application used by 500 customer service representatives. We published sexy GUI mockups and everyone, including the users, were suitably impressed. We worked for six months on the application, and all the user acceptance testing seemed to indicate we had a winner.
But when the application was finally launched, it failed miserably. As it turns out, CSRs are measured for performance daily, right down to the average number of seconds per call handled. And no matter how hard they tried, they could not match the same level of efficiency in the GUI as they could in the terminal interface. They could get close with tabs and shortcuts, but not quite there.
Hard lessons learned. Modern programmers may abhor "dinosaurs", but do users really care about slick interfaces? Usually they just want to get their work done.
When I first read this, my immediate thought was that this is probably one of those apps that's basically a series of forms, but displays inside a terminal. Often you see such dinosaurs running on cash registers. I also recall seeing such an app used to apply for a loan when I bought my car. This type of application doesn't seem to have a place in the modern world -- any system with even a tiny bit of processing power can handle a normal GUI nowadays. Unless you're trying to support really low-end legacy customers, get rid of this user interface. A GUI with decent keyboard shortcuts (please, please, please put some thought into keyboard-only use of your GUI programs...) is going to be equally effective for the users coming from the old CHUI system and much friendlier to those used to a GUI, without having to have 2 versions of your app.
I don't see why everyone is bringing up command line apps. I think most people recognize that the command line isn't going away. It's far faster for many tasks than a GUI, largely because the programs tend to be non-interactive (and thus easily scriptable). As soon as your app becomes interactive (or, at least, doesn't have a param to make it non-interactive), running it from the command line is much less important. Even awesome programs like Vim that are terminal-based are transitioning to their graphical counterparts (gVim) because it gives you the best of both worlds.
Even GUI apps like Firefox can benefit from command line interfaces like Ubiquity. If there's a way to provide the command line from within the GUI then why not have the best of both worlds?
A lot of CAD programs have command line interfaces that show you what the GUI interaction you just performed equates to in the command line. That way you can learn the command line operations for the things that you do frequently and where the command line can be quicker to interact with whist still having the discoverability of the GUI interface.
See this youtube video demonstrating Rhino3D's command line
CHUI is faster in execution speed, not user interaction speed. I write embedded systems (as well as GUIs), so I'll always have a use for command line apps.
Every study I have ever read showed that CHUI's are much faster for experienced users. GUI's are easier for new users and for applications that are only occasionally used. Also for a given screen size, you can display more information on a CHUI then a GUI. A good GUI can give you a quick over view at a glance.
In addition to the other benefits mentioned above, I've frequently found another reason to keep around an alternative UI--it keeps you and your interfaces honest. When an application is built with only one user interface, it becomes much easier to let design principles slide and for your business logic, etc. and your GUI to become an intertwined ball of spaghetti--despite best intentions. Regardless of the importance of your customers having a command-line interface, soon there might come a time when an alternative GUI (read: presentation layer) might be needed, and you'll want to be prepared. This might not be relevant to your requirements, but I think it's something good to keep in mind...
One of the big issues that we encountered was multisession capability which is almost nonexistent with the GUI technologies I have seen. Our users were quick to point out that with the current character based interface they could have over a dozen Telnet based terminal sessions going at the same time on their PC screen which enabled them to multitask or task switch with high efficiency. They rated multitasking as the killer feature which they benefitted from in our fast paced environment where interruptions are frequent. Being able to have concurrent access to multiple instances of a particular ERP application or multiple different ERP applications while always retaining session states was important to our user community.
I think the problem comes from design practices in GUI forms. We tend to place more objects on them especially with a vertical scroll bar and tab capabilities. This also makes loading slower. Going through CHUI menus with the keyboard is faster once you've memorized those sequences and holding the Ctrl key isn't required. There is something about the menu bar in Windows where the short-cut key descriptions are off to the right. The character based menus seemed easier to remember after awhile.
A) - This Menu
B) - That Menu
C) - Some other Menu
Or you could arrow through the choices and you just seemed to have some muscle memory where That Menu is the second choice.
As soon as you present some data, someone's going to want to query against it. You can integrate that with a gui, no problem. If you think some of your customers are going to want to script certain tasks. set it up. Anything to do with automation is better done from the command line(y harlo thar cron job!)
I love guis. I'm a mac user. But there is a time and a place for a CLI.
I was sysadmin at a university math department when the registration system went from a character based system using telnet, to a gui system on a PeopleSoft app.
The gals in the front office HATED the new system. Now part of this was the whole bit about old shoes being more comfortable. But when I asked about it, Christine said that even after a week of doing several hundred registrations per day, the new system took several times as long to do anything. Lots of things only doable with a mouse. The old system could accept input as fast as they could type. Screen repaints were under a tenth of a second. New system had lots of 3/4 to 2 second pauses -- just long enough to be annoying, not long enough to do anything else.