[wp-testers] AW: Write Page

Daniel Schoonover daniel at dangarion.com
Fri Mar 28 06:23:23 GMT 2008


Matt,

I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to answer that email.  I'm
going to live with it and accept it for now, even though I still don't like
it! :) .  I know we/you/whoever can't please everyone, and I completely
respect the decision as you have explained it was made and appreciate that
you have taken my feedback.  Wordpress is a wondering piece of software,
something I really do believe in.  I used Geeklog for the last 3 or so years
and was happy with it for a long time, but I became a Wordpress convert
about 6 months ago and I haven't looked back since.

Cheers!

-- 
"Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory... lasts forever..."
Daniel Schoonover
http://www.dangarion.com
AIM : DanGarion

>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:30:51 -0700
> From: Matt Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com>
> Subject: Re: [wp-testers] AW: Write Page
> To: wp-testers at lists.automattic.com
> Message-ID: <47EC828B.703 at mullenweg.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Daniel Schoonover wrote:
> > Wow that was a professional answer there...
>
> Sorry, my following posts expand on the points a bit more.
>
> > The designers screwed up on the
> > write page, which was pretty much perfect the way it was.
>
> I don't think anyone who has done support for WP or trained other people
> on its usage could claim the write page was pretty much perfect,
> actually it was pretty awful. We got used to it, and comfortable with
> it, but just because it was widely used doesn't mean it was right.
>
> > I'm sorry to
> > break the bad news but the current design of the "Write Post/Page" is
> > completely counter-intuitive to the user.
>
> Saying "I think it's counter-intuitive" is very different from saying
> "users think this is counter-intuitive." To say the latter, you need a
> much larger sample size than yourself or a few people on this
> self-selected list.
>
> The first I could totally agree with, the second I wouldn't.
>
> > Who's idea was it to waste the space that used to be for Category
> selections
> > with
>
> Whitespace is not wasted space. Filling every possible centimeter with
> stuff does not make it better, creates a lot of cognitive load, and is
> frustrating even for savvy users.
>
> There is lots of research on this:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_theory
>
> For example, people, especially unsophisticated consumers, tend to buy
> products with more buttons because they're perceived to be better, but
> their tested happiness with said products is lower over time. They would
> have been better off and happier getting the less complex thing, even
> though they would swear to the grave they bought the right stereo.
>
> I have never claimed to be an expert on any of this, but I know enough
> to know what I don't know, and hopefully enough to be able to find
> someone who can do a much better job. This is the basis of my whole
> adult life, actually.
>
> > I mean if I'm in the write post section why would I even be thinking
> about
> > managing any of those things?  My current thoughts are on making a POST,
> > thus I want to see the options and selections for making the post, why
> make
> > the user have to scroll to make these selections when you have this
> whole
> > sidebar area on the right that could be utilized for efficiency?
>
> Assumptions here:
>
> 1. Because I don't think about those things, no one else things about
> those things.
> 2. The space could be more efficiency used by something else, for
> example categories.
> 3. Things in the sidebar are more noticed than things in the main column.
>
> I would like to note as one of the people behind the previous layout of
> the WP write page, there was a time when I would have agreed with those
> assumptions completely. My mind has been changed.
>
> Some of my assumptions now are that:
>
> 1. Categories, particularly the new layout, need more horizontal space
> than is available in the sidebar. When we add things like "suggested
> categories" this will become more obvious.
> 2. Things like tags are more commonly used than categories, and we can't
> squeeze those in the sidebar too.
> 3. Things in the sidebar get missed unless you know to look there, even
> when they're above the "fold" and you don't have to scroll to see them.
> 4. The stuff in the sidebar now -- saving, previewing, status,
> timestamps -- are the most important things to put there.
>
> > Just
> > because it's open source doesn't mean you have to make it like pulling
> > teeth.
>
> As someone who got 5 teeth pulled on Monday, I take offense at that. :)
>
> >  We are your users, we are your testers, and we are trying to help
> > you develop this to be user friendly, and the current horizontal design
> is
> > not user friendly.
>
> Which is the whole reason we solicit feedback, to have as much
> information, even if it's anecdotal, to synthesize and make the best
> decisions possible, which I believe we are doing there, but by
> suggesting what you think is what everyone thinks you're forcing me to
> take a position of disagreeing with you, when I would rather just
> collate your feedback with all the others and try to make the best
> decision possible.
>
> > In fact I haven't seen a single post praising the design
> > of the page we are discussing, all I have read are suggestions for
> improving
> > it.
>
> Mistakes can and will be changed, like the CTRL+V popup in the WYSIWYG,
> which slipped into RC2 but is gone now.
>
> I've read all the emails to the aforementioned feedback address, the
> 750+ pingbacks (not all in English, granted) to the announcement posts,
> all the media coverage, and been involved with the process of this
> particular design for the better part of a year.
>
> If you want I could link you to thirty blogs praising the new design,
> but that doesn't make either of us right or wrong and someone would
> inevitable accuse myself or the dev team of drinking our own kool-aid,
> only paying attention to the positive press, or surrounding ourselves
> with yes men and fanboys. Some people might disagree or not understand
> individual decisions, but have faith based on our previous track record
> that the decisions are for the best.
>
> In reality I tend to read the criticism more carefully than the praise,
> because it often has more nuggets of possible changes. But that doesn't
> mean I'm going to agree with it all.
>
> --
> Matt Mullenweg
> http://ma.tt | http://automattic.com
>
>
>


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