Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravensknight
Dumbing things down for people who are unwilling to even TRY to learn something will never accomplish anything good.
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I kind of agree and disagree, like I said above I am on the fence about this one. I think there are some applications out there that make things harder than they need to be, due to poor UI design. And in such cases, be it through terminology, wizards, or hiding features behind advanced buttons the initimidation factor can be reduced to ease people into it.
However I strongly believe that in the case of ebooks we have been stuck in a corner by the fact that there are so many technical issues revolving around them, that mean that unless your only usage is to put the book straight onto the device from purchase to read it you are forced into a learning curve. And I don't think people should be criticised for not wanting to take on that curve, it just means that calibre is not the solution for them, at this point anyway. We all have only so many hours in the day (or as we get older so many things we can remember!) so we pick and choose what things we deep dive on. Obviously the hardcore calibre fans have chosen this app as one to spend countless hours on wrestling to grips with, which is great for them. However there are the other 99% of people out there who read a lot of books who may choose not to take that on. Just like I know nothing about how a car works, or gardening or whatever - we all pick and choose what things are of interest. That people who read ebooks "should" have an easier way I don't disagree with at all, and right now it seems the only option for them is to stay within the vendor specific and closed ecosystems. Which is not what calibre is competing with of course.