Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary_M_Mugford
Chaley,
Having said what I said in the last missive, I'd also urge you and the rest of the Calibre team to consider less use of tweaks and more configuration screens as they occur. I know our fearless leader hates those things, but there are several levels of Calibre users ... and programmers don't make up the majority of them. For EXTENDING Calibre, plugins, templates and tweaks are perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned. If I'm not willing to work at it (or cajole you into doing it [G]), then I should not be able to get the extra bits.
But, for basic interface issues, the Tom, Dick and Harriets of the world who aren't programmers SHOULD be able to go to a screen and click a few option boxes on/off, slide a value slider or two and input the odd number. And have it in such a way that they can figure out the results of doing these things.
And another thing I'd consider is a 'non-techie' version of the changelog showing up during an upgrade. Given WARNING that the tag browser has changed and a general how-to to turn it off, I'm sure there would have been more than a few palpitations avoided. The secret is to make sure EVERYBODY can understand that a long-term feature has no changed ... and for the better. And that for those sticks in the mud (such as myself), that things can be changed for the worse if that's what you want. And remember, not everybody reads the changelog, and if they do, not everybody understands it. And yes, I understand that not everybody updates version to version and trying to be all-encompassing is the way to madness.
But how about something like this:
SINCE THE LAST UPDATE: Big enhancement to Tag Browser! It now defaults to breaking Authors down by Letter of Last Name. You can then expand the letter. You DO have the option of modifying the break down (Complete last names, for example. So you can see all the Smiths at once). Or you can go back to the old standard by going Preferences|Tweaks and adding categories_collapse_more_than=0 at the end of your customizations. By the way, when you edit tags, no more having to move the window around. It remembers where you put it last time. Plus, the back page button in the book viewer now works as advertised. In other changes, Calibre has added support for Google Nexus S, Motorola Backflip, Samsung Galaxy Tablet, PocketBook 603/903, EEEReader DR900 and the NextBook. There are small improvements in EPub to Mobi, Mac OSx and Sony conversions. Plus the usual little bug fixes and updates to the News section. Checkout the full Changelog at http://calibre-ebook.com/whats-new.
[OK]
If you need some help in developing these non-techie changelogs, I'll gladly offer to help. The above is a quick first draft of the last changelog entry. It might STILL be too techie. But the news about the interface change is maybe a 'little' more user-friendly than the changelog text.
At any rate, I hope I have offered some food for thought without coming off too preachy. Afterall, I'm still a noobie at Calibre myself.
GM |
Thank you, Gary. I'm one of the non-techies who would benefit by your suggestions. Calibre is an excellent program that I benefit from daily but there is much about it I do not understand (to put it mildly). Fortunately, with the exception of getting my libraries to read LN, FN and still sort properly, the excellent tech help from people here has enabled me to get around that lack of understanding (or, at least, get me functional). Of course, it doesn't help that I have ADD.
@Walt. One problem the that techies have is knowing what about what they know is not common knowledge for non-techies. Although most of you have forgotten more about computers than I will ever know, I'm actually just as bad. I'm a musician (and would have been starving had it not been for day--and night--jobs). Even though I don't consider myself to be all that knowledgeable aqbiut music, I still forget I know more than most people and have been reminded many a time to simplify my explainations when, such as, directing a group of singers.