Thread: Rethinking the user interface
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Old 01-09-2012, 06:48 PM   #34
nickredding
onlinenewsreader.net
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Posts: 328
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Phoenix, AZ & Victoria, BC
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Fire, IPad3, iPhone4, Playbook, HTC Inspire
Quote:
Originally Posted by theducks View Post
We don't know the skill of the Average user, because most of them DO NOT post here at MR.
Agreed, and we can confidently assume that the 80-20 rule applies to calibre users as it does to computer users in general, namely that 80% of them have no idea what is going on under the hood, wouldn't understand it if you tried to explain, and don't see why they should understand it to use it. Many (if not most) of the 80% would have trouble explaning the concept of "directory" since all they know is icons live in windows and if you click them new windows open.

Amazon recognizes that the 80% is very important. Look at Kindle for PC--it's so simple (and limited) a child could learn to use it just by clicking around. Of course, that's the whole idea--Amazon doesn't want any cognitive barriers between its customers and its products.

It's very easy for someone who is technically sophisticated (and this probably applies to the majority of regular posters to this forum) to look at the calibre interface and say "What's the big deal? It's customizable and if you have 5,000 books you can't beat the functionality." But I know lots of technically unsophisticated people who would be flummoxed by the calibre interface and don't have 5,000 books to organize. They don't know what metadata is and don't have a clue about different ebook formats. All they know is they have an "x ereader" (x=Kindle, Nook, etc.) and they want to sideload books onto it or they've heard about calibre's news recipes and would like to try them out.

I think what calibre needs to broaden its appeal to the masses of technically unsophisticated ebook users is an alternative UI that looks a lot like Kindle for PC--namely icons in a window with a limited number of things users can do with those icons. When a user installs calibre with that interface, exactly one question is asked: what device do you have? Users can drag-and-drop books in and out of the window. If a book with the wrong format is added to UI will ask if it should be converted. To send a book to the device a right-click or drag to a device icon should suffice. This UI should NOT be customizable in any way--it must be the ultimate dumbed-down interface for users whose needs are essentially trivial.

That said, it should be possible for a user to switch to the calibre UI, which is why this new UI should be integrated with calibre, not created as a stand-alone front end to the command line tools.

I'm interested in people's opinions on this, and as always I'm willing to do the work myself. All I'd need to know is (a) there's agreement this would be worthwhile and (b) it would be integrated with calibre to be available as an alternative interface, selectable upon installation or at any time after. I'd start with a limited prototype that showcases the UI.
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