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dmcd · 02-09-2012, 02:21 AM

My god, I am absolutely stunned at this. Stunned and horrified!! No wonder people try Calibre and then decide it's too complex!

Why should it be tweaked? Why should a new user be expected to turn into an instant programmer? I don't see "Beta" anywhere on the download links.

I haven't tweaked this Regular Expressions thing yet as I'm bound to stuff it up. I have other skills - writing programming language is not one of them and I don't want to learn to do this. I want to click menus and buttons and have everything happen automatically. I'm not a programmer I'm an average computer user! I don't have to go under the hood and into the bowels of a terrific free programme like FastStone Viewer to get it to do what I wish. (I did initially use Photoshop as the analogy, and then thought of the pricetag attached to it.

)

I have acquired a very mottly collection of ebook titles. I change the title names before I even start to try to import them. I miss a few buried in sub folders and I keep getting file name length warnings so hunt them down and shorten the names. One has little choice for the file path length: C:\Documents and Settings\User name\My Documents\E-books\Library name\ and then the book title. Doesn't leave many characters left for the book title and that is just about all that is optional in the path in Windows at least. I'm finding some morons that make ebooks append the whole synopsis to the book name.

Is this what you mean about needing to change this "thing" called Regular Expressions and make me try and write programming hieroglyphics? See? I still don't know what the actual purpose is of this option! I bailed out on the attached tutorial link because it made my head hurt and I became angry that I should be expected to cope with this. Bury the damn thing where it will not terrify me at my first apprehensive excursion into the Preferences.

My vocabulary is quite large. In fact my head is about chockers with words and their meanings in three languages. There is no room left in there for a whole new language. I don't want to know about new terms I've never struck before in my life. I'm too bloody old and/or stupid to bother. I just want to use a piece of software to do the things I need to do without straining too much to achieve this.

That option dealing with strange terms like Regular Expressions still should be under an advanced tab. It is not something the average user should be expected to deal with at any time if they do not choose to do so.....and that goes for the rest of those obscure input fields littered throughout the options.

Somebody has to either make some rules for input data and throw up clear, concise warnings if they try and bend these rules, or solve the problem behind the scenes without direct user input. These warnings should be in plain language and not "programmer's speak". What other popular software makes the user programme it by inputting an unknown language (Python?) before it will perform correctly? No wonder Calibre is getting a bad name for being unpleasant to use and too difficult to learn.

You guys are too close to the development of this software to look at it objectively from the ordinary user's point of view. I'm not being unappreciative and mean here. I'm just trying to remove the blinkers that are obscuring your under developed, much needed objectivity.

Only trying to get all of you to look at the problems from a laypersons perspective.

I wouldn't bother if I didn't think Calibre was approaching perfection.

Dale
Playing Devil's Advocate - and who really thinks Calibre an amazing piece of software that could be just a bit more user friendly.

02-09-2012, 02:21 AM	#5
dmcd Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 35544 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Northern Victoria, Australia Device: Kobo	My god, I am absolutely stunned at this. Stunned and horrified!! No wonder people try Calibre and then decide it's too complex! Why should it be tweaked? Why should a new user be expected to turn into an instant programmer? I don't see "Beta" anywhere on the download links. I haven't tweaked this Regular Expressions thing yet as I'm bound to stuff it up. I have other skills - writing programming language is not one of them and I don't want to learn to do this. I want to click menus and buttons and have everything happen automatically. I'm not a programmer I'm an average computer user! I don't have to go under the hood and into the bowels of a terrific free programme like FastStone Viewer to get it to do what I wish. (I did initially use Photoshop as the analogy, and then thought of the pricetag attached to it.) I have acquired a very mottly collection of ebook titles. I change the title names before I even start to try to import them. I miss a few buried in sub folders and I keep getting file name length warnings so hunt them down and shorten the names. One has little choice for the file path length: C:\Documents and Settings\User name\My Documents\E-books\Library name\ and then the book title. Doesn't leave many characters left for the book title and that is just about all that is optional in the path in Windows at least. I'm finding some morons that make ebooks append the whole synopsis to the book name. Is this what you mean about needing to change this "thing" called Regular Expressions and make me try and write programming hieroglyphics? See? I still don't know what the actual purpose is of this option! I bailed out on the attached tutorial link because it made my head hurt and I became angry that I should be expected to cope with this. Bury the damn thing where it will not terrify me at my first apprehensive excursion into the Preferences. My vocabulary is quite large. In fact my head is about chockers with words and their meanings in three languages. There is no room left in there for a whole new language. I don't want to know about new terms I've never struck before in my life. I'm too bloody old and/or stupid to bother. I just want to use a piece of software to do the things I need to do without straining too much to achieve this. That option dealing with strange terms like Regular Expressions still should be under an advanced tab. It is not something the average user should be expected to deal with at any time if they do not choose to do so.....and that goes for the rest of those obscure input fields littered throughout the options. Somebody has to either make some rules for input data and throw up clear, concise warnings if they try and bend these rules, or solve the problem behind the scenes without direct user input. These warnings should be in plain language and not "programmer's speak". What other popular software makes the user programme it by inputting an unknown language (Python?) before it will perform correctly? No wonder Calibre is getting a bad name for being unpleasant to use and too difficult to learn. You guys are too close to the development of this software to look at it objectively from the ordinary user's point of view. I'm not being unappreciative and mean here. I'm just trying to remove the blinkers that are obscuring your under developed, much needed objectivity. Only trying to get all of you to look at the problems from a laypersons perspective. I wouldn't bother if I didn't think Calibre was approaching perfection. Dale Playing Devil's Advocate - and who really thinks Calibre an amazing piece of software that could be just a bit more user friendly.