Quote:
Originally Posted by victorgoh
I'm using CloudReader and loving it after figuring out the tagging system.
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I use CloudReaders, because the first ComicZeal for iPad was seriously borked.
That said, both readers suffer badly from "must think like the programmer" syndrome: in order to use the program, forget thinking like a normal person. Instead, you have to think exactly like the programmer.
I *hate* that. This isn't the worst example I've ever seen—DevonThink wins that award, and by a wide margin—but it's still aggravating.
Especially on a platform like the iPad, that's built around direct manipulation of data, a categorizing system like ComicZeal's is unforgivable. "Must think like the programmer" is the antithesis of iPad design philosophy.
Here's an example:
In ComicZeal, in order to rename a collection of comics you:
1. tap on the popover button
2. tap "Edit"
3. tap the collection you want to rename
4. tap "Move"
That's right, to rename something, you "Move" it.
Anyone think "move to rename" is intuitive, straightforward, or natural—the iPad way? No, me neither.
"But after I used it for a while I got used to it, and now it's easy…"
So what? The whole point of the iPad as a device is that people should be able to use it, more or less immediately, without having to learn a bizarre, anti-intuitive, idiosyncratic system imposed by programmer's fiat.
ComicZeal is not a well-designed iPad program. Pity, because the iPhone program was great.