Feedback from completely new user

[Parody]

Originally Posted by Vargr

The problem with removing the pre-designed topics, tags, etc. will probably be that the market place content would not work in your realm.

If you bring in content that uses the global tags and/or categories, it should bring the items it uses with it. This shouldn't work any different than any content that depends on other free content. Otherwise you could never share a Topic/Article using a custom Category or custom Tags.

All dependencies (free or paid) should be listed as well, so before you choose to use something you know what it's going to attach to your realm and whether you need to have purchased other content in order to use it.

[Vargr]

Originally Posted by Parody

If you bring in content that uses the global tags and/or categories, it should bring the items it uses with it. This shouldn't work any different than any content that depends on other free content. Otherwise you could never share a Topic/Article using a custom Category or custom Tags.

All dependencies (free or paid) should be listed as well, so before you choose to use something you know what it's going to attach to your realm and whether you need to have purchased other content in order to use it.

I hadn't thought of that - good point

[adzling]

Hey Vargr thanks for your reply.

You are correct that just because you disagree with me does not make you wrong, ignorant or stupid.

And I did not say that at any time.

However when folks don't read a thread before commenting or know little about what they comment on they add little to the conversation.

When someone willfully takes another's comments out of context or does not stop to grok them they are borderline trolling.

Much of the replies to my thoughtful posts fall into this category (some are also really good!).

This is because many folks on the internets see a sentence fragment and start typing.

I am not here to design a new interface for realmworks and indeed the challenge is much deeper than most commenters here recognize.

This also speaks to their ignorance on the subject (ignorance does not mean stupid, it means lack of knowledge and as such should not be taken as an insult. I am ignorant on a great many things).

You final comment completely amps up the rhetoric rephrasing my concerns in overblown hyperbole.

To be clear my position is:
Realmworks would be better served to have a beginner suitable interface as it will encourage new user adoption thereby increasing the number of copies sold and allowing the developers to spend more money developing this awesome app.

Originally Posted by Vargr

@Adzling

1:

Because I happen to have a different opinion does not automatically mean I am wrong, ignorant or blatantly stupid. That is the feeling I get when I read your posts. If that is not what you mean, then try to rephrase what you are saying.

When commenting on those not agreeing with you, you sometimes use phrases as those below:

- common lack of knowledge

- demonstrates the commentators poor understanding

- You are all conveniently ignoring

- You're also completely ignoring

It doesn't make people more receptive of your views.

2:

The beginners you talk so much about actually happen to include me as well. Yes, I have owned RW for some time now, but have only recently had the time to work seriously with it. Just now I consider myself to have moved from beginner to the next step.

3:

You have argued for a simpler interface and a sort of step-by-step input-system and not until now have you - as far as I remember - mentioned, that you were indeed thinking of a dual system with both approaches available (reading through the thread again, I see that you hinted at it at one point).

More concrete suggestions as to how you envision what needs to be done would be helpful in stead of “The interface sucks, you will loose all your customers and all revenue because of it” (grossly paraphrasing, I know, sorry for that).

I might have completely mis-read you and it is possible that the above in no way reflects what you are trying to say – but that is how it came across to me.

[adzling]

Here's an example of a concrete interface fail.

In the Plot Point view the only way to attach a Scene is to right click your mouse.

You can't drag a Scene onto a Plot Point.
You can't click on the "Content Links" in the right pane to link content.
You can't click on the Plot Point to add link content.

This renders the key feature of Plot Points (attaching/ linking Scenes and other content) completely inobvious/ invisible to the user unless and only if they right click.

Such key functionality should be available and obvious to the user and not completely invisible and hidden.

This is interface 101 fail.

Realmworks is riddled with these types of problems throughout the interface in effect meaning you have to master many aspects of the program before you can even begin to use it.

[adzling]

I had a bit of epiphany last night as I slogged through setting up custom Scenes and inputing Plot Points.

This program is being structured from the perspective of a programmer with very little attention paid to visual thinking.

The Plot Points are nod towards visual thinking but they only barely work (see previous interface note and comments in Plot Points thread re: Snippets) and it's obvious that they were conceived as an aid to the content as opposed to a primary method of managing a campaign or adventure.

Visual thinking would have turned this on its head and taken the opposite approach, using strong visual cues (such as a linked series of plot points) to govern content input as it relates to the adventure at hand.

Both approaches can be valid, however usually visual thinking is easier for noobs as it can greatly simplify the process and give you an overview of the entire project before you have completed it and help you understand where the holes are.

This interface is more like a set of text instructions for putting together a piece of IKEA
without any illustrations.

[Farling]

Originally Posted by adzling

This is interface 101 fail.

Realmworks is riddled with these types of problems throughout the interface in effect meaning you have to master many aspects of the program before you can even begin to use it.

Some of the UI features that you take for granted are relatively new innovations. I'm sure you'll be complaining about the lack of touch interactions next.

UX as a subject is incredibly new, as is probably "visual thinking". This product has been in development for many years, and it isn't easy to move a product easily from one UI toolbox to another.

[adzling]

I don't care about touch and it does not make any sense for this program.

visual thinking is most certainly not new and has been a well known concept since the middle of last century.

Drag and drop has been around since the advent of windows 3.0.

Not hiding key interface elements under a bush is just common sense.

I do understand about not being able to easily implement changes to the product overnight and that is not what I am asking/ expecting.

I would however expect someone who designs a complicated program like this to consider and spend time making the interface an aid to use and not a hindrance.

[Parody]

Originally Posted by adzling

In the Plot Point view the only way to attach a Scene is to right click your mouse.

In Edit mode, double-clicking a Plot Point brings up the Edit Plot Point Details dialog, where you can attach content by clicking on the "world w/magnifying glass" button.

The Storyboard is one of the rougher parts of Realm Works, partially due to the automatic nature of the diagrams. (The only safe way to lay out a Plot is a straight line.) I've put some things in there to learn how it works, but don't find it that useful. There's other places where Realm Works makes diagrams for you, and they similarly aren't that great. I'm sure it's Yet Another Thing on the Developers' Plates.

Thankfully, it's the rest of Realm Works I find useful. :)

[adzling]

Yeah I see that now thanks Parody.

hey don't get me wrong I'm getting some great utility out of realmworks, it just feels like i'm fighting it to get it in whereas it should feel like it's helping.

[liz]

We forgot to point a link to Rob's response last week, so here it is: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=53055.

1) Adzling's language and approach was inappropriate, as Rob addresses in the link above. 2) Adzling raised a number of good points questions, which Rob also answers in the link above.