A lot of very interesting emails were received in response to my posting,
both on and off-list. We all seem to agree that Writelog is an excellent and
unique product, providing the contester with facilities not available else
where. Some of you seem to have missed the point of my email (my error, no
doubt) which was purely one of USABILITY. This can be cured not by changing
the progam, but rather by changing the help and ease of useage. The days of
the TRS-80 and the 286 are long gone, and with the facilities provided by
the Windows enviroment, it should be possible for any programmer to provide
a product that can be enjoyed by all levels of user, from the
computer-illiterate to the hardened computer professional who has worked his
or her way up from DOS to the present day.
How to make things better ? An example springs to mind of the Web-Design
program that I use, 1st Page 2000. Switch it on, and I am presented with 4
levels of complexity - Easy, Normal, Expert, or Hardcore. A series of Help
Boxes appear as I start to use the different features, each of which can be
permanently turned off (Don't Show Me This Again) once I am happy with how
the program is functioning. A 'Start Manager' is available, that offers me
choices in plain English for the different tasks I might want to start.
Templates are available, Tips and Tricks, A Reference Guide to HTML, and
direct links within the program that will take me to a web Tour,
Screenshots, and a Tech Support Area. The Help Guide contains an Overview, A
List of Features, A Tag Library, and guides to Project Management, Code
Management, Scripts, and tools to Fix, Format, and Compress. Starting off in
Easy Mode, there are various Wizards that take me through a variety of
tasks. As I improve my knowledge of this very complex program, I can move up
a level, the graphics disappear, and are replaced by quickly accessible
buttons that do the jobs I want to do. The one feature I miss is the
floating Question Mark, used by many programs, that allows me to question
any of the items on the screen.
At no time do I have to edit any kind of .ini file. The options that I want
are presented clearly and concisely, enabling me to produce great-looking
websites without ever needing to print out the manual. Somebody has clearly
spent a lot of time writing a great program, and then spent another lot
carefully thinking about all the types of users that might use the programs,
and the problems and questions that they might have. I would respectfully
like to disagree with Wayne, K7WM, when he says:
>...Its not a "setup the day before
>contest starts" type of program nor should it be...
I believe that these days, with all the Windows and memory resources
available to the programmer, a program should be just as accessible to my
Grandma as it is to Randy K5ZD and other 'Kings of the Contest' who have
spent many hours perfecting their technique.
Finally, let me say that I'm not trying to prolong the use of DOS programs.
These have clearly had their day, and will gracefully fade away as time
passes. Long Live Windows, Long Live Writelog, Long Live Usability.
Tim, EI8IC
www.qsl.net/ei8ic/
The European HF Contesting Website
Recent winner of the 'DX Zone' Editors choice Award.
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