Qazz42 recently brought my attention to a review of Doors CS from someone who doesn't seem to know how to read readmes, and is unreasonably angry for some reason.

Bill Frost: http://www.ticalc.org/cgi-bin/acct-view.cgi?userid=79338

ticalc.org wrote:
This was the very first file I down loaded on Ticalc. My friends told me that if I wanted to play games on my calculator, I would need some sort of program manager. I immediately browsed this site for one. When I came across Doors, I was amazed by the great graphics shown in the screen shots and decided to download it. BIG MISTAKE...

While the graphics are great, the program is HORRIBLY ANNOYING. It takes FOREVER to get to the game you want thanks to the obnoxious mouse. The scroll bar is another problem. When you try to click it and scroll up it doesn't even work. The worst part of Doors is definitely the mouse editor... It flashes randomly and violently making it hard to look at. The cursor also randomly jumps too far making editing a long lasting task.

Graphics 3/10

That mouse editor was HORRIBLE!

User friendliness - 1/10

Slow mouse, annoying scroll bar, glitched program editor.....

Originality - 3/10

It has a mouse...

Over all - 7/30

I highly suggest that if you want a good program manager, download ANYTHING BUT THIS!


I sent him an email in response:

KermMartian wrote:
Bill:

I understand that you were frustrated with your experiences with Doors CS, and I'm sorry that you had a negative experience. However, I feel that you may have not gotten a chance to fully appreciate the features and power of Doors CS. For example, did you know that you can use the [+] and [-] buttons to scroll up and down the desktop without having to click the scrollbar? With the newest beta of Doors CS (http://dcs.cemetech.net), namely Doors CS 6.7.6 beta, there are tons of other shortcuts as well, like [4][5][6] top run the programs on the top row of the desktop, and [1][2][3] to run the programs on the bottom row of the desktop. I would appreciate if you would stop by the forum on my website, Cemetech (http://www.cemetech.net/forum), and post a more detailed critique of your problems with Doors CS. I also recommend you try the latest beta, as I hope many of your issues have already been addressed. Thanks.

Cheers,
Christopher "Kerm Martian" Mitchell
Hmmm, yeah, I am glad I caught that, who knows what negative reaction this can spark, DCS is awsome Very Happy



Sigh, I remember when I used to be like that. So young, good times, goood times Wink


Of couse I always have my moments
It's annoying when people don't read the readme, I must say.
(It's called the readme for a reason! Razz)
Let's hope this resolves things, and he becomes a regular DCS user. Smile
calcdude84se wrote:
It's annoying when people don't read the readme, I must say.
(It's called the readme for a reason! Razz)
Let's hope this resolves things, and he becomes a regular DCS user. Smile
Definitely. Smile This also makes it clear why I need to finish up Doors CS 7.0 already so I can release it on ticalc.org.
Hmm, 5 days of potential users, down the drain ;.;
qazz42 wrote:
Hmm, 5 days of potential users, down the drain ;.;
Eh, I don't know if that's necessarily the case, especially since the people on a very popular Make article about running games on your calculator have been recommending it, and word of mouth and screenshots might outweigh a bit of negative press. Razz
KermMartian wrote:
Qazz42 recently brought my attention to a review of Doors CS from someone who doesn't seem to know how to read readmes


Just to kind of play devil's advocate here, software is supposed to be intuitive enough that you shouldn't need to read a readme. I've personally never found it unintuitive, but I assume that that may be partially attributed to the fact that I read a lot of things here about new features and their proper usage. Maybe first boot upon installation should have a miniature in-app instruction page with the basics?
I was never a solid fan of the mouse. I much rather prefer simple arrow buttons over the mouse. Enter, Arrows, F1 and clear did a good job in other shells I used. I got use to the nose in time, though.

I must say, reviews should not be given if the user has only used a program/object for a day or less. Chances are they aren't familiar with how things work. I've downloaded applications for my phone and hated how they worked, but after a two says of using it I gohad no complaints.

Excuse any mistakes, post box brakes on my phone.
You just have a nose instead of a mouse and brakes instead of breaks. Smile Thanks, I definitely agree on this. I also think that ticalc.org should have some kind of policy about people submitting a review as their only action as a user before submitting files, posting comments, or even being on the site more than a day. Razz Thanks for the support, comic. Smile
One of the forums I have recently started lightly following (only a couple select topics on interest) has a policy that you have to wait 24 hours after registering an account before you can post. On top of that, you need 5 posts (or something like that) before you can start your own topic.

Something similar could be established on the ticalc.org site definitely. At least the 24 hour rules before people are allowed to post.
I definitely like that idea. Maybe even 24 hours until you can post, rate, or review?
I agree with his review. Shortcuts are supposed to save time for power users, not partially replace the broken primary interface.

DCS's primary interface (emulated mouse) sucks big time - it's horrible. His review is spot on. Kerm, if you don't like it, get rid of the crappy mouse. Or, make it so the default interface doesn't use a mouse, but a mouse appears when you plug in a physical mouse.

Changing the review process or ranting about people not reading readmes is simply dodging or attempting to silence extremely valid criticism.
Kllrnohj wrote:
I agree with his review. Shortcuts are supposed to save time for power users, not partially replace the broken primary interface.

DCS's primary interface (emulated mouse) sucks big time - it's horrible. His review is spot on. Kerm, if you don't like it, get rid of the crappy mouse. Or, make it so the default interface doesn't use a mouse, but a mouse appears when you plug in a physical mouse.

Changing the review process or ranting about people not reading readmes is simply dodging or attempting to silence extremely valid criticism.
My issue is not with him disliking the interface. My issue is him not reading the readme to see that there are alternatives to almost everything the mouse is used for in the form of keyboard shortcuts and TabFuncs.

Edit: And I therefore am saying that I am quite happy with the interface and don't think it's broken at all. The shortcuts are meant to have two uses, both speed boosts for power users, and alternatives for people who don't want to deal with a mouse.
KermMartian wrote:
My issue is not with him disliking the interface. My issue is him not reading the readme to see that there are alternatives to almost everything the mouse is used for in the form of keyboard shortcuts and TabFuncs.


Which means your UI is a failure. Again, if you have to read a readme to find alternatives to the primary interface then the primary interface needs to be drastically overhauled.
Kllrnohj wrote:
KermMartian wrote:
My issue is not with him disliking the interface. My issue is him not reading the readme to see that there are alternatives to almost everything the mouse is used for in the form of keyboard shortcuts and TabFuncs.


Which means your UI is a failure. Again, if you have to read a readme to find alternatives to the primary interface then the primary interface needs to be drastically overhauled.
KermMartian wrote:
Edit: And I therefore am saying that I am quite happy with the interface and don't think it's broken at all. The shortcuts are meant to have two uses, both speed boosts for power users, and alternatives for people who don't want to deal with a mouse.
Err, no, it means that it's impossible to appeal to every user with a single interface choice, so I made some concessions in the form of alternatives for people who don't like the primary interface as much.
KermMartian wrote:
Err, no, it means that it's impossible to appeal to every user with a single interface choice, so I made some concessions in the form of alternatives for people who don't like the primary interface as much.


Err, no, it means you're wrong Razz

Or you prefer novel over useful. DCS's mouse interface is simply not suited to the HID available, it is a bad design. You may like it, but it's still a bad design.
Let me try and be the diplomat here. Kerm, why not use your mouse as the primary UI, but have an onscreen display say, "hotkey UI available with these keys" or something like that. When I design, I assume that my user will not read the text file. So I make all alternative settings easy to find and modify.
ACagliano wrote:
Let me try and be the diplomat here. Kerm, why not use your mouse as the primary UI, but have an onscreen display say, "hotkey UI available with these keys" or something like that. When I design, I assume that my user will not read the text file. So I make all alternative settings easy to find and modify.
Indeed, it's a good idea, albeit one I hadn't previously had space for. If you take a look at my To-Do list, you'll see that I plan to use my remaining Page 1 space to add a Help dialog to the DCS Menu.
foamy3 wrote:

Just to kind of play devil's advocate here, software is supposed to be intuitive enough that you shouldn't need to read a readme. I've personally never found it unintuitive, but I assume that that may be partially attributed to the fact that I read a lot of things here about new features and their proper usage. Maybe first boot upon installation should have a miniature in-app instruction page with the basics?

In calculator software, due to the low resolution of the screen and the keyboard is adapted to math, we are forced to use many hot keys not very intuitive.
But some users first try by trial and error to discover any hotkeys.
I found myself never reading completely MirageOS readme and just discover and memorize the hotkeys. Wink
But it is just smart users who first try to see all features of software and devices that do this.
But the starter pages is a nice addition. The only disadvantage is size concerns.

The numbers pad, + and - hotkeys have convinced me to move from MirageOS to DoorsCS. But still sometimes I wished you could list programs in a more compact list.
And be able to do operations (lock, unlock, copy, move, etc.) with programs with your keyboard because it is faster than the mouse.
Did the guy happen to respond to your E-mail by any chance?
  
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