Reasonable grokitude re: web apps

Post #161,204 by FuManChu 6/23/04 12:12:03 PM Reply	Reasonable grokitude re: web apps [link\|http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/location_field\|http://daringfirebal...06/location_field]
Post #161,252 by JayMehaffey 6/23/04 4:40:04 PM Reply	One thing he missed The persnickety little UI details I obsess over \ufffd these are nothing compared to the massive deficiencies of even the best web app. But most people don\ufffdt care, because web apps are just so damned easy to use. What\ufffds interesting is that web apps are \ufffdeasy\ufffd despite their glaring user experience limitations. In many cases web apps are easy to use exactly because of the limitations of the platform. With such limited tools, there is no capacity to get clever and obscure with the menu and shortcuts and wizards and options and scripts and macros and such. A web app generally has the absolute mininum number of options needed to make it work, and as such is fundamentally simpler. Jay
Post #161,253 by drewk 6/23/04 4:43:11 PM Reply	Good point I was just talking to a developer today who has written a page where php writes javascript that writes javascript. The page literally re-writes itself on the fly. I pointed out that by the time you've got javascript writing javascript you've probably got a bad UI anyway. "But it's exactly what the users asked for." Yup. Most users know less about usability than most programmers. And we know how good programmers are at UI. === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #161,261 by admin 6/23/04 5:02:26 PM Reply	If you think users and programmers are bad... ... try CEOs some time... Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #161,271 by ben_tilly 6/23/04 5:22:03 PM Reply	JavaScript writing JavaScript? Have fun debugging that. As Todd Blanchard likes to say, if you have to resort to eval, then your platform is not powerful enough. That might mean that your platform lacks the features that you really need, or that you don't know the features that it has. See if he knows what closures are... (Yes, JavaScript supports them.) Cheers, Ben PS I'll accept that the users likely asked for exactly what he produced. And that it was the wrong thing to ask for. But that is separate from the programming technique issue... To deny the indirect purchaser, who in this case is the ultimate purchaser, the right to seek relief from unlawful conduct, would essentially remove the word consumer from the Consumer Protection Act - [link\|http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?NewsID=1246&Page=1&pagePos=20\|Nebraska Supreme Court]
Post #161,262 by admin 6/23/04 5:03:13 PM Reply	Yep. Note that zIWT uses no Javascript or other fancy crap. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #161,298 by jb4 6/23/04 6:42:39 PM Reply	Yeah........and it works in spite of that!_______;-) jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT
Post #161,301 by admin 6/23/04 6:51:44 PM Reply	Amazing, innit? Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."

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