Writing for users

[LordShryku]

Heys guys(and the occasional gal), found this article this morning, and while it doesn't apply to PHP, it does apply to design in general. Good read on how we can sometimes not look at things through a users eye. Just thought I'd share it...
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by LordShryku
Heys guys(and the occasional gal)

Thanks, Lord! 🙂

Nice article- I agree with what they say; it's nice to have a non-techie "guinea pig" to be a reviewer for projects you are working on... I have several that have helped me cover all the bases- they can usually find questions that, while I think are obvious, to the non-techie, they can be baffling. So I know if they can understand what I'm doing, then anyone can.

[mogster]

A very good piece! 😃

This describes the huge gap between knowing and not knowing, and the paradox of the learned mind: The wiser you get, the more you tend to project the same capabilities to those you communicate with.

In defense of CUPS (never heard of it before) and the opensource method:
One gets what one gets, and one probably never paid for it. The person(s) coding the software might be experts or beginners - who's to say? And who's to complain?

But this field is very important, and I think the author sums it up pretty good in this sentence:
To understand why, you have to stop thinking like a hacker for a few moments. Cram your mind, if you can, back into the mindset of a clueless user.

That IS difficult...

knutm :-)

[LordShryku]

For anyone who has (tried) to set up CUPS without a UI, more power to you! I did it once. ONCE. Never again. Ugh....flashback headache....