ok, couldn't help but post one more quickie blog ... yeah, yeah, i'm flooding the planet. bite me (after the people who want this entry to be the plasma entry but who are going to be disappointed; i told them they could bite me in my last entry so they get to go first)
so, i'd like to talk briefly about "software that looks professional" and then talk about the power of public (near-)nekidness. and by "i'd like" i mean "i will". only the cats can stop me now. (and one of them is trying pretty hard, i might add, by laying on the keyboard)
i just read this blog entry by albert astals cid detailing how mauricio piacentini updated the artwork in kmahjongg. and in the comments some people were noting that the new artwork (which looks awesome, btw) is not as easy for play since the tiles aren't as differentiated as in the current kde3 art. some people in the comments, however, noted that the graphics were polished (they are), easy to read (they are) and serious (ok, perhaps) ... which, they purported made the application professional in nature as if that's something to shoot for.
now, nobody wants to have their software called "poorly done". and these days "professional" has been twisted to mean the opposite of "poorly done". unfortunately, there are many ways for something to be "well done" that don't fit the criterion the posters noted as making the new graphics "professional". you know, like actually works better for the user. in this case, which nice screenshotware, the new grahpics may actually be worse for players as noted by several mahjongg players in the comments (many of whom also noted the new artwork is gorgeous looking)
and this leads me to my rant: sometimes people pursue an idealized version of a "professional look and feel" and end up with crap. by "crap" i mean "doesn't actually do what the user wants or needs". it's no win to short change the user in an attempt to slickify your software.
good news is that one can do both, but it requires holding in your head both goals at once. in kde we've often paid so much attention to empowering the user that we forget the other goals at hand as well. we've been working very hard to change that, but let's not swing the pendulum all the way to the other side of the arc here ...
for those advocating a "more professional" look without noting the balancing issues of user first design, i'd really encourage you to consider that it is more than just clean lines and a low colour count featuring low saturation colours ... it's part of it, but not all of it. because, let's be honest, the current "that's professional look" stands a good chance of looking like bell bottoms and leg warmers in 5 years time but the user never goes out of style.
but enough of the ranting. =) i picked up a plush bathrobe (which t. had been talking about needing/wanting over the last month or three) and a little something to go on underneath it. i went over to her place before she got home from work and laid a path of roses from the door to the gift box in her living room (yeah, yeah, i'm a romantic schmuck). some four hours later (it's now dark outside) i hear a tapping on my living room window. outside is t. wearing the something for underneath the robe and a wonderfully sleek and shiny full length coat with a pair of strappy little platform shoes ... when i open the door for her there's some random person on the street trying to get her attention. when he sees me he makes eye contact and then mutters something about "did i see that girl with .. uh .. a guy? go past .. near here.. a bit ago..... uuuh .." haha.. nice try. caught with his eyes in the cookie jar and really not prepared. boo
hmm.. one of my icecream build cluster nodes just disappeared off the network (i only have 3, but that's better than 1 =) ... turns out the cat was playing with the switch. again. grrr...
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11 comments:
About KMahjong: I can't believe the number of comments we've written on what is (regarded by some as) a minor element of a DE.
However, I have found that playing KMahjong was a great way to kill time (waiting for a compilation, etc.) without losing my concentration on the work. I can switch right back to work in a snap, which is not the case when browsing the web, reading mails, etc.
For me, this makes it one of the most important application, in great part due to its simplicity and colorfulness.
And so, thanks for having understood our point exactly !
Seeing as I'm the guy who posted the "professional-looking" comment, I feel that I should (am going to) make a statement here.
I did, indeed, mean "the opposite of poorly done." I've played all of the games that come with KDE and Gnome. Some of them have graphics that are fantastic, some poorly done. The default theme for the current KMahjongg hurts my eyes. While I'm sure the application is just as good, technically, as Gnome Mahjongg, I prefer the Gnome one because it's more visually appealing to ME. All of these are MY opinions. (BTW, I'm partially colorblind. Thanks a million to the Frozen-Bubble guys for the -cb switch!)
Back to my point, in no way did I mean to belittle anyone's personal needs or taste, as I am fully aware that these vary, and I'm glad that we have choice. However, I think that if you put that screenshot next to, say, one with the "Pirate" tileset, and ask 100 people which one was done by a "professional," at least 99 of them would choose the new one. The new tiles closely resemble actual mahjongg tiles that go way back, and, as they say, the classics never go out of style.
Anyway, I consider all of the KDE developers "professionals," regardless of the dictionary or popular definitions. My only intent was to pay compliment and lend support. I can't wait to play it.
I say YAY for a guy being a romantic Schmuck....mine is too ( a romantic schmuck that is!) and that is the way to a girls heart!
You go!
Big sis
There are some interesting points in your blog, and imo it is of course not a situation where you have to choose between supposedly "better" graphics or playability. You can have both, and having actual users comment on a new look is probably a good way to inch towards this goal. Of course, it will be better when users can comment on how it affects gameplay as well, but this is my fault, since you can not play a PNG :)
Fortunately in the case of something like KMahjongg you can really have multiple options, as users can load their preferred tilesets, of course. I believe we need cleaner ones, but there is no plan to scrap the existing tilesets, or redesing this proposed one with the feedback we are getting.
But I would like to highlight that graphics overhaul is one important goal of the KMahjongg revamp, but it is not the only one, and specially not one that will really address the current usability issues alone. I know you used this blog entry as an example only, but I want to make it clearer that we are not just aiming for the "good looks". :)
The current drawing code is starting to show its age, and has severe limitations that REALLY affect playability much more than any graphics change. For example, the current tilesets and the playfield are not resizeable, so good luck trying to find a matching tile on a 1600X1200 display, no matter the color, and the position of the numbers! And there are other issues related to the lack of scaling and drawing strategy that really affect playability, no matter which tileset you use. See
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62109
and
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=85633
Part of the SVG redesign involves of course adding these much needed features to KMahjongg, namely the ability to resize tilesets and the windows freely, and to integrate QGV to optimize the redrawing. These features (specially resizing) are something every user expect to be able to do on a "professional" application, exactly the point you made. So the new version will probably be perceived as slightly better or more "professional", but probably mainly because it add some capabilities (resizing) that the average users takes as granted nowadays.
BTW, I have just started working on KMahjongg last week, btw, being new to kde development.
So, in short, I agree that just going for the looks is not the best way, and we can definately not go for eye-candy alone. But if you also tackle the other issues, and all other things being equal, a better look can really make the difference, specially for first time or casual users. But this only works if we can do it more usable AND better looking at the same time.
In this case specifically, I believe we could have collected better feedback if I had already commited the tileset to SVN, of course, so people could see how it looks AND do the most important bit, which is actually feel how it plays and the relief of being able to resize the tiles freely to fill the screen, if needed. But SVG rendering is currently hacked (hardcoded paths and constants) into the application for this prototype, and I did not wanted to break the existing tilesets just yet (I was not ready to throw away a sizable portion of the code before getting authorization from the current maintainer.) Now that things are moving faster the code should be available in a couple of days at trunk.
OOps.. second paragraph should of course end with
I believe we need cleaner ones, but there is no plan to scrap the existing tilesets, AND WE CAN redesign this proposed one with the feedback we are getting.
I'm personally very glad for the KMahjongg revamp. Up till now, I've preferred Gnome Mahjongg for just about every reason -- scalable graphics, much nicer on the eyes, easier to tell how highly a given tile is stacked (in KMahjongg, it sort of washes together), and just being plain beautiful never hurt, either. I say this not to boost either software or knock the other, but as a counterexample to those saying Gnome Mahjongg sacrifices usability for beauty. Personally, I found it much easier to use. Tastes can, apparently, vary.
a number of the replies here are missing the entire point. obviously i didn't make myself clear enough, sorry.
let's try again:
the changes in kmahjongg are -terrific-. the first thing i noticed was the alternating colours in stacking so you could see that quickly. and using svg for scaling was an obvious win. that wasn't what i was talking about.
i was talking about some of the people who -replied- to the blog about the improvements who communicated what i feel is a fairly broken goal: "professionalism" through the creation of a sterile look that doesn't actually work for a lot (most) people. additionally, the whole concept of "good software is the same as 'professional'" is pretty weak IMHO.
so .. forget about the changes to kmahjongg here and think about the comments that talked about "professionalism through seriousness". =)
I know what you're saying Aaron, and to some extent, I'm with you.
On the other hand, if a review said "...this program seems to be a novice effort," or "...whose graphics look somewhat unprofessional," those would be interpreted as negative remarks, no?
I don't think "professional looking" *necessarily* means "serious" when it comes to art. I've seen some very popular icon sets that look very professional (the way I interpret the word) and are not serious at all.
BTW, you seem to be letting your "real life" interfere with your blogging schedule! Distracted by a half-dressed woman? How dare you!
@Louis: i agree that 'professional' does not need to be 'serious' (pixar has shown that quite nicely ;), but that is pretty much exactly what the comments on the kmahjongg blog said. too many people miss exactly what you've just noted, particularly at the expense of considering the real purpose of the software.
True enough. I don't want to see the fun/usability of any program be compromised by a false need to conform. KDE et al have been made great (IMHO) by not following the pack, but by leading in many ways. My Windows-addicted coworkers are jealous of many of the power-features that I take for granted. I love it when someone says, "I wish I could..." and I tell them that I've been doing that forever.
The stuff that's been showing up on Planet is... (not a sufficient word to describe it).
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