Re: [libreoffice-design] The purpose of Impress

Hi Regina,


2014/1/19 Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de>

> Hi Mirek,
>
> Mirek M. schrieb:
>
> > Hi Regina,
> >
> > 2014/1/19 Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de>
> >
> >  Hi Mirek,
> > > Mirek M. schrieb:
> > >
> > >   Hi guys,
> > >
> > > > In order to be able to effectively design and shape the future of
> > > > LibreOffice modules, it is imperative that we define what these modules
> > > > are
> > > > for. Knowing the purpose of each module will help us focus on doing one
> > > > thing well and avoid counterproductive feature creep.
> > > >
> > > > Since, out of all the modules, Impress's purpose might be one of the
> > > > clearest, let's start with it.
> > > >
> > > > My rough draft:
> > > > The purpose of Impress is "to make it simple and quick to craft a slide
> > > > show to perfectly complement a speech."
> > > > Please comment on this.
> > > >
> > > >   "complement a speech" is not all. There exists other popular usages of
> > > impress. For example:
> > > (1) Self-repeating (product-) information, for example in shop window,
> > > waiting room, or station.
> > > (2) Interactive learning arrangement
> > > (3) Present pictures from travel or festivals to friends or parishioners
> > > (4) Background for memorial or meditation
> > > (5) Lecture notes for revision
> > Yes, but it's important design practice to focus on doing one thing
> > excellently, not on doing several things in a mediocre way.
> > That doesn't mean Impress can't or shouldn't be used for other things, but
> > that it should be optimized to do one thing well. Alternative use-cases
> > can
> > be covered unintentionally, by extensions, or by splitting the module into
> > two.
>
> I disagree here. Look at the questions about impress in mailing lists and
> forums. For example, why do you think users ask about a sound continuing
> over the whole slide show? Surely not for "complement a speech", but likely
> for purpose (3).

Again, I'm not asking what the software is being used for. I'm asking what
use-cases it should be designed for.
For example, if we say that the purpose of Impress is creating photo
slideshows, then maybe we should show the Photo Album dialog at launch.
If, on the other hand, we say that creating photo slideshows is not at all
relevant to the purpose, we should think about spinning the Photo Album
dialog into an extension.

> I would not keep the question on design-list, but bring it to discuss-list
> too.
>
> > Real-life examples of each of these:
> > LibreOffice Writer wasn't designed for editing code. You may use it for
> > that purpose, though. (You definitely shouldn't, there are much, much
> > better tools for the job, but it is possible.) The same goes for using
> > Impress for a picture slideshow -- there are better tools for the job, and
> > that's because those tools were designed specifically for that job.
>
> I think, that many users do not install special applications, but use the
> tools they know. LO is not only used in enterprises and large
> administration, but in non-profit organizations like religious communities
> and friendly societies, small business, and in education.

The huge popularity of single-purpose mobile apps proves otherwise. These
are popular because they're simple and tailored to a single use case.

>  Chrome was designed strictly as a web browser, and it fulfills that role
> > excellently. You may use it as an RSS reader or as a torrent client,
> > though, if you install the right extension.
> > The Mozilla Software Suite, which was a web-browser and an e-mail client
> > combined, was discontinued in favor of the more focused Firefox and
> > Thunderbird.
>
> It is continued in application "Seamonkey" and works well.

Yes, but there's reason why the application was discontinued and why
Firefox and Thunderbird alone are much more popular than SeaMonkey.
It's the same reason why Google Wave tanked, while Facebook Messenger
became a success. Google Wave had no clearly defined purpose, whereas
Facebook Messenger always did just one thing really well.

> > "simple and quick" needs to be expanded in a further step. For example one
> >
> > > requirement is adaptability.
> > What exactly do you mean by "adaptability"?
>
> Slide shows are often not crafted from scratch. But users take existing
> slide shows and adapt them. The user hides slides which are not useful for
> the special speech, or they exchange pictures with more up-to-date ones,
> for example. Or they take several existing slide shows and copy single
> slides for the current purpose. Or people do not use their own slides but
> take the presentation from someone else and need the internal remarks in
> the notes. Or they have to adapt logo, address, introduction. Or they start
> with an existing template, which contains already a lot of slides, where
> the user has to fill placeholders.


That's a matter of workflow, not of purpose.
Reusing slides from other slideshows can certainly fit under "making it
simple and quick to craft a slideshow to perfectly complement a speech".

> Kind regards
> Regina
>
>
>
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