Rockbox General > Rockbox General Discussion

Proposition: SimpleBox

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nls:

--- Quote from: bazmonkey on September 21, 2006, 04:12:28 PM ---A couple of people have thrown out "read the manual" as a solution to a difficult UI, which it isn't.  I personally don't think it's that difficult, but reading a manual on it doesn't make the UI easy.  A flight manual doesn't make piloting aircraft magically easy.  A bad interface with a manual is just a documented, bad interface.  But rockbox's interface isn't bad IMO.  

--- End quote ---

I was reffering to this statement in the original post

--- Quote ---The majority of us don't use/don't know how to use the majority of the features of RockBox
--- End quote ---

If you don't know what something does I think you should look in the manual. The manual also explains the rockbox interface and its quirks, most people have a difficult time with it in the beginning because it is simply different from the system they're used to and what they expect from a use interface.

mnhnhyouh:

--- Quote from: Llorean on September 22, 2006, 12:01:14 PM ---
And to many of us, starting at the file tree does make sense to our point of view.

--- End quote ---

I agree.

As for the manual not making a plane easy to fly, that is because flying is hard. Rockbox is not simple when you first start, but if you stick to it, you will learn how to use all or most of its features.


So far, except for having some use of colour and a sensible font as default for each platform (and sensible differs amongst platforms because of their screen characteristics) all of the suggestions seem to lean towards dumbing down to make it easier for beginners.

The idea behind Rockbox is that it offers a very wide choice of options. The only way to make them easier, is to remove them.

One suggestion is to make the order of options in a menu user definable.  This would not make it more simple, but more complex to use, and would require a couple of manual pages to explain. I love the idea of user definable menus. I dont mind the extra complexity. But it wont make Rockbox more simple to use.

h

bazmonkey:

--- Quote from: mnhnhyouh on September 23, 2006, 05:32:35 AM ---As for the manual not making a plane easy to fly, that is because flying is hard. Rockbox is not simple when you first start, but if you stick to it, you will learn how to use all or most of its features.
--- End quote ---

I bet if you stuck to piloting you'd figure it out, too  ;D

The point I was getting at still remains; a poor interface that comes with a manual documenting said poor interface does not make it a good interface or an easy one.

Llorean:
And yet many of us are just fine with the interface. The problem is, those of you who say it should be improved suggest making it more awkward to use AFTER you've learned it. Hiding the options away in an 'Advanced' menu, or putting them anywhere that makes them less readily reached somewhat defeats the purpose of Rockbox being a powerful alternate operating system.

Face it: People who are satisfied with the basics will stick with the original firmware. Rockbox is targeted for people who want to get more from their player. In general this means they want ready access to the advanced features as well as the basic ones.

mnhnhyouh:
I dont think the interface is unintuitive, but it does take time to learn as there are *lots* of options.

I have just read this thread again, to look for what people are actually asking for, and it seems there are 5 things.

1) Hide some of the more esoteric* menu options in sub-menus

2) Add graphics to make it more intuitive

3) Make it more intuitive

4) Start in a menu system instead of the filetree.

5) Remove some menu options.

I address them like this....

1) I use some of them, I prefer them near the top of the menu tree. I think most who stick with Rockbox want access to them, because those who stick with Rockbox tend to be the sort of people who like to fiddle. But I do like the idea of a file RB reads the menu layout from that is easy to configure with standard tags for each menu option. That way I could set it up just the way I like it with each theme :) I will even write the manual for this if somebody does the code :)

2) I would like some examples of this. I thought the iRiver H3xx menu system good at first, but wasted effort afterwards.

3) I have yet, besides option 2) seen any indication of what this might mean.

4) I prefer to either return to the song/playlist it was on when I stopped, or the filetree. Which is exactly what I get :)

5) Please dont remove options. Add them


*esoteric in this context means anything the Apple firmware doesnt have.

h

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