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From: eric@aplvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Design for novices if you want customers
Message-ID: <272@aplvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Aug-83 09:20:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: aplvax.272
Posted: Thu Aug 25 09:20:54 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Aug-83 21:32:53 EDT
References: <659@ihuxf.UUCP>
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD
Lines: 18


	I certainly agree that you should not ignore the needs of
the novice, but neither should you ignore the needs of the experience
user. It is true that most sales are made to novices. But continued use
of the product depends on the power and ease of use for experienced users.
I have seen too many products that look good to start with, but after a
little time with them, their "user-friendly" interfaces are either time
consuming or restrictive. The trick is to balance the needs of both user
communities. This may be as simple as developing two sets of documentation,
one an introductory guide for new users, and the other a complete guide for
the more experienced.

	Perhaps the most telling argument in all of this is that Unix is
certainly not an easy system for novices, but there seem to be an awful lot
of people sticking with it (including all of us).

						eric
						...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric