No. You're right, but I would take it a step farther. If your target
audience is really non-technical "regular" users, the only way to do this
right is to really have those people (i.e. real-users -- preferably
non-programmers) involved in design decisions to begin with. I took a
User-Interface Design Course a few years ago, and it was stressed over and
over again the importance of having user-testing involved from the earliest
stages. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, it could even be a network
of S.O.'s, Parents, Children, etc.
> Remember AbiSuite will be a cross-platform, mass market office suite.
> Choice of a scripting language is likely to be dictated by factors
> other than technological coolness. I suspect that if you haven't figured
> this out already, you will soon -- I am a hacker, but marketing is my
> hobby. I could drone on for pages about why marketing is so important,
> but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that the choice of language is
> something which should be made with an eye toward the eventual market
> for the tool.
Get them involved, if you are really serious about this. In productivity
tools, you can't afford to screw up the user interface.
> In other words, don't ask yourself which scripting language *you* would
> like. Ask yourself which one your Mom would like. This may not
> be the perfect guiding question, but it's probably closer.
Right. Think about the type of people that are going to do/need scripting.
What do you think the percentage of users are who are going to _ever_ do this?
What sort of tenacity is the person going to have who needs to do something
special, that isn't covered by the basic functionality? If your target is
really "Mom" (and "Mom" is not technology-savvy!) is she going to want to use
a scripting language? Are you really targeting businesses who have
technnology-savvy employees who want to do obscure things and they want to do
it themselves (as opposed to hiring your consulting services)?
This is mostly to generate more discussion. Don't miss the user-interface
piece, though. I think it is extremely important, and if this is really the
direction you want to go (and be successful), it _has_ to be done right.
-Bryan
-- bvold@uhc.com