On Sun, 2005-11-13 at 19:29, Christopher A. Williams wrote:
> > > This is a small part of the feedback the person giving the assessment
> > > said to begin with. They also have much more they would change to make
> > > the site useful.
> >
> > Maybe he doesn't understand what the use of the site really is.
> > Click the config link, run the rpm command you see there,
> > install stuff.
>
> ...And if he doesn't understand the use of the site, how do expect the
> average non-technical person to?
There's nothing unique about the use of the site. You shouldn't
be at livna unless you already know that the program you want
to install isn't in the core or extras repositories. When you
know about those repositories, you'll know all you need to
know about livna except the config info.
> > > * Get the tools required to use the repository
> >
> > Everyone who would use it already has the tool.
>
> Not necessarily true. Everyone will have Yum, but what about other tools
> like Yum Extender?
Not necessary - and again not unique to livna. Just get the config
done and type something like:
yum install xine vlc mplayer xmms-mp3
> And even if everyone has Yum, do they know what it
> does what to do with it before coming to this site? If they did,why is a
> wiki being discussed as an addition?
They do need a place for feedback about unexpected problems and
workarounds - the things someone maintaining the site can't predict.
> My mother is a Fedora Core user as well. She uses Fedora because I
> showed her how to do some things with it and she likes the speed,
> stability and flexibility Fedora give even an average user. She couldn't
> make heads or tails of the Livna site either. It was no help to her at
> all - I had to step her through finding and setting up the repo using
> the RPM. She waited patiently for a couple of days before I could get to
> her to help.
Did she understand how to use the core and extras repositories? Those
should come first. Learn about the place with thousands of programs
before the one with dozens.
> > > * Use these tools effectively to find the most popular things people
> > > look for
> >
> > There's nothing different about using the tool with this
> > repository than the other ones they already use.
>
> This may be the case, but the average non-technical user may not realize
> it.
That's the problem you need to solve, not the situation of someone
who stumbles across the livna web site without having or knowing
how to use fedora.
> > The website really isn't the point here. If you are reading the
> > website you aren't accomplishing much.
>
> This is exactly the point. If you read the Website, it doesn't readily
> give you the information needed to accomplish much. That's why we take
> usability into consideration when we design things like Websites. We
> want people reading them to be able to accomplish what the goal of the
> site is.
>
> It sounds like you're saying perhaps we should take the Website down
> since reading the site for the average user doesn't accomplish much.
> It's therefore a waste of time.
The config info has to live somewhere.
> Heck, if you really want to keep the link as Configuration, then place
> something prominently on the first page that says something like, "To
> get started using the Livna repository, click 'Configuration', run the
> command you see there, and then start installing stuff."
Isn't it like that now? That was my impression anyway - but I wasn't
interested in the site news or FAQ and skipped those parts.
> The key is deliver the right information in a timely manner and in the
> right context to enable the end user to accomplish the goal.
My preference would be to have the stock yum setup already include
the livna repo, but I suppose that's not likely to happen.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
