Macecraft Development Team and all Creative Community Members,
I downloaded the jv16 power tools 2008 beta. It having been said in the forum somewhere that this version is scheduled for tentative release later this month; I am therefore making a hurried statement of my first impression regarding this powerful program.
First, I thought the 2007 version had a much more intuitive and pleasing interface than that of the new 2008 beta release. Also, the user manual failed to install on the 2008 beta release and I could find the help files no where on the website are in the beta forum for download as indicated in the error message
A short opinion on something someone said on the forum to the effect that power users do not want manuals, but only prefer to review FAQ. I thought this was way off base. In fact, I think that so-called “power users” would prefer a very in-depth user’s manual in order to achieve the greatest functional benefit from this or any other program.
In many places it was clear that unnecessary repetition of program functions were present and made me question the designer, or design teams need to be so repetitive. It has been a clearly established rule since the era of modern software design to put such comments about program settings in the “setup” portion of the program instead of having comments and warnings pop-up are displayed continuously throughout the program during use. You should be able to adjust the operating parameters in the setup portion of the program and feel assured from that point forward that they will be adhered to without further attention.
Today’s computer users live in an ever growing high paced environment already burdened with tremendous demands on their time, and therefore will be a little more than disgruntled at having to wade through a wide range of repetitive explanations of program functions.
To reiterate something I said in an earlier e-mail to the response team; I think most software users would prefer to have less but more dependable functions. It is imperative for the success of any software program, if it is to succeed and set the standard by which all other similar programs are judged, to perform as advertised and to do so with razor sharp accuracy; without depending on a wide array of subsidiary functions that in the end only dilute and blur the most powerful features of this already incredible program. By taxing an already awesome program with unnecessary features it delivers the program into the categorized realm of mediocrity. The success of any programs marketability will never depend on simply puking up the same old stuff that others have already done—only differently. The suite of jv 16 power tools as presented in 2007 went well beyond the scope of it forte, and as a result the 2008 beta version has done nothing but blur the underlying strengths of this powerful program. I thought the suite of tools and interface in the 2007 version were strong enough and that any attention should simply have been directed from that point forward into working out any bugs and incompatibles with other popular programs that would in all likelihood be working side-by-side with jv 16 power tools, i.e. anti virus programs etc....
I will continue to use and evaluate the beta version until I here of its formal release. Please note that I felt compelled to get this opinion out now instead of waiting and submitting a cumulative evaluation.
Cordially yours,
- Elmo
PS: Edited by user from original post for clarity.
PPS: All info obtained from running jv 16 power tools under Windows XP Home Edition, 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
