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Hi,
I'm pretty sure that Backlight will fit my needs and that it's a good software. However, I always told to my students that the documentation belongs to the job, it's not a "by-product" that will possibly be released after the fact, if there's enough time to produce it. Unfortunately, too many software editors nowadays deliver undocumented or badly documented software. I can accept this for small free or shareware utilities but not for software sold above $US 100.
The Backlight documentation is lacking for many reasons:
- Not detailed enough
- Using technical terms that are unknown to non technical users (I have been a software engineer but not a web developer - but what on earth is a "slug"?).
- Assuming technical knowledge not accessible to many of the target users.
- Absolutely no contextual help. Each option should have a short text (or an info tip) explaining what it does.
I know that I can ask for details on the forum (that is, actually, to Rod Barbee) but I usually prefer having a good documentation. If it exists, I read it. I'm not a fan of the trial and error method, it's too time-consuming. A sparse documentation is a loss of time for both the user and the editor (more questions and problems, same explanations repeated again and again).
My two cents...
Patrick
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- Absolutely no contextual help. Each option should have a short text (or an info tip) explaining what it does.
I mean, some settings have info tips but too many are missing in the Designer.
- Assuming technical knowledge not accessible to many of the target users.
For example, the "Album Permissions = 755" setting cannot be understood by many users, especially Windows users (even if they are using a Unix/Linux hosting). This is a typical situation where the UI should provide a clear way to set the permissions and automatically convert the user choice to the correct value.
To make it short, since the advertisement for Backlight says "Backlight is a malleable website creation and photo publishing platform for photographers..." and not for web developers, the documentation and the UI should target the former, not the latter.
Patrick
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For example, the "Album Permissions = 755" setting cannot be understood by many users
Rod
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site
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I forgot one point : documentation should always be available offline (as a PDF file, for example). A Backlight gallery or web site can be built and tested locally. We are not supposed to be always connected.
Patrick
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Yes. This was just an example illustrating my statements above. Imagine a user who has no idea about how permissions are set under Linux. What does 755 or whatever other number mean?
Since the software targets photographers, such technical details should not surface in the UI.
Patrick
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rod barbee wrote:Yes. This was just an example illustrating my statements above. Imagine a user who has no idea about how permissions are set under Linux. What does 755 or whatever other number mean?
Since the software targets photographers, such technical details should not surface in the UI.
This is contradictory. On one hand you're suggesting that a photagrapher shouldn't need to know what 755 means, but only the other hand wanting an explanation? Would this help a photographer:
Linux permissions are set using an octal representation of user, group and world permissions. The first digital encompasses three binary bits: Binary 100 represents permissions for world access (goes off and defines world access...), binary 10 represents group access (goes off...), etc. The binary numbers are then concerted to octal (explains binary and octal number systems) so that 100 represents 4, 10 represents 2 and 1 represents 1. Combined, the first digit of 7 represents world, group and user ownership, etc, etc.
The above was not a serious attempt at explaining how permissions work. Point is, a photographer does not need to know those details. Your web site needs a number set via FTP that works.
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This is contradictory.
Not exactly. I was not asking this question about the meaning of 755 for me. I was just trying to explain that a photographer who is not used to these technical terms could be confused when seeing this and other terms in the UI. I do know what this means. As mentioned above, I have been a system engineer, software developer and programming teacher.
Again, this was just an example. Overall, I find that the insufficiently detailed documentation combined with a UI that is too "technical" makes Backlight (as previous CEx versions) a software that is not really targeted at non-tech users. Which doesn't prevent it to be a good software. But something has to change in order to reach a wider audience.
Look at something like jAlbum. It's not Backlight but it is more suited for non-tech users.
Patrick
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You are more than welcome to look at something like jAlbum if you prefer it. I certainly do not; I think jAlbum is hideous in general, and frequently sluggish and clunky to browse. If I'd ever thought jAlbum were worth a damn, I'd have never started making galleries in the first place. So no, I'd rather not look at jAlbum any more than I already have, thank you.
Further, an over abundance of documentation is a problem unto itself. The more documentation there is, the more difficult it becomes for a user to find exactly the piece they're in need of. I favor sparse, to-the-point documentation wherever we can have it. That's not to say our documentation is perfect, or even everything that we'd like it to be -- it isn't -- but we have no intention of drowning our users in it, ever.
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You are more than welcome to look at something like jAlbum if you prefer it.
If I had preferred jAlbum, I wouldn't have purchased a Backlight license. I was not talking about the output produced by jAlbum, I was talking about the less technical UI.
The more documentation there is, the more difficult it becomes for a user to find exactly the piece they're in need of. I favor sparse, to-the-point documentation wherever we can have it
Your decision. But here again, I was talking about what's missing. If the information is not there, it's also rather difficult to find it, isn't it? Some options and settings are merely not explained. As the developer, you know what they mean and do. The user didn't write the code. I'm sure it's possible to find a good balance between too much documentation and something that is obviously lacking. For example, one can wonder why the Backlight Settings section has info tips for each option and not the Designer.
I guess you should invite some non-tech user in you lab and observe how he reacts when discovering and trying to use Backlight. You might be surprised.
Patrick
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Do not be scared, my neighbors, the French are born to complaining haha ! (kisses from Switzerland)
Urban legend. I have purchased Backlight because I thought it was the best choice for my needs. However, it's not perfect, especially in the documentation area. As a paying user, I guess I have the right to comment about this even if I think that it's a good software?
So you think that once you have purchased a software, you become a "believer" and every comment you make about something wrong in it is necessarily negative? If I disagree with the author's vision about what a documentation should be, I'm necessarily a "complainer"?
Patrick
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... one can wonder why the Backlight Settings section has info tips for each option and not the Designer.
Actually, I want to put tips in the designer eventually. In the meantime, however, we're focused on bringing all of our CE4 plugins over to Backlight. Now that Cart is released, we still have Stage and WordPress to do.
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@Samoreen
You have written what I have thought since I have worked with Backlight.
I've spent days of time to learn how to setup my old galleries with custom css and so on. Reading programmer websites ...... asking in this forum and got a lot of help. Now I think I got it and I have learned a lot.
But I too would wish a documentation for beginners where they find answers of there questions which are upcoming by working with Backlight. It is assumed that you have programming knowledge so the actual documentaion is really not helpful enough.
Rainer
Last edited by Rainer Goergen (2016-07-13 17:25:32)
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@Samoreen
You have written what I have thought since I have worked with Backlight.
Hallo Rainer,
So bin ich nicht der Einzige, der darüber "meckert" :-) . Danke für die Erleichterung.
MfG
Last edited by Samoreen (2016-07-13 18:05:39)
Patrick
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Rainer, custom CSS by its very nature is a form of programming. This is intended for advanced users who either know what they're doing or are prepared to learn.
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Je vous donnes mon avis Patrick,
Le forum fait partie de la documentation. Backlight n'est pas comme un produit IKEA avec un mode d'emploi qui vous aide à monter le meuble. Si vous souhaitez une mode d'emploi complet, il faudrait toutes les ressources code html, css, php, md etc...
Là, on nous vends un truc avec la mise en route de base et ce que vous souhaitez en plus vous venez le chercher vers la communauté.
Ca fait 10 ans que je peux vivre de la photographie et avant cela j'étais bûcheron et bien je m'en suis sortit avec Backlight que je trouve vraiment fantastique. J'ai eu un problème au début, Matthew à répondu efficacement et rapidement, je lui ai même donné mes codes d'accès. Vous connaissez un mode d'emploi qui fait ça ?
Je viens d'acheter "Cart", mon problème n'est pas le manque de documentation, mais la langue. Cela me prends du temps pour traduire c'est tout.
Non non je confirme, les français sont des râleurs c'est définitif haha..
Je ne perds jamais: soit je gagne, soit j’apprends (N. Mandela)
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@Ben
I know, so I have learned much more in the past weeks. I have now square eyes from reading css programming in internet, but now I know how Backlight works - because of yours and Rod's help.
Rainer
Last edited by Rainer Goergen (2016-07-14 01:34:12)
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OK. Let me make a suggestion : each time you have to answer a question or solve a particular problem more than twice in this forum or after a user support request, add the answer to the documentation or to a Backlight dedicated FAQ (unless, I missed something, I'm not aware of any FAQ related to Backlight?).
This way, we'll all spare time. I appreciate the very quick answers on this forum but I guess that the Backlight developers prefer to spend their time enhancing their code or coding new features.
Patrick
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OK. Let me make a suggestion : each time you have to answer a question or solve a particular problem more than twice in this forum or after a user support request, add the answer to the documentation or to a Backlight dedicated FAQ (unless, I missed something, I'm not aware of any FAQ related to Backlight?).
This exists. Please have a look at the Backlight Tips&Tricks Forum.
Daniel Leu | Photography
DanielLeu.com
My digital playground (eg, Backlight tips&tricks): lab.DanielLeu.com
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This exists. Please have a look at the Backlight Tips&Tricks Forum.
Daniel,
This is nice to have but this is not what I call a FAQ. This forum section doesn't contain answers to the basic questions I had when starting to use Backlight and that were not handled in the documentation.
Patrick
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