Post #3554018
2026-07-03 09:05 UTC
Replies (8)
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@UkeleleEric@mstdn.social 2026-07-03 12:24
@akareilly@hachyderm.io What SHOULD happen is that the programmer writes the documentation, and then gives it to a completely non-techie person and watch ON CAMERA as they try to work out what to do. Only then will they realise that what is obvious to them, on their computer running the latest hardware and software, isn't the amazing thing they thought it was when run by a non-tech person on an ageing, not-quite-up-to-date, not backed-up home computer with limited memory.
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@ohir@social.vivaldi.net 2026-07-03 13:22
@akareilly@hachyderm.io > is not reasonable, realistic, or kind. It is the only reasonable and realistic thing a solo unpaid developer of a niche software can do. Every time I heard 'Can you make a nice UI for this' I usually replied with 'OK, i can assume it will be some 2mo to make a GTK tabbed UI for this, so instead of passing the option letter you can tap a switch'. Then they were all enthusiastic and "Yeah yeah, lets do it do it". The continuations were like: Ok, that's two months, I need some €3k/mo so please do some crowdfounding to the amount of €8k (taxes, comissions), reach to others with same need, and get back to me if succeeded. And then... then was a deep silence, now and then disturbed with someone's rant saying I should be the one doing the crowdfunding – because they need the features.
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@jzb@hachyderm.io 2026-07-03 13:08
@akareilly@hachyderm.io That's... kinda demanding for software you're getting *for free*, don't you think? Like, not even a "please" in there for somebody that's already done a fair amount of work to make something of value and then has given it away for free?
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@Fooker@infosec.exchange 2026-07-03 14:23
@akareilly@hachyderm.io ok, I agree in most (almost all cases) but there are bits of software were the barrier to entry is a good thing. The whole "I know enough to be dangerous" is a thing, and honestly, having a CLI that you need to look in to and understand would prevent quite a few script kiddie types in a few domains.
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@courtcan@mastodon.social 2026-07-03 12:24
@akareilly@hachyderm.io I don't even know what "command line interface" means. And I don't want to know. I shouldn't need to know. Ain't nobody got time for that! 😉
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@akareilly@hachyderm.io 2026-07-03 15:40
the intended end users the intended end users the intended end users
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@StroomAfwaarts@todon.nl 2026-07-03 09:17
@akareilly@hachyderm.io oh, so much THIS! 🎯
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@david@social.piconet.work 2026-07-03 09:48
@akareilly@hachyderm.io Until I learned how to use the CLI, I found the documentation impenetrable. I couldn't figure out how to install things in the first place. It was like the programmers all thought "Surely they know how to install a program to use this." - Yet they were all installed using different methods. Luckily now we have package managers, but documentation still sucks.