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Geek Culture / How would you rate an app? What makes it good?

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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 15:51
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I been thinking latly, how would be able to rate apps? I mean they are not games...nor exactly "Interactive" so help me out here.
I sorta made a rough plan of rating it based on

Usefulness: The over all, of how helpful or usefull the program is, depending on what your doing.

Features:Um...the features of the program. You hoepfully know what I mean.

Stability: How stable the program is. etc

I need to add more...but don't know what. Can anyone help?


http://www.excaver.com/dbg
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the desktops
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 15:54
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size of the program- by the way i need to compress DGP more! A simple pro can't just be 1.50 mb.

I think that's about it! You have most of the ideas

TheDesktops Software
Current Project: DarkGamePlayer
Attention: DarkBasic Game Devs, you can now post your game on the new DarkGamePlayer
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 16:08 Edited at: 25th Dec 2003 16:10
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User Interface and Level of Intuitiveness, meaning how easy is the program to navigate from the user's persprective. The UI should be clean and concise and very very Idiot-Proof. As programmers and Tech people we tend to overlook quirks in apps because we are problem-solvers by nature, so little things that are "iffy" here and there in an app doesn't really bother us, but for the end user that may have no concept of programming, they don't want anything to learn, they want program that does what it says, down to every last control, and explains what it's doing when it's doing it. I am always surprised at how computer-illiterates, that just need to use an app, kind find/expose the most complex oversights on the programmers part, due to their sheer lack of knowledge of anything technical - it's like polar opposite tempering each other. So like I said, try to make the interface as intuitive, and as idiot-proof as possible - you don't want your app blowing up because of some unforseen control combination performed by the user.

just my 2 cents

-RUST-

VB.NET makes me all goose-pimply! http://www.mod2software.com
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Jess T
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 16:17
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Usefullness isn't a major concern... because you can have a nice little app that is pretty crappy, and only does one thing, but it might make that one thing alot easier to do than normal and be used so often it might as well load on start-up... lol...

Features.. Yes, much like my list that i provided in the template in the other thread except centered more around apps than games.

Stability is always a major concern.

UI is definatly important as CattleRustler pointed out.

Idiot-Proofing is always a good idea too.

Resources is a good one to add ( both CPU resources and install sizes etc for the app size )

Feasability, ie, how easy is it to impliment and use? Does it require alot to be pre-installed ( like DBPro games/apps need DX9 ) and is it so stupidly large with images/sounds that it takes half an hour just to download etc...

Hope I Helped...


Team EOD :: Programmer/Logical Engineer/All-Round Nice Guy
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 16:25
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I think Design would fill out your list. Does it look good, is it easy to use etc are parts of the design. For example a clean design that doesn't look too flashy and is easy to use get's a high score but a too flashy design that gets too hard to understand and navigate get's a lower score. If the design looks like crap and is hard to use it's a clear loser and a design that looks cool and is also easy to use is a clear winner.

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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 21:19
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1. UI Design
2. Tools
3. Stability

in that order, provided you make the program intuative that'll help shorten the learning curve which makes people want to learn it more or find it easier...

Good Examples

1. UI -> Corel Painter 8
2. Tools -> Adobe Photoshop CS
3. Stability -> Jasac Paintshop Pro 8

those are each very good examples of programs that seem better to different people and the class i'd personally put them in.

personally i like them all; but without a doubt i adore Painter8 ^_^
my lass introduced me to it a month ago and i'm totally smitten with it.


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 22:49
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Hey thanks for the info and suggestions everyone. Here's what I got so far (from reading your posts):

User Interface:
Features/Tools:
Feasability/Resources:
Stability:
Learning curve:

Overall quality:

Well it's what I gathered up so far. What could I change?

@deadglory: I think Design would kind of fall into UI...


http://www.excaver.com/dbg
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Ian T
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 22:53
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UI, functionality, compatability, stability, general usefulness, how it compares to other products

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

A very nice %it, indeed.
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the desktops
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 23:07
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Also- system requirements!!!

TheDesktops Software
Current Project: DarkGamePlayer
Attention: DarkBasic Game Devs, you can now post your game on the new DarkGamePlayer
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 25th Dec 2003 23:22
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Megaton:
Actually UI and learning curve would go into design as they are very related to each other I don't think you should separate them.

The same goes with stability and quality. Actually there's parts of quality in every other category thus making quality uneccesary.

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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 26th Dec 2003 15:32
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Not really.
I put overall quality in all reviews. It tells the OVERALL how good the app is. You average out all the ratings to get overall quality in %.


http://www.excaver.com/dbg
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 26th Dec 2003 18:14
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Which means that overall quality is like the end score

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CattleRustler
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Posted: 26th Dec 2003 19:30
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Wait! - Everything is part of Design. All aspects of your program (like the stuff listed by Megaton) are all part of the design! This is a core concept that took me too long to learn - hence many rewrites over the course of a dev cycle. I suggest a huge-ass whiteboard/dry-erase board many pots of coffee or soda or your favorite beverage, and spend a good deal of time flowcharting/diagraming all aspects of the app and how all aspects interact with other aspects

Design is KEY IMHO

-RUST-

VB.NET makes me all goose-pimply! http://www.mod2software.com
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PiratSS
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Posted: 26th Dec 2003 19:38
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DG is back!

I guess GUI is important

Dual AMD Athlon MP 2x1GHZ | IBM 15000Rpm SCSI 73.4 Gb X 2 | e-GeForce Ti4400 | Audigy 2 + 7.1 Surround sound | 17' Monitor | Ugly mouse
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 26th Dec 2003 19:39
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Quote: " I suggest a huge-ass whiteboard/dry-erase board many pots of coffee or soda or your favorite beverage, and spend a good deal of time flowcharting/diagraming all aspects of the app and how all aspects interact with other aspects
"


Getting you to do it seems less hassle.
Please please please!!!
I..I..I suck at apps! And you code for a living, you know something. I just need some *simple* straight to the point rating system that will tell visitors how good or usefull this app is instead of confusing them.


http://www.excaver.com/dbg
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