Re To Rbt, about FTS

Hi Jon

Thanks and I do understand that you mean it in a positive way.
You are not the only one at all. It's the most common
thing that usres say about FTS indeed.

There's still lots more to be done but I do think you'll
see quite an improvement with FTS 3.0. Those who have
tried it say it is easier to use.

However, the help is still going to be sparse with the next
release. The gui will be easier to use and it will be clearer
how everythign works, but still I expect questions about
details about how to use various features.

After the release I will be spending a few weeks
or perhaps more likely months working on teh help but
i want to get the interface all sorted out first
as the help is bound to refer extensively to the
interface, so it is less work to do the interface
first and the help last.

I am learning. Also do get lots of help and advice
from other programmers and from keen composers who use
FTS, and their help has made a tremendous difference
- probably more so in this release than in the
earlier ones as I've had much more feedback
about it this time around. But even so nearly
everyone who uses FTS wants me to improve the layout. It just
isn't such an easy thing to do as it seems,
to design a good gui, and part of the problem
is that there are few models to do the exact
things I'm doing in FTS, some similar programs
in some ways but not close enough to really
use as a model. Perhaps I've learnt most from
seeing how things are done in SCALA, but it isn't
possible to copy how it does things exactly of course
as the objectives are different -
and then learnt many things here and there
from other programs.

It is easy to find flaws in a gui but it is
sometimes hard to see how
to make something better. I now see many flaws
in the FTS gui, nevertheless it is the best I
can do and certainly 3.0 is an improvement over
2.4.

Then with the help reworked - I've got better
at explaining things in the help I htink,
gradually learnt better ways of explaining
things from responding to numerous support
questions abotu how to use FTS. Much of the
better parts of the help I think mainly
consists of reworking of my replies to
various support questions about how
to do this or that in FTS.

So anyway, I'll be interested to know
what you make of 3.0 when it is ready.
Then after taht when I have improved
the help which I'm doign as a separate
phase I hope that will help too.

There are some areas in FTS that I know
aren't explained well yet because
no-one seems to use them. The tonic
shifts are an example. Hopefully
that will get sorted out in time.
Those things are easy to use but
the explanatino of how they work
seems to put off users rather than
help them to be able to use the feature
and I don't know what the problem
is yet. Can be as simple a matter as using
an unexpected word to describe something,
so it conveys a different meaning from
the one you intended to convey.

Other sections however seem to be
explained and presented okay now as I don't get
asked questions that i was asked
about before and it is clear that
users are using them. So I htink
it is a matter of time.

Really for the last six months or
so though I've added various new things
indeed, I have focussed rather more on
improving the presentation than on
adding new features.

So we will see if that has helped.
I'll be doing more of that
after the release too.
Thanks for your concern.

Robert

Robert,

Everything in your message duly noted, and I'll look forward to 3.0. Moreover:

{you wrote...}
>Thanks for your concern.

It would be for naught if I didn't offer to help. Consider me a beta tester or usability tester any time you wish - I would be very happy to part of your feedback loop. Just let me know when you want me to bang things around, OK?

Cheers,
Jon