3 ms·

The people who dogfood Github, by using it every day, know how to get around places. The people who is it once every week or two, like me, get lost each time.

The people who dogfood Github, by using it every day, know how to get around places. The people who is it once every week or two, like me, get lost each time. It's always a hunt when I want to figure out how to do something, even if I know I've done it before.

haberman 11y ago
Totally agree. A few examples for me: - From a "pull request / files" view like this (https://github.com/google/protobuf/pull/1191/files https://github.com/google/protobuf/pull/1191/files), when I want to view a whole file, I always want to click on the filename. But the filename isn't a link: you have to look at the right side and click the button that is generically named "View" (View what?). - At the top level of a repo (ie https://github.com/google/protobuf https://github.com/google/protobuf), you can click "X commits" to view the list of commits. But when you go into a subdirectory (ie. https://github.com/google/protobuf/tree/master/benchmarks https://github.com/google/protobuf/tree/master/benchmarks) the "commits" link disappears, and to view the commits in that directory you have to look on the right side instead for a button that says "History". - continuing from my last point, if you view an individual file, (ie. https://github.com/google/protobuf/blob/master/benchmarks/ProtoBench.java https://github.com/google/protobuf/blob/master/benchmarks/Pr...), the "History" link is in yet another place! So between the top level, a subdirectory, and a file, the link to view history is in three different places. I don't follow these links quite often enough that it becomes automatic, so it slows me down every time.
ValentineC 11y ago
I'm wondering what's a good way for a dogfooding company to look at things from a fresh perspective. Perhaps the traditional focus group and user interaction studies?
- hussong 11y ago
  Listen closely to anything new team members have to say. From the inside, it all makes sense, but from the outside, it's often obvious insanity ;-)

haberman 11y ago

Totally agree. A few examples for me: - From a "pull request / files" view like this (https://github.com/google/protobuf/pull/1191/files https://github.com/google/protobuf/pull/1191/files), when I want to view a whole file, I always want to click on the filename. But the filename isn't a link: you have to look at the right side and click the button that is generically named "View" (View what?). - At the top level of a repo (ie https://github.com/google/protobuf https://github.com/google/protobuf), you can click "X commits" to view the list of commits. But when you go into a subdirectory (ie. https://github.com/google/protobuf/tree/master/benchmarks https://github.com/google/protobuf/tree/master/benchmarks) the "commits" link disappears, and to view the commits in that directory you have to look on the right side instead for a button that says "History". - continuing from my last point, if you view an individual file, (ie. https://github.com/google/protobuf/blob/master/benchmarks/ProtoBench.java https://github.com/google/protobuf/blob/master/benchmarks/Pr...), the "History" link is in yet another place! So between the top level, a subdirectory, and a file, the link to view history is in three different places. I don't follow these links quite often enough that it becomes automatic, so it slows me down every time.

ValentineC 11y ago

I'm wondering what's a good way for a dogfooding company to look at things from a fresh perspective. Perhaps the traditional focus group and user interaction studies?

hussong 11y ago
Listen closely to anything new team members have to say. From the inside, it all makes sense, but from the outside, it's often obvious insanity ;-)