5 ms·

This is still friction. If it need to be explained, than you UX is not that good.

by Kuinox 7y ago

knolax 7y ago
Is knowledge that a low res picture of a floppy disk means "save" inborn a priori? All software needs some degree of explanation. Discord only needs less explanation because it's more similar to other popular software so your metric is less a measure of UX but one of conformity.
PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
This is such a tediously computer-centric vision. There are hundreds of tools in the world that are used every day that have "friction" and need to be "explained". Nobody complains that their UX is not that good, because they understand that certain tasks require some level (possibly mastery, possibly just a basic understanding) of the tools and processes. As noted by another commenter, the fact that you know how "most modern chat/msg apps work" doesn't mean that they all have good UX - it means that they all have the same UX, and you've already learned it.
- johnday 7y ago
  > This is such a tediously computer-centric vision. There are hundreds of tools in the world that are used every day that have "friction" and need to be "explained". I would be very interested to hear of some such tools?
  - PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
    routers. chainsaws. pipe benders. lathes. plaster hawks. thread tappers. shall I go on?
- jancsika 7y ago
  You convinced me of the opposite the moment you suggested the user leave the browser to get sane defaults from an IRC-client. Not-installing-nor-configuring-anything is such a vastly superior UX that we need not unlock any more levels of discussion. Discord's web app saves easily accessible history remotely[1] and has sane code-formatting defaults. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen that for the default configuration of an IRC client on any distro. For OP's use case of "just let me communicate with the devs for a bit, please" that's the ball game as far as UX is concerned. [1] You can apparently use Discord without saving the history. But the user has to explicitly go off the path that the interface provides in order to do that.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
    >Not-installing-nor-configuring-anything is such a vastly superior UX that we need not unlock any more levels of discussion. No doubt this is why Slack makes desktop and mobile app versions of its service, rather than rely on the browser. I'll give them credit - the browser is an option at least. Yes, IRC has no code-formatting defaults because the culture of IRC is that you do not post code to a public channel. Would it be useful to sometimes paste directly into a private channel and not lose formatting? Sure, but compared to the formatting and highlighting options of pastebin and the like, it's not really a hardship and may even be a benefit. I use Discord, but I live and work inside IRC. Discord feels like a candy-filled store compared to IRC. They both have their uses, but I am fairly certain that our IRC channel (both the public and private ones) would be less useful and accessible if we moved them to Discord.
Liskni_si 7y ago
Friction is very subjective. For many, joining a channel on freenode is a matter of seconds, whereas registering to a new Slack workspace is like accessing a news article behind a paywall — you won't do it unless you absolutely have to.
numpad0 7y ago
Yeah, bare IRC is like sliced bread without butter but everyone has an oven and some butter in their kitchen, whereas Discord is a glazed donut. Surely a donut tastes better bare. Not good for your heart as well. Now that most people don’t have a kitchen it seems like a problem to me as well.

This is still friction. If it need to be explained, than you UX is not that good.

by Kuinox 7y ago

This is still friction. If it need to be explained, than you UX is not that good.

Is knowledge that a low res picture of a floppy disk means "save" inborn a priori? All software needs some degree of explanation. Discord only needs less explanation because it's more similar to other popular software so your metric is less a measure of UX but one of conformity.

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago

This is such a tediously computer-centric vision. There are hundreds of tools in the world that are used every day that have "friction" and need to be "explained". Nobody complains that their UX is not that good, because they understand that certain tasks require some level (possibly mastery, possibly just a basic understanding) of the tools and processes. As noted by another commenter, the fact that you know how "most modern chat/msg apps work" doesn't mean that they all have good UX - it means that they all have the same UX, and you've already learned it.

johnday 7y ago
> This is such a tediously computer-centric vision. There are hundreds of tools in the world that are used every day that have "friction" and need to be "explained". I would be very interested to hear of some such tools?
- PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
  routers. chainsaws. pipe benders. lathes. plaster hawks. thread tappers. shall I go on?
jancsika 7y ago
You convinced me of the opposite the moment you suggested the user leave the browser to get sane defaults from an IRC-client. Not-installing-nor-configuring-anything is such a vastly superior UX that we need not unlock any more levels of discussion. Discord's web app saves easily accessible history remotely[1] and has sane code-formatting defaults. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen that for the default configuration of an IRC client on any distro. For OP's use case of "just let me communicate with the devs for a bit, please" that's the ball game as far as UX is concerned. [1] You can apparently use Discord without saving the history. But the user has to explicitly go off the path that the interface provides in order to do that.
- PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
  >Not-installing-nor-configuring-anything is such a vastly superior UX that we need not unlock any more levels of discussion. No doubt this is why Slack makes desktop and mobile app versions of its service, rather than rely on the browser. I'll give them credit - the browser is an option at least. Yes, IRC has no code-formatting defaults because the culture of IRC is that you do not post code to a public channel. Would it be useful to sometimes paste directly into a private channel and not lose formatting? Sure, but compared to the formatting and highlighting options of pastebin and the like, it's not really a hardship and may even be a benefit. I use Discord, but I live and work inside IRC. Discord feels like a candy-filled store compared to IRC. They both have their uses, but I am fairly certain that our IRC channel (both the public and private ones) would be less useful and accessible if we moved them to Discord.

Liskni_si 7y ago

Friction is very subjective. For many, joining a channel on freenode is a matter of seconds, whereas registering to a new Slack workspace is like accessing a news article behind a paywall — you won't do it unless you absolutely have to.

numpad0 7y ago

Yeah, bare IRC is like sliced bread without butter but everyone has an oven and some butter in their kitchen, whereas Discord is a glazed donut. Surely a donut tastes better bare. Not good for your heart as well. Now that most people don’t have a kitchen it seems like a problem to me as well.