[Just Talk] Re: [linux-audio-user] Why we need graphic designers

[Frank Barknecht]

Hi,
Steve Harris schrieb:
> I'd agree that shadows behind the objects are useless. Coloured patch
> cords could help me, depending on what the colouring rules are, but I
> still think the biggest thing done to make it easier to use would be
> (optional) chip style routing. I find the straight lines very hard to
> parse.

I absoluteley agree: The cords should be able to be aligned, like in
Max/MSP. But I use a lot of send/receive pairs without real cords in my
patches, and I also tend to hide a lot of things in subpatches (or
abstractions) so actually there is only a small handful of lines visible
in the end.

> I've just seen a screenshot of Live and it is very clean. I'm not sure I'd
> find it particularly easy to use though. Maybe I'd adapt the the UI
> scheme.

I talked to Robert Henke of Ableton about the philosophy behind their
innovative interface, and one of the most interesting concepts was, that
everything *must* fit into one window. Overlapping or popup-windows are
strictly forbidden in Live, because in a live situation you cannot be
bothered with organising windows on the screen. So Robert said, the biggest
problems with adding features to Live in new versions (Live 2.0 is just
out) was not how to implement them, but finding a spare place *where* to
add them - which can be a problem in Pd, Max, AMS, SSM et al. as well.

Even now Pd is capable of imitating such very focused interfaces, because
everything can be hidden, so that only the really important things are
visible. jMax of course can do this as well, and the choice between jMax
and Pd is more a matter of taste then a technical one. jMax has more
colours, nicer fonts and even breakable lines, I think. 

ciao
-- 
Frank Barknecht