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Scott Jenson

One last point: I'm not saying ALL #OpenSource software has bad UX! There are lots of positive examples. I'm just saying that, as a culture, it has some maturing to do. The very old and very tired advice of "go slow and try a small PR" works great for engineering (and documentation). I'm just saying that doesn't work for UX, which requires a more coordinated, shared teamwork approach.

6 April at 8:10 | Open on social.coop
11 comments
Evergreen Toot fka Chip Butty

@scottjenson who do you think is worth looking at for good FLOSS UX? I think there is a real tension between closed product UX (which is often about ease when it is pro user and capture when it is pro VC) and FLOSS UX which should be about control and deep understanding as well.

I think there are other issues as well, but I'm not sure who I'd look at as a good example here.

6 April at 8:29 | Open on functional.cafe
Scott Jenson
Evergreen Toot fka Chip Butty
Evergreen Toot fka Chip Butty

@scottjenson 👆 this is a good and interesting talk and is giving me a lot to think about.

(Happy to talk about it more but don't want my thoughts to come across in a reply guy manner while they are still pretty unformed, unless it is helpful for you to get first impressions)

6 April at 9:56 | Open on functional.cafe
Scott Jenson

@otfrom I'm happy to chat more as well! I'm travelling right now but will be back home middle of next week.

6 April at 20:03 | Open on social.coop
jack will miss this server

@scottjenson have you seen @tantacrul's videos? he did a series critiquing the UX of music engraving software, his review of open-source MuseScore led to him getting hired as MuseScore's head of design and carte blanch to rewrite most of the UI... possibly ideal outcome for everyone! youtube.com/watch?v=Qct6LKbneK

6 April at 15:17 | Open on strangeobject.space
Scott Jenson

@JackEric @tantacrul Yes! He was one of the success stories I talked about in my talk on great UX in opensource.

6 April at 20:04 | Open on social.coop
Curioso 🍉 🇺🇦 (jgg)

@scottjenson

Most of open source applications have only one maintainer. So most of them don't have any UX expertise available.

For bigger projects, UX requires a strong unified vision of what the application is going to be. Getting to an agreement on technical issues is hard enough without throwing UX issues in. And forcing volunteers to commit their efforts into a UX they didn't agree with is a terrible idea. Which explains why projects where there are many paid people tend to have better UX.

Getting people to agree on an UX is hard enough in piramidal organizations with tight UX teams. Doing it on big democratic organizations, with many UX experts trying to get their vision catch on must be really, really hard.

@scottjenson

Most of open source applications have only one maintainer. So most of them don't have any UX expertise available.

For bigger projects, UX requires a strong unified vision of what the application is going to be. Getting to an agreement on technical issues is hard enough without throwing UX issues in. And forcing volunteers to commit their efforts into a UX they didn't agree with is a terrible idea. Which explains why projects where there are many paid people tend to have better UX.

6 April at 15:25 | Open on qoto.org
Christian Müller

@scottjenson the @team@neos.cms (to which I also belong) is very interested and open to work with someone. We just didn’t have any luck yet to find an UX person interested in helping us out since the original concept was made years ago.

6 April at 15:34 | Open on flownative.social
Scott Jenson

@christian I'm happy to have a follow up chat if you're interested.

6 April at 20:06 | Open on social.coop
Christian Müller

@scottjenson that would be amazing! Maybe drop me a line at christian@flownative.com and let’s set something up.

7 April at 10:52 | Open on flownative.social
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