Quote:

Seeing the user interface nearly drove me to tears.



At least I'm not the only one - but I went further, on several occasions I WAS in tears.

I fully respect all those who either enjoy picking their way through complex menu systems - or who have meticulously spent endless hours learning the quirks and idiosyncrasies of BIAB and remember them all for the next time - but I'm not amongst them.

Yet I do have to admit sympathies with those who have seen the sometimes catastrophic effects of making significant changes to the program without adequate user-testing to work through all the bugs before general release. I also have sympathies with those who fear instability problems being introduced purely to change the look and feel.

But I fully agree with the original post, that the program is many years behind the market as a whole in terms of usability, and in particular in terms of any kind of consistently intuitive approach to usability. I'm very grateful to PG for introducing features and approaches that have helped me accommodate to some of the processes involved, but the more I learn, the more I find new ones and so the process is a continuous one of angst.

What frustrates me is the feedback that users here keep posting when BIAB can't do certain things - that then you should use Realband. But by way of comparison, Microsoft doesn't ask me, when using Word, to open up another program to change the colour of my text, because Word is only for processing text, not formatting.

BIAB is indeed a unique program, which I have found invaluable in moving my songwriting into the digital arena, but perhaps this is it's downfall - when there is no competition, there is no catalyst for change.

Quote:

Are you just unable to set aside the time and money?



In one sense I'm sure this, for PG, is partly true. I've spent the past ten years running my own web-design business - during which I've made usability and accessibility two of my key targets. But it takes a massive amount of time and investment in software resources to work through even a medium-sized website, let alone a full computer program. I had several shelves of books on usability, devoted to simply making web-pages - how many more would be needed to work through BIAB? In the end I ran out of energy and even started using templates for my own websites before eventually giving up completely. And with BIAB would not the price tag be doubled as a result of major change? Perhaps it would be worth it, but perhaps not in the middle of a recession?

Yes, I would be fully in favour of a BIAB/Realband composite - but only if it was fully user-tested to a much higher level before it was put out into the public arena. For the first time in a couple of years, even though using it frustrates me, BIAB seems relatively stable. Please let's keep it that way whatever course you choose PG!

Lyrics rule OK! Fighting for folk and folk-rock...
www.philmaybury.com