Post by Uncle Buddy on Aug 19, 2021 4:35:11 GMT -8
I downloaded another genieware app recently. I'll name this program "RunForrestRun" for no particular reason.
I'll try to briefly wonder why finding another genieware program to complain about makes me so happy. Hmmm... could it be because I've spent so much time trying to outdo the apps I would never use in a million years that I'm afraid I'm gonna burn out before I get around the first lap? I hope not, but anything is possible. Maybe finding still another program to sort of--er--not like very much... might light a fire under my butt? Or should I just stay in the garden where I've been lost for weeks and resign myself to puttering away at Treebard the rest of my life, in my spare time, but never finishing it?
Unlike a lot of programs that I've instantly grown to--er--not fall in love with... RunForrestRun is very detailed and a lot of thought has gone into it over the course of many years. The creator of the program is way older than me and that's a miracle in itself. He says he made this program because he couldn't find one he liked, so I was really hoping that at long last I would find a genealogist like me who had created a genieware just for us.
Have you ever wanted something real bad and then you got lucky and found yourself wading waist deep in that something and wondering what you'd really wanted. Let me try to explain what it feels like to have a software creator bombard me with everything he knows about his favorite subject, which is in this case genealogy. Or did I already explain that? Maybe I'm getting my point across.
When I open Treebard I see a human being. Whether or not there's a photo of the person, I see a picture of a person. Treebard is designed to show the human side of genealogy without all the claptrap of genealogy stuck like tacky little post-it notes to every inch of screen space. You will be able to edit details about a person's life instantly without clickety-click-clicking your way into the inner sanctum of what I think I know about genealogy.
RunForrestRun, on the other hand, is not about a person; a person whose life we would like to visit. It's about how smart and genealogically savvy the software's creator is: how very very much he knows about genealogy. Unlike some of the genieware that we have or have not heard of, this program might be usable. It seems to be all about click first and ask questions later. Why should a dialog open to add or edit a name? Names are a core unit of genealogy. I should be able to add people with my eyes closed. It took about ten minutes to enter the first name. I want to enter data so fast it makes my head spin. I want to worry that the data entry is too easy. I must be missing something; this was supposed to be hard. That's what I want it to be like, doing my hobby. I'm such an offbeat case that I even think we should refer to data by words a lot friendlier than "data". Do software creators ever stop to think that software users might think data is boring? Do we ever wonder what the users actually want and need to do?
Trying to use RunForrestRun was like wading through a river of molasses. In fact, my legs are tired after only 30 minutes and one name input (where do I enter alternate spellings for the name? RunFRun lets me input names using any alphabet on earth but does it let me do ordinary plain and simple genealogy?)
I don't think there's much point in listing RunF's wee defects. Someone else might like it. I am a detail-oriented person, and I found myself quickly lost in a forest where all I could see was this other guy's way of wanting me to do genealogy. When all I wanted to do was paint the picture of a person, his historical and familial setting. I really think that "data" is boring.
I'll try to briefly wonder why finding another genieware program to complain about makes me so happy. Hmmm... could it be because I've spent so much time trying to outdo the apps I would never use in a million years that I'm afraid I'm gonna burn out before I get around the first lap? I hope not, but anything is possible. Maybe finding still another program to sort of--er--not like very much... might light a fire under my butt? Or should I just stay in the garden where I've been lost for weeks and resign myself to puttering away at Treebard the rest of my life, in my spare time, but never finishing it?
Unlike a lot of programs that I've instantly grown to--er--not fall in love with... RunForrestRun is very detailed and a lot of thought has gone into it over the course of many years. The creator of the program is way older than me and that's a miracle in itself. He says he made this program because he couldn't find one he liked, so I was really hoping that at long last I would find a genealogist like me who had created a genieware just for us.
Have you ever wanted something real bad and then you got lucky and found yourself wading waist deep in that something and wondering what you'd really wanted. Let me try to explain what it feels like to have a software creator bombard me with everything he knows about his favorite subject, which is in this case genealogy. Or did I already explain that? Maybe I'm getting my point across.
When I open Treebard I see a human being. Whether or not there's a photo of the person, I see a picture of a person. Treebard is designed to show the human side of genealogy without all the claptrap of genealogy stuck like tacky little post-it notes to every inch of screen space. You will be able to edit details about a person's life instantly without clickety-click-clicking your way into the inner sanctum of what I think I know about genealogy.
RunForrestRun, on the other hand, is not about a person; a person whose life we would like to visit. It's about how smart and genealogically savvy the software's creator is: how very very much he knows about genealogy. Unlike some of the genieware that we have or have not heard of, this program might be usable. It seems to be all about click first and ask questions later. Why should a dialog open to add or edit a name? Names are a core unit of genealogy. I should be able to add people with my eyes closed. It took about ten minutes to enter the first name. I want to enter data so fast it makes my head spin. I want to worry that the data entry is too easy. I must be missing something; this was supposed to be hard. That's what I want it to be like, doing my hobby. I'm such an offbeat case that I even think we should refer to data by words a lot friendlier than "data". Do software creators ever stop to think that software users might think data is boring? Do we ever wonder what the users actually want and need to do?
Trying to use RunForrestRun was like wading through a river of molasses. In fact, my legs are tired after only 30 minutes and one name input (where do I enter alternate spellings for the name? RunFRun lets me input names using any alphabet on earth but does it let me do ordinary plain and simple genealogy?)
I don't think there's much point in listing RunF's wee defects. Someone else might like it. I am a detail-oriented person, and I found myself quickly lost in a forest where all I could see was this other guy's way of wanting me to do genealogy. When all I wanted to do was paint the picture of a person, his historical and familial setting. I really think that "data" is boring.