#OUconnect
FOSS projects address a myriad of solutions for education, networking, finance, project management, graphics design, etc. But has anyone wondered why a powerful graphics editing application like the GIMP has not yet displaced Adobe? Often it is due to a user interface experience or #UX that is just not intuitive or friendly enough because many technical developers are good at programming, but not as good at user experience design.
Although we have had GNU Social and Diaspora, we also saw recently that the new Mastodon network doubled its user base within a week and I feel it is largely due to a more user friendly interface.
The great thing with FOSS projects is that anyone can contribute with what expertise they have. So much like people have started to assist with better manuals, language checking and translation, etc we now need more #designers and UX people to also add their bit, and at the same time for developers on projects to recognize this need.
There are already sites that give guidance and awareness around this such as http://www.openusability.org/ and at http://opensourcedesign.net/about/.
We’ll all (all end users) be complaining for years to come otherwise how much slicker and better Adobe applications work unless user design is addressed seriously on FOSS projects. For this to happen we need developers to recognize the need, and for UX designers to get involved and help out. The benefit then flows to all users worldwide.
Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ux_katzenbergdesign_engl.jpg
We need more designers and user experience people involved in FOSS projects #OUconnectFOSS projects address a myriad of solutions for education, networking, finance, project management, graphics design, etc. But has anyone wondered why a powerful graphics editing application like the GIMP has not yet displaced Adobe? Often it is due to a user interface experience or #UX that is just not intuitive or friendly enough because many technical