Improve UX

[pepedelosbosques]

Hello, I've been using this app for a while and sadly I'm not sure why sometimes work as expected, sometimes don't, sometimes it gets blocked, sometimes it triggers something 10 times continuously. The thing is I've went through 50 times the wiki pages, also red lots of issues to try to understand the internals. This is not working for me. I don't think I'll need to go into the full source code to understand all my situations. I've been twisting my flows, trying with conditions, events, triggers, timers, debug notifications, etc. Also, every time I came to github, there is someone asking something in relation on the internal workings.

Please, don't get me wrong on this, but I need to say that this app is not intuitive. I don't know what to expect for common users (not into programming) if they are trying to use this app. It's concepts are very confusing and perhaps we need to find out if we need to enrich the documentation or focus in improvements of UX.

If you agree, I'm going to open some issues in relation of specific things that for me are not clear. Maybe some of those are not clear just for me and are not as hard as I think.

Thanks!

[Lee-Carre]

I have to concur with @pepedelosbosques (+1 for the name). Except for one caveat (over terminology), I completely agree; his experience & displeasure mirror my own from months ago.

I've went through 50 times the wiki pages, also re[a]d lots of issues to try to understand the internals. This is not working for me.

I had the very same frustrating experience. After attempting to read documentation, I'm just as unclear & lost as I was before reading it. Even the language used was vague & ambiguous; I was unsure how to interpret (or sometimes even parse) the phrasing; it wasn't at all clear what concept was being described. I am not able to gather enough clear (& precise) info to form more than a vague mental-model of how the app is supposed to work or be used. Certainly not enough to know how to configure Easer to do as I wish it to.

If I recall (it's been a while since my last attempt), there aren't even hyperlinks between pages, or any (usable) directory of topics!

I (reluctantly) gave up, disappointed ☹. I haven't uninstalled Easer (but have considered doing so), but haven't been able to have it automate anything for me. This feels like such a waste.

Its concepts are very confusing

At best!

Beyond the abstract (e.g. I know what a conditional is (at least I think so, but maybe not for this app; it makes me question my sanity(!))), their intended behaviour is mysterious. Especially how the different parts are supposed to relate to each other.

I gather that there are conditional triggers for invoking scripts, and actions to perform when criteria are met, but how to instruct Easer to make those all work together in order to achieve a goal (automate some behaviour) is not apparent. No amount of experimentation yielded any progress toward success (or maybe it did, but I received no indication of that).

this app is not intuitive

That term means something different (intuition depends on culture, for example). The term you want (presuming that you mean something like ‘easy to use’, which I'm sure you do given everything else you've said) is usability / usable.

However, after s/intuitive/usable/; I reach the same conclusion.

Maybe some of those are not clear just for me and are not as hard as I think.

I seriously doubt that it's just you. You're basically describing my own experience with trying to use this app.

Even if it were a case that you understood after a good explanation; that's still a usability failure. When it's nigh-impossible to do even simple, basic, obvious tasks (e.g. configure Easer so that when I'm at the library or hospital, make my phone silent & enable the 802.11 radio), then something's seriously broken.

Plus, there's the meta-point that you knew to look for the git repo and open a bug report. That says plenty. That someone who has the prerequisite knowledge to do that, finds Easer unusable, is rather damning of Easer's UX. 👎

I don't know what to expect for common users (not into programming) if they are trying to use this app.

My assessment is that this app is completely unusable for non-tech folks. Probably for non-programmers, too.

I say that not only as someone with a fair knowledge of human-factors, but who is reasonably tech-savvy (simple examples include: preferring the CLI & POSIX, done some (non-trivial) scripting (mostly automation) (using Emacs (in a terminal), and wanting to learn Vi(m)), lots of network & system admin, designing (replacement) systems, ideas for (new) libre-software projects, been a data-centre sysop & an AV tech, (in my youth) outsmarted the engineers at the local incumbent telco (which makes me a phreaker?), know who Richard Stallman is (along with Dennis Ritchie & Ken Thompson, among others), contributed to various tech projects (latest rabbit-hole is OSM); I'll stop there, I don't mean to blow my own trumpet).

I even had the thought that instead of presenting a GUI for setting rules, that a better model (since Easer clearly wants to be highly capable) would be to (optionally) allow users to write their own scripts (in a text editor(, preferably one of their own choosing, via an intent)) perhaps using a dedicated mini-language (or a suitable common language, perhaps Lua?) which each specify the triggers / conditionals (and if they're matched by AND or OR, with the possibility to group (via brackets) subsets (e.g. rule1 AND (rule2 OR rule3)) & actions to be performed along with variables (including inheritance) and being able to call / invoke other scripts from the current one, and then the UI is essentially a (system integration) wrapper around those. That model would allow a lot more to be done, while keeping the app relatively simple (rather than trying to become a GUI widget-based editor for what are (or should be) textual scripts; think of how awkward & convoluted the GUI front-ends for CLI tools oft end up becoming, compared to using the CLI directly or saving one's commonly-used combinations of argument to shell script files to more easily invoke; else another example would be trying to use WYSI[N]WYG editors instead of composing markup directly in a text editor). Another benefit is that they (textual scripts) could be composed on a micro-computer and transferred to the device which Easer runs on instead of having to do it all on the device itself (imagine an establishment with many devices being able to easily & quickly install the same script on each device). Scripts being chunks of text makes them very easy to share (imagine a repository of them) instead of requiring each user to roll his own from scratch.

The only caveat would be the need for comprehensive & very clear documentation on the syntax of said scripting. Lest it, too, remain a mystery to non-programmers.

At this point, it very much seems to me that the requirements for using this software with any success, is to read the source-code. So, it's implemented such that it's only for programmers, yet doesn't cater to them (e.g. text-edited scripts, like I described above).

As an example, for stark contrast, see the Automation app (F-Droid repo entry). Granted, not as (potentially) capable as Easer seems (to want) to be, and hardly a perfect example (it has bugs), but it's actually possible to make it do simple (& likely the most common) automation tasks. I've successfully established some automation with it.

In light of that, the very name Easer is a misnomer; it doesn't ease (make easier) anything. Quite the opposite.

‘Easer’ reminds me of Eric Raymond's painful account of (unsuccessfully) trying to configure CUPS:

• The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror Story
• The Luxury of Ignorance: Part Deux

One of his conclusions is that if he (a well-known programmer) is thwarted by software, then what other (non-arrogant) conclusion is there than serious usability failings?

And that's for CUPS (Common Unix Printing System). Wanting to print a document is hardly an unreasonable or unduly-complicated expectation.

In its current state ‘Easer’ is, quite simply, not fit for purpose.

we need to find out if we need to enrich the documentation or focus in improvements of UX.

Absolutely. Though, I don't consider this a question / matter of ‘if’. The usability is objectively horrendous. Both (improving UX and documentation) are needed.

Some relevant resources to start off:

• The Art of Unix Usability (sequel to The Art of Unix Programming), by Eric Raymond (author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar) so it's very much intended for engineer-types using relatable language & descriptions (rather than artsy / feels vagueness 🙂). Seemingly in response to his terrible experience with CUPS.
• Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design For Programmers
• Usability Articles by well-regarded usability experts, covering many aspects, with much advice. Start with Usability 101: Introduction to Usability.

As we get into the thick of this mess, I think even more will come to light, including fundamentals at the design / concept level.

I'm going to open some issues in relation of specific things that for me are not clear.

Yes please(!)

Please also cross-link with this ticket, for it to be something of a meta-bug / tracker for the set of usability problems.

I'd like to help improve Easer by discussing specifics, rather than usability only in the abstract. Programming is not (yet?) among my skill-set, else I'd be submitting PRs.