[OS X TeX] New Macros, new Engines, new TeXShop versions, and all that

[Claus Gerhardt]

TeXShop users want to use TeX when writing documents, i.e., their IQ is most likely a bit higher than that of the average moron and they are willing to learn TeX as well as using a computer. I doubt that there is any TeXShop user who can't figure out how to find ~/Library once he knows that the tilde stands for his home directory.

You are playing the advocate of the disadvantaged in vain, since your targets, if they should exist among TeXShop users, can't be helped except by waving a magic wand.

Thus, I suggest let reason and simplicity prevail.

Claus


On Feb 22, 2010, at 22:07, David Messerschmitt wrote:

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>> Software cannot read user's mind. Furthermore the directory is not obscure but contained in ~/Library. 
>> 
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> True, software can't read our minds, but the software can ASK users what's on their minds. So my suggestion to Dick Koch would be to add a dialog box at upgrade time that asks the user if he or she wants (a) the completely default installation or (b) wants to preserve past changes. There might be more than two choices, or choices at the granularity of macros, engines, etc, but you get the idea. The big advance in window/menu systems is the idea of not depending on users to know and issue commands, but rather giving them choices. This has proven to be the right approach to accommodate the naive user.
> 
> ~/Library is not obscure to you, but the average user of Word, Safari, etc has never encountered this directory. While this type of user is arguably not the primary target of TexShop, I would advocate that they should be accommodated in the interest of expanding the user base, especially since this is fairly easy to do (TexShop is very close to this "packaged distribution" style already), and need not impact the power user one iota.
> 
> -dave
> 
> David Messerschmitt
> Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
> University of Californa at Berkeley
> 
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