[General] Call for feedback on Chandler demo movies

[D John Anderson]

On Aug 21, 2007, at 11:21 AM, Mimi Yin wrote:

>
>
>> As for content, the presentation looks slick, but I think we need  
>> more context for new users to understand some of the Chandler  
>> specific terms and concepts you present. In the "Navigate"  
>> section, for example, the explanation of the "application areas"  
>> and "collections you define" doesn't include enough explanation to  
>> know what they are.
>>
>
> I agree re: providing more context. Do you have something specific  
> in mind? What additional context would you provide?
>

Well, this is the "meat of the task" that whoever does this project  
must spend time figuring out. But here are two examples that come to  
mind:

I wouldn't use the term "collection" without first explaining it in  
the context that your typical computer user would understand. For  
example, you could show a list of tasks and mention that they are all  
grouped together into what we call a "collection", much like files  
are grouped into a directory or folder. Notice that we call our  
collection "Work Tasks" and that it's displayed in this left hand  
panel which we call the "Sidebar". Like directories and files we have  
collections and items. You can have many different collection each  
containing different kinds of items, for example: calendar events,  
tasks, emails, etc.

Introduce the term "application area" with a example everyone can  
relate to: You have lots of different kinds of items you deal with on  
a regular basis: emails, tasks, notes. It's really useful to see them  
all at once or maybe just the emails or just the tasks. In Chandler  
this is easy to do. The Dashboard collection shows you all your items  
in a special view we call the Dashboard that lets you easily sort by  
time, title of the task, etc. In this example you'll notice that  
there are so many items it's hard to focus on just your email  
messages. If you choose the "Mail Application" area Chandler filters  
out everything except for your email messages. Notice that when we  
choose the Calendar application area, Chandler automatically displays  
just your events in a calendar view.

This kind of context often isn't obvious to us because we are so  
close the the project. I find it really useful to do "dry runs" of my  
demos on friends, co-workers and relatives before sitting down to  
produce them. That usually makes it really obvious where I'm making  
mistakes in assumptions about what people know.

If, after a 30 second demo with someone unfamiliar with your project  
you notice the light bulb going off in their head, they "get it", and  
seem excited, then your demo will be a success. It usually takes more  
iterations to get it right that you think, but in the end the extra  
effort usually pays off.

>
>
>> The "Dashboard and the All Application" section is also missing  
>> context that will leave people confused. For example, it's not  
>> clear  what the Peepeedee collection is and why it's named that.  
>> It would be better to give it a more obvious name or include  
>> explanation about why it's called Peepeedee.
>>
>
> Does it matter what the name of a collection is? It could be Daisy  
> or ipsem lorem. I'm not sure that the 'content' of the collections  
> matters. What's important is the mechanism / feature being  
> explained: This is a collection. It contains items.
>
>

Rather than using PeePeeDee as the example of a collection, use  
something like "My Wedding Plans" (or something else people will be  
able to relate to). Then when showing navigation, navigating between  
collections that people can relate to makes it easier to understand  
what is going on. The idea when demoing is to create a world in your  
app that real user might have or can relate to. Then demo that world.

>>
>> There are a few timing issues, for example the "dead air" after  
>> descriptions is a bit disorienting and should be shortened.
>>
>
> I'm not sure how I would go about doing that (easily) without  
> cutting out demo content and/or adding in unnecessary, extra voice  
> text to fill in the dead-space. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what  
> you're saying?
>

Normally you would do this by going to the timeline in your  
particular app, e.g. Quicktime Pro or iMovie, select the area that  
contains no voice and no useful demo and choose delete.

>
>
>> And the ending of the movie is too abrupt. Can you  fade it out?
>>
>
> Not easily using Quicktime Pro, which was the only tool I could  
> find that didn't horrible degrade the quality of the video.
>
>

I'd try exporting from Quicktime to iMovie and doing the fades there.  
If that doesn't work, let me know and I can find out for sure. Also  
iMovie lets you export to MPEG-4, which might be a good choice for  
final viewing.

>>
>> As I think about how best to explain Chandler and get people  
>> excited about it, I think it might be better to focus on a few  
>> common simple tasks that everyone has experienced and that other  
>> applications have trouble with. Show people how you would do the  
>> tasks in Chandler -- and along the way introduce Chandler specific  
>> jargon, e.g. Dashboard, the All Collection, etc. in a context that  
>> they are more familiar with.
>>
>
> Currently the task-workflows I have are:
> + Navigating around Chandler
> + Creating new items in a collection
> + Sending out an invite with stamping
> + Triaging and Tickling items
> + Sharing via the Hub
>
> Did you have a different set of workflows in mind? Or perhaps it's  
> just a matter of making it the workflows clear with good titles on  
> the Features page?
>
>

I'd choose examples motivated not by Chandler features, e.g.  
navigation, creating items, etc. but examples motivated by real world  
tasks, e.g. planning a trip to France, collaborating with another  
person on a shared project. First explain the project in a context  
outside of Chandler then give specific examples of how you would  
accomplish the task in Chandler. Also, choose tasks/features that  
illustrate Chandler's strengths over other products.

>>
>> Finally, I was curious to know what application you used to create  
>> the movies?
>>
>
> I created the movies with SnapZ Pro and edited them in Quicktime  
> Pro. The music I put together in Garage Band and the voice I  
> recorded in Quicktime Pro.
>
> I wouldn't recommend Quicktime Pro for editing movies, but it was  
> the only tool I could find that didn't turn screecast movie files  
> in DV, which makes it look horrible.
>
>

The choice of which applications to use is pretty important, not very  
obvious, and takes lots of time to figure out. For example, SnapZ Pro  
lets you do screenshots, but doesn't let you edit them like Quicktime  
Pro. And Quicktime Pro doesn't let you easily do fades. Some apps  
like Adobe Captivate claim to do it all, but run only on Windows and  
you may end up with only one style of text balloon that you may not  
like. The best way to learn this is to get get to know people who  
have lots of experience building professional demos and ask lots of  
questions. I have some friends who would probably be happy to help  
out with free advice and answers if you're interested.

Finally, in the first movie I didn't hear any music.

John