[GRASS-dev] Re: [GRASS-CVS] michael: grass6/lib/init gis_set.tcl, 1.24, 1.25

[Glynn Clements]

Michael Barton wrote:

> My concern is not with the terminology per se. There is still a considerable
> lack of consistency in terminology from one GIS platform to another. GRASS
> terminology is a little obtuse, but not excessively so. The concepts are
> pretty straightforward once you learn them.
> 
> My concern is that the way the startup works, a user must confront and
> understand GRASS-specific terms--ones used in no other GIS--before he or she
> can even start the program. People I introduce to GRASS always find that a
> big stumbling block. This complaint about the startup has come across the
> user list regularly too.
> 
> Maybe the best solution is to change the startup somehow. However, changing
> the way GRASS starts is much more involved than simply changing the language
> in the startup screen.
> 
> For example, most new users I've talked with indeed take 'location' to mean
> project location--as it was originally intended I suspect. Then they are put
> off by the need to specify the extents and resolution of their location
> before the program will even start. But when I explain that they only REALLY
> need to specify the projection parameters (latlon; utm, datum, and zone;
> etc.), they have a much easier time of it. What really matters most in a
> location is projection information in the WIND and PROJ files, not the
> extents and resolution--which can be changed easily during a GRASS session.
> But this is not conveyed by the term "location" alone.
> 
> Anyway, I was trying to respond to numerous comments about the startup being
> confusing to a new but knowledgeable user. The startup screen gives people
> their first impression of the program. So whatever goes there should
> encourage them to work with the software. I agree that what I stuck in the
> new screen should be improved, but also feel that some hand-holding to new
> users would be worthwhile.

I'm not so sure.

I don't believe that GRASS will ever be the kind of package which can
be used without reading any documentation, and I don't consider this
to be a defect.

A user isn't going to be able to do anything useful with GRASS without
having first read some documentation, so it doesn't really matter
whether they have to read the documentation before they get to the
startup screen or afterwards.

If a user is looking for a simple package which they can use without
reading any documentation, it's probably better if they realise sooner
rather than later that GRASS isn't such a package.

E.g. if they aren't familiar with the notion of the current region,
making the startup screen simpler is just going to trade "what do I
type here?" queries for "why do I get a blank screen from d.rast?" 
queries.

[And the latter are frequently answered with the (bogus) advice of:
use "g.region rast=..." to move the region to the map, when they
should be using r.region to move the map.]

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>