Re: The Horse Race, and Matchlock From Horses

[rafeb <rafeb@channel1.com>]

At 12:33 PM 12/15/99 -0500, Richard Moyer wrote:

>Yes, I know there is a modicum of smugness and satisfaction in 
>diligently learning all about it, and eventually getting it right". 
>And stuff like this would take all the fun out of it. But the 
>learning curve might be far shorter, and learning expenses far lower. 
>I guess it depends on whether you simply enjoy the trip, or the 
>destination the most.

<much snipped>


Good post, Richard.  I think all this stuff
is going to have to get simpler and more
automatic before it catches on with the
masses. Either that, or they're going to
have to explain it better.  Much better.

With complete PCs selling for $500-$1000,
how many folks will be willing to shell 
out an extra $300 for a monitor calibrator,
or even $80 for something like Wisiwyg?
Or a few hundred for a "Profile Editor"
or a nice CMYK RIP?  And even if cost is no
object, who's got the time to master
all these toys?

I think Adobe did a bold thing by adding
ICC-awareness to Photoshop, but I wonder
if they thought through the impact and
consequences?  OK, Photoshop is a 
professional tool, so perhaps Adobe had
some basis for assuming a pretty high
level of expertise from their users.

What amazes me is that those of us who
use this stuff to create graphics still
try to explain this CM stuff using *words.*

OK, I know here on this list that's all
we have... but so much of the literature
on the subject really makes poor use of
graphics, and relies way too heavily on
prose.  The figures (if any) will be screen
captures of dialog boxes, for example.

What I want to see are diagrams of the
processes working inside of Photoshop.
Show me what they do -- what are the 
"inputs", what are the "outputs", and how
each process relates to the Big Picture.

The inputs/outputs include:  the image
file being edited, its various "intermediate"
representations, the monitor itself, the
various profiles, the User, the many Dialog
settings, the printer, the scanner, etc.

Software engineers refer to such pictures 
as Data Flow Diagrams.  What I sorely miss is a 
DFD of all the critical processes in Photoshop --
from a functional point of view.  Adobe 
needn't divulge anything that's proprietary;
all of this is from the User's perspective.
We just need to know about which bits matter,
when, and why.


rafe b.

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