Comments on: Hire an idiot or two

By: James

James — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:35:47 +0000

I actually encountered this exact issue myself once. I was having trouble getting a video to export correctly from iMovie, and someone on Apple’s discussion boards suggested that I try saving a slideshow from iPhoto, to see if the problem was specific to iMovie or if it affected any QuickTime movies in general.

I had been using iPhoto for years and until then, I never, ever knew that you could actually save a slideshow out into a video file. Like you, I just assumed the option (if it existed) would be under “Share,” and I thought File > Export was only for still images.

@Matthew Harlington: I’ve always wondered that too…it seems arbitrary. Also, because it’s not a standard toolbar, you can’t customize the buttons in the regular way either. You have to go into (I think) the View menu and then individually toggle different icons on and off. It’s very strange and non-standard, and I don’t see what the logic is.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:51:29 +0000

That was both a hilarious and very serious blog post. Love your blog, keep it up.

By: Matthew Harlington

Matthew Harlington — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:44:19 +0000

Can anybody tell me why the iPhoto toolbar is at the bottom, instead of at the top, like every other Mac application ever? Seems like a strange design decision.

By: Spencer Davis

Spencer Davis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:48:49 +0000

I agree that the average user (idiot, if I may say so myself!) has become more computer-literate due to the increased complexity of Apple’s software.

This, though, can benefit us “pro-users” by allowing us to have a larger, more competent target audience with which we can user-test our finished software to a greater degree.

By: Frederik

Frederik — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:19:42 +0000

I would argue that Apple consumer software has been getting more and more complicated in the past couple of years, as more and more features have been added to all apps. Although we as pro-users wouldn’t notice, I think the computer-literacy assumed by the average user has increased with every major app or OS update.