"Jon Rizzo"
|>Yes, and I suppose you hate long menus, too. I have some bad news for you:
|>in windows programs, you have to choose: icons or menus. If you can come up
|>with a 3rd option, you will make a lot of money. A new interface is not a
|>bad thing - LDD's UI is extremely clunky. If learning something new is
|>what's bothering you, then I would recommend finding a career that doesn't
|>involve computers.
opening dialog after dialog or drill down is a bad interface, just because microsoft
does it, does not mean its a good way to go. Interfaces should be intutative, not
oh I remember this setting in this dialog, now where is that dialog?
|>Is it so difficult to just ignore the 2 or 3 different ways, pick one, and
|>run with it? If there was only one way to do certain things, you would
|>probably be complaining about the way that they chose. Everything that you
|>hate about one way, somebody else may like. There is no way that 1 method
|>for everything will make everyone happy. Look at AutoCAD - there are 10
|>ways to do everything, and that's one of the things that people like about
|>it. If you don't want to use the other ways, DON'T! Sure, there is a
|>certain amount of complexity to the program, but I would challenge you to
|>come up with something better that also satisfies the diverse needs of
|>Autodesk's customer base. What you need out of the program is not
|>necessarily the same thing that I need from the program, even though we may
|>both work for civil engineering consultants.
Yup and I always seem to explain the same thing 5 different ways to people
then they look at me and say what's the best way?
|>Why do you think these features should be in LDD, if you agree that LDD is a
|>pain? I think a ground up rewrite was the best choice. Shoe-horning
|>features into a 20 year old product is what got us to where LDD is today -
|>it is by no means an answer for tomorrow! Look at Windows, for example.
|>For a long time, Windows was just an extension of DOS. It was not nearly as
|>useful or powerful (or STABLE!) until they took the best features and
|>integrated them into an operating system that was written independently of
|>the DOS based program. All of the features of DOS are still there (often in
|>a different form), but Windows is no longer an extension of DOS. Try to
|>look at Civil 3D with the same open mind.
My point was that LDD has been the same ol thing for what 10 years now.
A change should have happened a long time ago.
|>The era of the "civil drafter" is almost over. Once Civil 3D is
|>feature-complete (and stable!), there will be little or no need for
|>non-engineers to use it. Drafters/designers can use AutoCAD, and engineers
|>will use Civil3D. The mindless, repetative tasks simply won't exist (or at
|>least they will be dramatically reduced). The drafting is a "byproduct" of
|>the design work being accomplished. It's an afterthought, since it happens
|>automatically as you work. The Civil 3D guru will be the one who knows how
|>to configure the styles properly to have the desired information shown on
|>the plans. Most users will not have to be "guru"s to use it, they will just
|>choose a predefined style that a guru has set up for them.
Ya I've heard that my entire career. You will always need lower paid tech's
to clean up and do busy work because the engineers are too busy. Also
typically in my experience the sr level drafters know the programs better
then the engineers. It seems that engineers want to engineer and drafters
want to run software.
|>As I said, it would be better to reserve judgement until you actually use
|>it. There are plenty of things wrong with the current state of Civil 3D,
|>but you don't seem to have touched on any of them. Complaints that
|>"such-and-such isn't available in LDD" will fall on deaf ears, so if you
|>wish to remain sane, it would be best to just let it go.
This whole thread was about the UI, not stability issues or actual problems
with the beta software. From what I have seen options / settings are
very well hidden thus making the software appear to be simpler. All I know
is I'm gona have to spend a bunch of time developing standardized settings
that I hope I can roll out to all the installations, cuz the number of settings /
options are dizzing.
-----------------------
Dave Lewis
CAD Manager
Just say no to HTML Posts!