IMatch! Simply Unbeatable!

[oldjudge]

Perhaps, another suggestion is to commission a little book, titled,
"Imatch-A classroom in a book", like Adobe have done and charge £5
or £10 for it, if it is bought with your program.

I would welcome this too. The sooner the better. I love the
potential of iMatch and struggle with it, but life's rapidly
passing by!
John

 

[Michael Lee112193]

Perhaps, another suggestion is to commission a little book, titled,
"Imatch-A classroom in a book", like Adobe have done and charge £5
or £10 for it, if it is bought with your program.

I would welcome this too. The sooner the better. I love the
potential of iMatch and struggle with it, but life's rapidly
passing by!
John

--

Mario, I do hope you will consider commissioning a book as suggested, but please, get someone else, like the authors of the Adobe books to do it. Please do not have a go at it yourself. It isn't that I do not respect your intellectual skills, but I feel that you are too close to this baby to be able to feel the needs of "Blockheads" like me. I think you are brilliant, having produced this great piece of work "IMatch". It certainly needed a clear, precise brain to sought the intricacies of the whole system, but it is not the most intuitive of programs I have come across. Sorry for raising it again, but it is not glitz or raz-mataz that I seek. I want everyone who has more than 500 photographs to say, I must have IMatch to sort me out, I'm getting into a mess.

mbp

 

[Kathy_in_MD]

"Many, many prospective users clearly want (need) an easier interface. They don't want sexy or flashy, they want to understand it. They're going away to other applications because the curve is far too steep. I'm not talking about learning all of the features....there are many excellent features....I'm talking about learning to use the application itself, the basic bones.
"

I have a bunch (thousand and thousands) of images. I tried the program, but wow, it is a tough nut to crack. Sometimes the designer/programmer is too close to the product to realize how cumbersome the interface is. After all, they already know what the program does and how to accomplish those fuctions. I saw further up in the posts the suggestion to have a person (specialist in GUI) take a look at the program. Your brilliant programming would still be there, but in a different presentation - most likely an improved GUI.

The ONLY thing keeping me with ACDSee is the interface. If I could have that interface with your functionality I would buy it - and pay more as well. I don't think I am alone here. I think the market is ready and rip for an upscale product like Imatch. I thought I was until I tried it (twice). I wonder how many other sales are missed because of the interface. Imatch could be a gold mine with the right front end.

Kathy

Mario--

I have immense respect for you and IMatch, but I'm afraid your
comments suggest that you just don't "get" user interface. It is
not about "flash" or "sexy looks", although aesthetic quality is
just as valid in software as in the rest of life.

I've got to agree with Portola on this one. I'm now "getting"
IMatch with a heck of a lot of effort and hours but it should be
more intuitive.

Mario, the terms "flash" and "sexy" imply sizzle and not steak. Not
true! Read the e-mails! Many, many prospective users clearly want
(need) an easier interface. They don't want sexy or flashy, they
want to understand it. They're going away to other applications
because the curve is far too steep. I'm not talking about learning
all of the features....there are many excellent features....I'm
talking about learning to use the application itself, the basic
bones.

You're responses to those e-mails are commendable in saying that
maybe IMatch is not for that person but, no offense, perhaps a
little short-sighted too.

Again, no offense, I bought IMatch and I've found nothing that
compares to it although it is difficult!

JMHO, Dan

 

[kalahari]

I agree 100%. I actually purchased the software, but never use it. After trying to use it for over a month i gave up. I am back to using ACDSee.

I wish Imatch had several interfaces: starter, basic, intermediate, advanced, classic etc.

That way i could learn over time and use the more powerful features as i learn the software. The learning curve for initial use is just too hard.

The ONLY thing keeping me with ACDSee is the interface. If I could
have that interface with your functionality I would buy it - and
pay more as well. I don't think I am alone here. I think the
market is ready and rip for an upscale product like Imatch. I
thought I was until I tried it (twice). I wonder how many other
sales are missed because of the interface. Imatch could be a gold
mine with the right front end.

Kathy

Mario--

I have immense respect for you and IMatch, but I'm afraid your
comments suggest that you just don't "get" user interface. It is
not about "flash" or "sexy looks", although aesthetic quality is
just as valid in software as in the rest of life.

I've got to agree with Portola on this one. I'm now "getting"
IMatch with a heck of a lot of effort and hours but it should be
more intuitive.

Mario, the terms "flash" and "sexy" imply sizzle and not steak. Not
true! Read the e-mails! Many, many prospective users clearly want
(need) an easier interface. They don't want sexy or flashy, they
want to understand it. They're going away to other applications
because the curve is far too steep. I'm not talking about learning
all of the features....there are many excellent features....I'm
talking about learning to use the application itself, the basic
bones.

You're responses to those e-mails are commendable in saying that
maybe IMatch is not for that person but, no offense, perhaps a
little short-sighted too.

Again, no offense, I bought IMatch and I've found nothing that
compares to it although it is difficult!

JMHO, Dan

 

[Michael Lee112193]

Perhaps, another suggestion is to commission a little book, titled,
"Imatch-A classroom in a book", like Adobe have done and charge £5
or £10 for it, if it is bought with your program.

I would welcome this too. The sooner the better. I love the
potential of iMatch and struggle with it, but life's rapidly
passing by!
John

--
Mario, I do hope you will consider commissioning a book as
suggested, but please, get someone else, like the authors of the
Adobe books to do it. Please do not have a go at it yourself. It
isn't that I do not respect your intellectual skills, but I feel
that you are too close to this baby to be able to feel the needs of
"Blockheads" like me. I think you are brilliant, having produced
this great piece of work "IMatch". It certainly needed a clear,
precise brain to sought the intricacies of the whole system, but it
is not the most intuitive of programs I have come across. Sorry for
raising it again, but it is not glitz or raz-mataz that I seek. I
want everyone who has more than 500 photographs to say, I must have
IMatch to sort me out, I'm getting into a mess.

mbp

--

I feel that I must add this: Once I had found my way around IMatch, mostly by trial and error, some of it by pushing buttons in unaccustomed places and unfamiliar icons, IMatch was as simple to use as any other program. The steep learning curve only applies to finding your way around the first time, and you won't get it right first time either. Once you have learned your way around, you will wonder why you had all that agro the first time.

However, after leaving the program alone for several months, I found that I had forgotten a lot and had to poke around again. Thus it is my conclusion that it is not intuitive, but it is not a complicated program in that sense. Persistence, and you will get there, and then you will know why it is such a great program!

mbp

 

[Michael Lee112193]

Perhaps, another suggestion is to commission a little book, titled,
"Imatch-A classroom in a book", like Adobe have done and charge £5
or £10 for it, if it is bought with your program.

I would welcome this too. The sooner the better. I love the
potential of iMatch and struggle with it, but life's rapidly
passing by!
John

--
Mario, I do hope you will consider commissioning a book as
suggested, but please, get someone else, like the authors of the
Adobe books to do it. Please do not have a go at it yourself. It
isn't that I do not respect your intellectual skills, but I feel
that you are too close to this baby to be able to feel the needs of
"Blockheads" like me. I think you are brilliant, having produced
this great piece of work "IMatch". It certainly needed a clear,
precise brain to sought the intricacies of the whole system, but it
is not the most intuitive of programs I have come across. Sorry for
raising it again, but it is not glitz or raz-mataz that I seek. I
want everyone who has more than 500 photographs to say, I must have
IMatch to sort me out, I'm getting into a mess.

mbp

--
I feel that I must add this: Once I had found my way around IMatch,
mostly by trial and error, some of it by pushing buttons in
unaccustomed places and unfamiliar icons, IMatch was as simple to
use as any other program. The steep learning curve only applies to
finding your way around the first time, and you won't get it right
first time either. Once you have learned your way around, you will
wonder why you had all that agro the first time.
However, after leaving the program alone for several months, I
found that I had forgotten a lot and had to poke around again. Thus
it is my conclusion that it is not intuitive, but it is not a
complicated program in that sense. Persistence, and you will get
there, and then you will know why it is such a great program!

mbp

Mario, I must really apologise! You have still done a wonderful job. As I am now refreshing my memory on how to update my data base with the new input data I have made, I became confused. So in desperation, I pushed F1, for the first time! Voila! Next I pushed Index> Clicked on the Topic I wanted, and all the information was there. I printed it out. It was just so simple!

So I am hoping that by announcing this here, no one else should have any further problems manipulating your IMatch again, ever! IMatch is the best, only if you learn to push F1. I think I deserve a bonus, Mario. Maybe if you had highlighted this technique to resolve problems, less people would have problems. I know that it is so obvious, but I admit to being a Wooden Blockhead! Just direct people to F1 and you can probably skip that book I suggested. Ain't Life Full Of Surprises?
mbp

 

[Gadget]

Mario--

I have immense respect for you and IMatch, but I'm afraid your
comments suggest that you just don't "get" user interface. It is
not about "flash" or "sexy looks", although aesthetic quality is
just as valid in software as in the rest of life.

I've got to agree with Portola on this one. I'm now "getting"
IMatch with a heck of a lot of effort and hours but it should be
more intuitive.

Mario, the terms "flash" and "sexy" imply sizzle and not steak. Not
true! Read the e-mails! Many, many prospective users clearly want
(need) an easier interface. They don't want sexy or flashy, they
want to understand it. They're going away to other applications
because the curve is far too steep. I'm not talking about learning
all of the features....there are many excellent features....I'm
talking about learning to use the application itself, the basic
bones.

You're responses to those e-mails are commendable in saying that
maybe IMatch is not for that person but, no offense, perhaps a
little short-sighted too.

Again, no offense, I bought IMatch and I've found nothing that
compares to it although it is difficult!

JMHO, Dan

I am presently using ACDsystems...it is good and it is intuitive. Perhaps i should leave well enough alone....but i always look for better.

I just want to catalog my images on cd's and dvd's. I want to leave only thumbnails on my hardrive and when i find the thumbnail that i want via searching with keywords and after browsing through the selection, i will click on the thumbnail and it will tell me which CD it is on. I also would like a program that can give me Corel Draw ( .cdr extention) thumbnails. I know thumbsplus can, Canto says they can but i cannot figure Canto out.

After reading all the threads re imatch..... i think they would quickly make it user friendly.....must make it as easy and fast as possible....thank you all

 

[Mario Westphal]

Mario, I must really apologise! You have still done a wonderful
job. As I am now refreshing my memory on how to update my data base
with the new input data I have made, I became confused. So in
desperation, I pushed F1, for the first time! Voila! Next I pushed
Index> Clicked on the Topic I wanted, and all the information was
there. I printed it out. It was just so simple!

So I am hoping that by announcing this here, no one else should
have any further problems manipulating your IMatch again, ever!
IMatch is the best, only if you learn to push F1. I think I deserve
a bonus, Mario. Maybe if you had highlighted this technique to
resolve problems, less people would have problems. I know that it
is so obvious, but I admit to being a Wooden Blockhead! Just direct
people to F1 and you can probably skip that book I suggested. Ain't
Life Full Of Surprises?
mbp

Hi,

I just though that for "context help" is pretty much common in the Windows world. And, most dialogs in IMatch also have an extra "Help" button, which also leads you to the online help.

And there's the "Help" menu in the main toolbar. From here you can reach the online help index, the search feature, and the tutorial.

The IMatch program group also links directly to the tutorial and the online help.

And then there are the little yellow "coach messages", which inform you about the current task at hand, or the actions/commands/options available for the current context. You can click them away, or turn them off once you have read them. You can also re-enable the coach messages via the help menu if you didn't use IMatch for a long time.

The context sensitive, indexed IMatch online help has about 500 pages worth of text. Wherever you are in IMatch, pressing brings up the online help with all the details.

The tutorial is available as PDF (preferred by most users), and you can even download the online help as a PDF from my home page.

--
Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com