Trust
Whew, long time no post. Blame it on being busy and a short-term fixation on accounting. Time to correct that…
For consistency, I base the reviews found on the site on a kind of grading rubric that gives or docks points for features or the lack thereof. While the rubric provides an excellent guideline, it often seems to fall a little short when judging certain software, and until now I haven’t been able to put my finger on why. The simple reason is because the rubric doesn’t measure or account for trust. Trust is the one feature that can really make or break an editor: If you can’t rely on your editor to help get your work done the way you expect it to, then that editor should be put back on the shelf.
As an example: WeBuilder 2006 has held the top spot on this site since the reviews began. I love the feature set, its similarity to TopStyle, and its great price. However, in recent versions, little quirks and bugs have crept into the software, at times making it unusable when I’m in a rush to get things done. In other words, WeBuilder is losing my trust.
Another more positive example: BBEdit. When I need to search multiple files (maybe hundreds or thousands) for a specific term and I need the results quickly, BBEdit is the software I go to. I have yet to find a search function more reliable in any editor on any system. I trust BBEdit’s search implicitly; I never second guess its results.
So, what does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Only that I’ve figured out that intangible quality I inevitably seek in every editor I evaluate. And that my search for that perfect editor is certainly not over.
Thoughts? I’d love to hear them. As well as more editor suggestions.
4 Comments »
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The other part of the problem is that your ratings scale is FAR too granular. What’s the difference between a 1.4 and a 1.5? They get put in different categories, but is there really that much that differentiates them at that level?
Choose to round up or round down (perhaps based on trust), but making the scale look more like a recommendation system and less like math homework would be cool.
Just my 2 cents. ;)
J
Comment by John — February 2, 2007 @ 7:30 am
That’s certainly a valid point. At the same time, if you look at percent ratings in school, they’re even more granular than what I’ve got here. However, those percents are usually converted into letter grades. Either way, there’s always going to be a fine line — 94% is an A but 95% is an A+. So subjective.
In the end, the numbers presented here are as much for categorization as they are for rating and recommendation, but I’ll continue to explore the relative merits of different systems.
Thanks for the comment.
Comment by Eric — February 2, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Woe. Either this site has completely changed it’s look in the past couple of hours, or I’ve just had a grand mal seizure.
I like it.
Comment by John — February 2, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Yep, people (including myself) were finding the light on dark difficult to read. I was going to redesign, but I’ll stick with a WordPress theme for now. Glad you like it.
Comment by Eric — February 2, 2007 @ 6:47 pm