(Even More) Interface Work

Lately, I have spent my coding time cleaning up FuzzMeasure's interface, and working on a few small features. Also, I have done some thinking about a follow-up product, but have not yet decided how I should execute it. The trouble with the decision revolves around making the resultant application easy to use for a wider audience. FuzzMeasure, while quite niche, still has a very widespread use. To further extend FuzzMeasure's appeal, I aimed to make it accessible to my entire target audience. I believe users find FuzzMeasure very easy to use. This differentiates it from other measurement applications I have seen, which all seem to share the same fate of overcomplexity. I realize that performing acoustical measurements involves some complex theory, but I do not believe in showering the user with hundreds of options they may never use. I want FuzzMeasure to appeal to users ranging from hobbyists to professionals. Hobbyists include users that purchase high-end sound systems and wish to measure them (for room correction, comparison with other products), as well as users that build their own speakers (for their home, or their car). The professionals range from loudspeaker manufacturers, to home theater installers, to recording engineers. As you can tell, all these users have varying needs and expectations. I could have easily thrown a myriad of features into FuzzMeasure 1.2, involving different analysis types, smoothing options, alternate views, and specialized measurements. This may have certainly impressed the folks who design loudspeakers for a living, but may not necessarily appeal to the recording engineer. Furthermore, when Mr. Smith (the hobbyist) wants to use an application that will allow him to easily determine if he correctly set the subwoofer volume on his home theater receiver, he certainly does not have time to wade around in an application with a neck-high list of features, buttons, and menu items. So, before each new feature gets added, I must weigh the impact to all my hypothetical users. I want to make sure that Mr. Smith will not get confused by the addition of a feature required to provide more information to the loudspeaker designer, and I do not want to give the impression to the loudspeaker designer that the application targets acoustical measurements only. Of course, in FuzzMeasure 1.2, you may notice a few features that could use some relocating, or perhaps rewording. This remains on my (long) list of things to clean up in the interface. If you have suggestions, use the “Send Inquiry Email” option in FuzzMeasure's Help menu. I bet a lot of you did not catch that addition to 1.2.1… :)