SSA sailplane tracker - too complex

This is the point: if it takes an hour to figure out how to use it, then it's basically designed for time wasting technophiles sitting at computers.

Spot on (pun intended). If I had a dollar for every time I heard "I don't see what the problem is. You just click on [insert appropriate OS-specific, multi-step, inscrutable-icon-driven, undocumented sequence]", I'd be flying a shiny new glider.

This is what's referred to as unintuitive design. That's fine for Photoshop, or possibly even for something like SeeYou (highly motivated users willing to climb the learning curve) or Snapchat (users who take pride in being members of an exclusive "club" who have climbed said learning curve). Not so good for those who need something simple and easy to use from the beginning.

Two different user profiles and sets of user stories/use cases. The "simple" functionality is a subset of the full-featured functionality. But the user profiles can be very different. That means the user interface for the "simple functionality" may need special attention, rather than less attention, which is the way it often occurs.

"I don't see what the problem is" couldn't be more true in situations like this.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"