From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:11:52 GMT
Subject: Re: Command-line interface thoughts
Message-ID: <20110607191152.GB24929@elie>
In-Reply-To: <4DEE755C.8030108@ira.uka.de>

Holger Hellmuth wrote:

> If someone finds the three-way diff completely mystifiying, how do
> you expect him to resolve a merge conflict at all? Or recognize that
> there is one? Or find the command to use after editing out the
> conflict markers?
>
> A novice user will have no real mental model anyway.

Yes, I think you're getting closer to the point I was trying to make.
A novice will have a naive mental model, and a good user interface
needs to be close to it but not too close.  Close because the UI must
be intuitive on its own.  Not too close because a good UI will help in
leading such a person to productive ways of thinking and working, by
making common tasks convenient.

So much for generalities.