Included are the results of the survey to celibrate the third anniversary of the Gestalt Selectors List (GSL). During the month of October 1995 all users were free to return a questionnaire. The goal of this survey was to get some idea on who uses the GSL and how well it is perceived. Also, it can provide real feedback to the editor and usually gives some new ideas for future improvements.
So, here we go:
GESTALT SELECTORS LIST
RESULTS SURVEY 1995
Number returned: 30 (40% using the Web form)
Below are the questions of the survey again with in front of each answer the number of people who gave that answer and the percentage of the total answers. Below some questions and results I added a note or compiled some of the remarks from the replies.
1) What do you think of the contents of the GSL?
1 3% lots of unusable information
1 3% not enough usable information
7 23% enough usable information
5 17% just enough usable information
16 53% lots of usable information
2) How often do you refer to the list for information?
11 37% seldom (once a month or less)
17 57% occasionally (a few times a month)
2 7% often (a few times a week)
0 -% very often (daily)
3) What do you use the list for?
14 47% for work
13 43% for private use
3 10% only for fun
4) Do you read the updates you receive?
2 7% no, not subscribed to the mailing list
0 -% never
1 3% seldom
20 67% yes, the relevant parts
7 23% yes, each word
5) Has the list been of importance because it provided needed information?
26 87% yes
4 13% no
"not yet, but I remember times way back when I would have needed it!"
"most definitely!"
"No important info found, but I still think it’s a valuable resource. I’ll need it sometime and when I do, I’m sure I won’t find the relevant information anywhere else."
6) What do you think of the layout of the list?
0 -% inaccessible
2 6% just workable
6 20% workable
17 57% accessible
5 17% very accessible
because:
"it is all in alphabetical and topical order."
"of the convenient setext layout."
"I can use Easy View on it."
"I can find what I want."
"easy to search in BBEdit"
"I often want to look at the new ones, not the old."
By including the updates with the full release, I hope to provide an easy way to find out what changed.
"formatting is too limited by ASCII; a filemaker database would be preferable."
"Setext is a useful format. If you were looking to go beyond that, how about QuickView or a well indexed Acrobat document?"
Perhaps it is indeed time to move to another format. I prefer FileMaker Pro, but I have some problems with that:
- need to use FileMaker Pro 3.0 (release early next year)
- need for runtime? How to get? Can't pay for it! Or demo version?
- must be able to export it either as Setext or HTML.
If anyone has any suggestion about this, or can help in any way please contact me.
A move to FileMaker would not mean that the setext format is abandoned. Instead, you should see more different formats being exported from the data-base.
7) Which programming language do you find an appropriate standard for use with the code examples in the list?
17 57% C/C++
3 10% Pascal
7 23% C/C++ and Pascal
0 -% SmallTalk
1 3% other: 4th Dimension
2 7% not answered
Surprise! Surprise! :-)
8) Do you have suggestions/comments regarding the contents?
"I'm sure that Apple doesn't have anything nearly as comprehensive even for internal use!"
"Keep up the good work."
"interesting piece of the MacOS, good timing for the list."
"More Pascal-specific examples, keep the C examples, a tutorial perhaps ?"
"A petition should be sent to Apple to encourage them to be more forthcoming about the gestalt information."
Please remember the GSL is not a manual on how to use the Gestalt Manager. For that, Apple provides better reading! :-)
Thinking about the petition though. I'am in doubt if it will help.
9) Do you have suggestions/comments regarding the layout?
"Nope. It’s good."
"carefully laid out"
"Compulsively well organized :-)) The only thing that I struggle with a bit is the Unknown Codes chapter. It might make browsing somewhat easier if you made its sections into chapters […]"
True, but this also means the most irrelevant codes get a more prominent place. This would clutter the list more.
"IMHO the format is a little too inaccessible, its not too easy to get all the information for a specific selector. Sorry, no suggestions for improvements. If I have any I’ll e-mail you..."
Yes, please! :-) If you don't have any idea… I think such a long list will ALWAYS be a little too inaccesible.
"More than one blank line between the selectors"
One will have to do. All empty lines currently take up several pages already! :-)
10) Which programming language do you use?
17 57% C/C++
1 3% Pascal
7 23% C/C++ and Pascal
2 6% SmallTalk
3 10% other
without use of Gestalt externals: Access, MacPerl, LabView
using Gestalt externals: 4th Dimension
11) What information do you have access to?
15 50% MacTech Magazine
12 40% Developer Series CD-ROM
14 47% E.T.O. series CD-ROM
17 57% D e v e l o p Magazine and the Bookmark CD-ROM
15 50% Mac SDK CD-ROM
6 20% other Mac programming related:
Internet services, CD-ROMs and C.S.M.P. got mentioned too
The respondents are pretty well informed. Only a few have to rely on Internet sites only.
12) How do you read the GSL?
7 23% EasyView (Mac setext viewer)
0 -% other setext viewer
20 67% normal text editor
1 3% WWW browser
2 7% other: Claris eMailer and Eudora
"also printing it from my Word processor" (this guy probably does NOT want more empty lines between entries! :-)
Mmm, this isn't really in favor of staying in setext format. Indeed it strengthens the suggestion to move to FileMaker Pro or similair.
It is interesting to see how the way the GSL is read influences the opinion on its accessibility. Six out of seven EasyView users say the GSL is "accessible", while ten out of twenty users who read it with a normal text editor say the same. The others using a normal text editor rate the accessibily from "just workable" (1), "workable" (6), "accessible" (10) and "very accessible" (4).
13) Are you (or your company) a seed site for hardware and/or software from Apple?
3 10% yes
24 80% no
1 3% not allowed to say
2 7% I work at Apple
14) If you work at Apple, do/did you forward problems mentioned in the GSL or its updates, to the appropriate engineer?
2 66% yes
1 33% no
Can someone then pass on the problem with the 'easy' selector?
Anyway, the number of Apple employees subscribed to the mailing list is pretty high. I'am sure the other forward problems too and I hope this will help solve some problems quickly. I, and the GSL users, would appreciate it if more of them would reply directly to problems and questions posted in the GSL. But a "Thank you" is for those who already did and helped to improve the GSL.
15) Where did you learn about the existence of the GSL?
15 50% Usenet posting
by the GSL editor (11) / someone else (4)
5 17% FTP Site
0 -% Links to a WWW page with the GSL
0 -% America OnLine
0 -% AppleLink
1 3% Compuserve Forum
0 -% Local BBS
1 3% found on CD-ROM (Developer CD Series)
0 -% GSL was included with software
8 27% other:
"a friend"
"I don’t remember"
"personal communications [with editor]"
"R. Ros"
"Gopher / Veronica"
Each version of the GSL gets downloaded about 100 times from Compuserve.
And funny enough, I expected many more replies (and maillist subscribers) since the GSL got included on the Apple CDs. This has not happened, but the number of subscribers steadily increases. We're now at 150 subscribers, about 50 subscribed each year. Spread the word! We need more (well informed) subscribers.
And the bonus question:
16) Do you consider the editor to be crazy?
14 47% YES!
4 13% yes
10 33% no
2 7% not answered:
"Yes! yes no"
"um..."
"YES! Ok ok... how did you THINK [question] 16 would be answered? :-)"
"YES! For considering doing the GSL in the first place
no For doing a thankless task so well"
"YES! but I’am grateful!!!"
"Putting all his eggs in the Apple basket: YES!" (a UNIX administrator! :-)
"YES! because he surely urinates in the wind !!!" (because of my email signature. From an Italian who enjoys teasing me when a Dutch sportteam gets beaten by an Italian team)
"YES! (Kind of)"
"YES! - for doing all the work to compile the GSL"
"no (well, not very... ;)"
"no, just a very cool guy, taking alot of his own time doing something that GREATLY benefits the Mac Dev. community as a whole and not getting any money for it. My hat goes off to you Mr. Rene!"
To conclude, here are all the general remarks made in the replies.
"I’am personally grateful for you taking the time to compile the list."
"Many thanks for the help the list has given me over time!"
"very useful, please keep it up."
Like last year this survey provided some good suggestions or sparked a few ideas. You should see the GSL improve (even more! :-) in the near future. If possible and if time allows, I'am pretty confident GSL 4.0 will be in FileMaker Pro 3.0 format.
