Hi, welcome aboard.
CS?
Yes
My first thought is that, as a novice rider, it may be rather difficult for you to effectively assess the needs of another novice cyclist. Given that you don't think the other existing apps are very user-friendly(*) could you give a use case or two to demonstrate the kind of interaction you're trying to implement?
User-friendly was probably the wrong thing to say - It seemed that they were primarily aimed at seasoned cyclists as opposed to beginners. This could appear during the order process, for example, where Fixie companies will often ask what ratio the buyer would like them to set the bike at. So a little '?' would just appear on the side that will ask them a couple of questions (like those that companies deal with over the phone) - obviously it's rough but it will come with a nice explanation and maybe two different helpers - one for beginners and one for pros!
If you trust the user to have some clue you can ask directly. You could also ask indirectly by way of what city they're riding in then, based on where that city is and, perhaps, some computed "hilliness" factor (you'd need access to terrain/elevation data to calculate this). You would also have to consider that even in a hilly area they may be able to plan their routes to be "flatter" than whatever hilliness factor you computed for their city.
I've been searching for topographical maps and have been put off by it to be honest - I thought it might be better to ask them "What route will you be cycling most often?" or something like that - I thought it might be better to search the forums and try and get geographical gear-ratio preferences, would be interesting to see if there was any correlation. I assume there would be given that most on the forums I suspect are keen and regular cyclists.
Good luck with that one. Age is definitely not a good indicator at all. You could, possibly, ask how often, how far, and how fast they ride. Bear in mind that people will tend to exhibit the
Dunning-Kruger Effect when evaluating their own skill level.
thanks - how often was definitely something I was thinking of using.
Preference with regard to what, exactly? New, inexperienced (weak legged
) riders won't be likely to have meaningful preferences.
Just because I've read a few times that "even how your day is going all make a difference in which gear you’ll like" - so maybe if they were going to be using the bike to commute as opposed to using it for fun might change it?
You should also consider what kind of cycling they plan to do, as well. What kind of distances and how much stopping/starting. That is, the gearing I'd use for commuting to work or school (if I were still a student... though I work at a university...) would not necessarily be the same as what I'd use for long distance riding. Likewise, I'd use a different gearing if I wanting to go to the velodrome and race. (I've been to the Superdrome once, I've really wanted to get back for another "fix" ever since)
ahh^ spoke to soon!
You're welcome.
*) Keep in mind that many interfaces that are easy-to-learn are not always easy-to-use. For example, wizards. What could be friendlier than holding the user's hand and directing every step of the way? While this is nice the first time or two you're doing a new task it quickly becomes cumbersome. (Think of using, say, the WinZIP wizard everytime you want to open a ZIP file) Also, consider the size and type of devices your program will run on, and what kind of input devices they have. (fingers vs. mouse+keyboard)
Noted - I think the first part will be a questions that asks if they are a beginner or seasoned cyclist so that the two groups aren't asked the same questions (don't ask me why but I still open the eclipse executable from the ZIP file)
All that said, anyone care to guess what I studied in college?
bikes?
Alternatively, just print "53x13 - HTFU!" on the screen.
