On Sun, 2005-02-20 at 18:47 +0100, Craig Bradney wrote:
This is also the reason many people avoid Gnome. The dumbing down of the interface in the various config areas - just to then expose a worse than regedit interface in gconf. Meh!
That's why there is "advanced setting" gui tools such as Powertools on windows or Gnome powertools. I understand there is people who like to spend a lot of time tweaking stuff (I used to be one of them), but I would think most people just want to get stuff done.
I have been in your phase. I've been loving the fact I can tweak an application so that it behaves exactly how I like it. I felt "empowered". This doesn't come for free though. It costs complexity (more option combinations), maintanability (more code paths), stability (impossible to test all combinations), usability (application appears more complex), support (you cannot really help someone with all these option combinations).
As a developer, even if you think configurability is a good thing, DO TRY TO COME UP WITH DECISIONS. Pick the right defaults. Those, that will work for most of your user. For your TARGET AUDIENCE. Adding an option toggle just because there's more ways to do something and "you can always stuff it up in the preferences" will end up in a miserable interface.
Good read: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059.html http://ometer.com/free-software-ui.html
cheers