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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: User Interface.. If you ever wrote or will write a software GUI, then READ THIS!
From:       Christian A =?iso-8859-1?q?Str=F8mmen=20=5BNumber1=2FNumeroUno=5D?= <number1 () rea
Date:       2001-03-09 13:38:09
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On Friday  9. March 2001 06:31, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> On Thursday 08 March 2001 17:58, Christian A Strømmen [Number1/NumeroUno]
>
> wrote:
> > "Every time you provide an option, you're asking the user to make a
> > decision. Asking the user to make a decision isn't in itself a bad thing.
> > The problem comes when you ask them to make a choice that they don't care
> > about."
>
> This is becoming a problem in KDE. Not that we really ask users a lot of
> things, but there are a lot of configuration options. Maybe we should make
> it a rule that if you add a configuration option you should also write the
> user documentation for it. If you have a hard time explaining in a single
> sentence what the option does, it's probably a bad idea to add it.

Documentation often doesn't help, users don't read documentation.

KControl should have two modes named "User" and "Poweruser".  This way the 
default can be User so that when newbies sit down they're not overwhelmed 
with options that they don't care about.  When designing a module for 
kcontrol the hacker should set what belongs to User and what belongs to 
Poweruser (eg. Poweruser should contain everything that's in User, but the 
layout have to be different because there's more options).

-- 
\ Christian A Strømmen /
\ Number1/NumeroUno @ Undernet - Email: number1@realityx.net /
\ Web: www.realityx.net - Cell: +47 911 43 948 /
   Live your life by your dreams,
     not by the limits of reality...

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