Preferences dialog suggestions

[Derek Atkins]

Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net> writes:

> I think we're going to have to just agree to disagree here. I'm firmly
> of the opinion that a minimal design approach that is simple and easy to
> use is best. I realise GnuCash as it is today is far and away from this,
> I live with that because I hope I can influence some of the people
> associated with making the program to think more about making GnuCash's
> design with usability principles at the forefront. My suggestion to you
> is to read some books such as 'The Humane Interface' by Jef Raskin (he
> designed the mac interface) and try to have an open mind in this area.

I absolutely DISPISE the Mac Interface, for ONE reason: it's too rigid.
I think it's great that all the applications look and feel pretty much
the same.  Consistency is good.  OTOH, *I* have a way that I work best,
and I'd like to set up _MY_ interface to work the way _I_ want it to,
not the way _the programmer_ thought it should work.  Hense, I want
options to control EVERY LITTLE DETAIL of the interface.

This is exactly why I like Unix and X -- I can control every little
detail of how it work, how it looks, how it feels.

The fact that "very few people are going to look at or use" the
preferences is fine -- that just means we need reasonable defaults.
But that does not mean that we should necessarily yank out
functionality for the sake of simplicity.  There are many other
routes to simplicity.

Suggested routes that I think work well:

1) reorganize the preferences to make the pages 'logical'
2) create an 'advanced' set of preferences to hide less-used ones
3) rethink the differences between "Edit -> Preferences" and "File ->
   Properties" to really understand what options are UI (per user, and
   belong in the Preferences) and what options are 'Data' (per-file,
   and belong in the File).
4) rethink the "'Options' Button".  I don't know how many times I've
   wanted to open up my preferences and instead hit the 'Options'
   button on the toolbar.

I think the reorganize and hide will go a LONG WAY to making the
preference more usable.  Just plain removing the functionality will,
in the end, annoy more users than help them.  In the end, we just need
more documentation to explain it all.

Or is this all an effort to reduce your documentation workload? ;)

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord@MIT.EDU                        PGP key available