Preferences dialog suggestions

Conrad Canterford conrad@mail.watersprite.com.au
20 Oct 2002 01:53:04 +1000


On Sat, 2002-10-19 at 20:41, Chris Lyttle wrote:
> This doc is an outline of proposed changes to the preferences dialog.

Chris,

> 1) Remove Network tab - The default settings of allowing http and https
> connections should really just be on. I dont know if the GnuCash Network
> was ever used, but there is no services that I know of currently
> available. This should just be turned off and removed. It can be
> re-added later if there ever is services that need the option.

Remove the tab completely at this stage unless the LDG guys (or someone
else) are going to start offering services that use this. If I'm
remembering properly, all these settings are only relevant to the
"Gnucash network" and are therefore irrelevant.

> 2) Remove QIF Import tab - The single item on this is really something
> that should be moved into the General tab.

We should get feedback from Benoit and Christian concerning what options
may be applicable for the new import stuff, and change this to an
"import" options tab.
Personally, I don't think QIF options are a "general" thing at all - I'd
never used QIF import for real until this month, and I've been using
gnucash for over 3 years. Beware of confusing things by
oversimplification....  :-)

> 3) Advanced Preferences button - Add this to General, when checked shows
> extra tab with more complicated prefs settings called 'Advanced'.

Well, I'm hardly going to object to this, although I think you're
planning on using it for more than just advanced options, and that I do
think would be confusing.

> 4) Move the following items to the Advanced tab -
> 	Save Window Geometry (General)
> 	Application MDI Mode (General)

Certainly agree to the above two. I'm not sure I agree about the next
three (although I'm uncertain about double line mode). What's so
"advanced" about them?? Surely screen layout is not an "advanced option"
at all.

> 	Double Line Mode (Register)
> 	Show Vertical Borders (Register)
> 	Show Horizontal borders (Register)

The same thought applies to this one. In what way is it "advanced"????
Changing register colours has to be one of the most basic and easily
understood preferences a user could use.

> 5) Make Register Colors a tab that only shows when advanced is selected

> 6) Suggest Preferences dialog be made 30% smaller
> 7) Suggest max number of items on any one prefs tab be 6 - Will make
> those with few items not look like such a waste of space

Not a criticism, but a question. Why? We're not talking dead-tree
production here, in what way does the size matter that much? If reducing
the size means crowding options together more, or forcing them to be
broken down into more obscure sub-groupings, surely that is a bad thing?

> 8) Ok if someone can explain the usefulness of these items we could
> possibly put them in advanced, however I vote for just getting rid of
> them (all in Register);
> 	Auto-Raise Lists - I've no idea what this does

This option is what causes the account list to pop open when you type
stuff into the account field in the register (amongst other things). I
like it turned on. I'm not sure if other people also feel that way or
not. If you're going to make this advanced, at least make it default to
"on".

> 	Show All Transactions - Why wouldn't we want to show them all?

Because some people with slower machines (like me) and very large
account files (like me) have found in the past that turning this off can
drastically improve the speed of opening registers. I'll admit that I'm
currently running with show all on, but in time this may become
necessary again. I agree that it should be an advanced option.

> That's it folks! This removes a lot of what I think is clutter in the
> prefs and also reduces the number of prefs a user sees (and so reduces
> the complexity/confusion of it).

We've sort-of hedged around this before, but I must say I'm opposed to a
fairly arbitrary removal of options (or refusing to add options) in the
name of "usability". Its not enhancing usability to remove flexibility -
quite the opposite. If an option isn't clear, then it needs to be
explained better. We should not just kill it because it doesn't conform
to how a few people on the current development team think it ought to be
done. Please don't take offence at this, I realise you're trying to make
the best application for everybody, we just disagree on the best way of
achieving that.
Also, please don't misunderstand me here - I think we should make the
*default* behaviour conform to what we think most people would prefer
(or which is safest), but allowing the user to modify the behaviour to
suit their individual needs and preferences is surely what preferences
are all about. If they are confusing, we need to explain them better,
not remove them (except, of course, where the option doesn't do
anything).


Code for implementing tabs only visible when "advanced" is turned on is
underway.

Conrad.

-- 
Conrad Canterford  (conrad@mail.watersprite.com.au)
Water Sprite Pty Ltd   |  url - http://www.watersprite.com.au/
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