[GNC] Locked out of gnucash

[D]

Clearly, I am in the minority here. I'll drop out of this conversation now. 

David T.

On November 18, 2019, at 10:26 PM, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown at fastmail.fm> wrote:


On 2019-11-18 08:56, D wrote:
> Adding to the error message to account for when the software crashes
> seems like overkill (as does linking to the documentation from a
> dialog, BTW). The topic is covered both in the wiki and in the
> Tutorial, and a quick check online or in the documentation should
> resolve the problem.
Except that those resources exist now, and they have _not_ resolved the
problem. It seems to be one that every new user runs up against.

I don't understand the objection to a link to the documentation. Why
make it harder for users who read the message and say "that doesn't
cover my situation"? The GnuCash learning curve is steep enough; why not
do what we can to ease the burden?

And in a later message from the same writer:
> The author of "The Design of Everyday Things" said that signs 
> explaining things to users are evidence of a failed system, and that
> a properly-designed system has no need for them. I agree with that.
Well, it's a nice sound bite. But redesigning the system takes several
thousand times the effort of fixing the message (if not more). It seems
to me that we do what we can do now, and that's to fix the message. Then
years from now, when the system is redesigned not to need a lock file,
the message can be retired. But in the meantime it will have reduced
user frustration as well as repetitive traffic on the mailing list.

Derek Atkins suggested this wording:

> The data file is currently in use.  Most likely this means that the 
> data file was not cleanly closed (due to a crash) after it was last
> opened. If you are sure that it is not currently in use by you or
> another user, click "Open Anyway".  Otherwise, click one of the other
> options.
I think we could avoid mentioning technicalities of the lock file by
inserting "GnuCash thinks that" at the beginning of that message.

And perhaps, in response to those who worry (rightly, in my opinion)
about long messages, we might even omit the second sentence and a
redundant "currently". That gives us

"GnuCash thinks that the data file is in use. If you're sure that
neither you nor anyone else currently has it open, select Open Anyway.
Otherwise, choose one of the other options."

While it is nice to explain why a thing happened, most users really care
only about what they should do next.

-- 
Regards,
Stan Brown
Tompkins County, New York, USA
https://BrownMath.com
http://OakRoadSystems.com