Unneeded items in System > Preferences

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Andrew wrote on 20/10/10 07:05:
>
> (This was originally posted as a bug here
> [https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/663119] but I was
> advised to discuss it here).
> 
> It seems strange that in the same cycle that we have had 'Software
> Sources' removed from the System > Preferences menu, that we have had
> around 4 new unneeded menu items added.

It's not strange, it just shows that fighting complexity is a constant
battle. Lengthening that menu, and making it harder to find things in
it, is the real-world cost of saying "let's make X an option".

Vish was partly correct in saying that this will improve with the Gnome
3 System Settings window. But even with search and better
categorization, that doesn't solve the whole problem. Someone still
needs to do the work, for example, to merge "Keyboard", "Keyboard Input
Methods", and "Keyboard Shortcuts", or to work out where to draw the
dividing lines (if any) between "Appearance", "Monitors", and
"Screensaver", and so on.

If you'd like to help out with this design work,
<http://live.gnome.org/Design/SystemSettings/> is a good place to start.

> These include:
> * Broadcast Preferences
> * File Management
> * Main Menu
> * Messaging and VoIP Accounts
> * Ubuntu One
> 
> First of all none of these should be in this menu, because the menu is
> for 'System Preferences'. When I see this I think of hardware or
> services that are at a low-level in the system, that are integral two
> it, not user-space applications that are not linked to the basic
> running of the system.
>...

Mostly agreed. "Main Menu" is system-wide, but that's obsolete with
Unity anyway. "Ubuntu One" seems like an application now, but it will
become more general over time.

- -- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iEYEARECAAYFAkzRicYACgkQ6PUxNfU6ecrV9wCcD2PSbTvXeywcjLVZ7XzJPqam
vW0AoLQbEVJq5hdCarezIJSsIiZY3Z3w
=uQnn
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----