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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/14/2012 09:43 AM, Chris Wilson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAJt9Aa08bzE8up+ZOMgv97063=jRjD2xzTG3wJ3=Ls=nbyG17g@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>Hey,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
I've been thinking a lot lately (through my job) about adding
options to software. Personally, I try to avoid it, both at work
and in my personal projects, as feel they get in the way of the
user being able to understand how your app works, as well as
adding more routes through the code that need to be maintained.
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>There's a great article <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059.html">here</a> on
the subject.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/264816">This</a>
bug report got me thinking about how this applies to paper cuts.
Adding an option to an app may sound like an easy fix that
satisfies the largest number of people, but is it really going
to satisfy more people then the app would if it weren't added?
Wouldn't it be a better solution to design a work flow that
didn't require an added option? Is there really a demand for
these options?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My question to you is: should requests to add options to app
be considered paper cuts? Personally I think they shouldn't, and
we should instead look at the underlying problem that got the
person asking for the option in the first place. I think we
should also remember that the paper cuts project exists to fix
the issues affecting the <b>majority of average users, </b>and
a lot of options that are requested will only be of any real
interest to a minority of users, not to mention the fact that
average users don't usually customise their computer in the
first place.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What are people's thoughts in this?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<br>
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</blockquote>
Hi Chris,<br>
Traditionally, requests to add new options/checkboxes were usually
not papercuts. You got to think of them in terms of new feature
requests. <br>
But it is not just dismissing such bugs as 'not a papercut'.
Sometimes, we have to think of the use-case for such an issue. The
reporter might have a valid use-case, which affects a majority, that
we have previously not thought about. Maybe the solution, that the
reporter is proposing, would be better if it was the default
behaviour. <br>
So, for papercuts we got to think of in terms of tweaking/changing
the default behaviour rather than adding a new option. If it is a
minor tweak that could help improve the desktop experience for
everyone, then we should look into pushing for that change as a
papercut.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Vish<br>
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