Settings Human Interface Guidelines first draft online

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

> -----Original Message-----
> most settings wouldn't be no (the date/time ones works quite well
currently i
> think), what would be scary is what can cause any kind of data loss.
> things like network setting where a wrong preference can send the device
> offline is a bit on the edge.

It all depends on the reversibility. Switching Wifi to "off" sends the
device offline,
but is by no means scary, since it can be reversed by just switching it
back on.
Changing the IP of a proxy, however, is scary in case the user does not
remember
the correct one.

> usually are not irreversible, but may be not obvious to remember how to
get
> back (like a forgotten wifi key)

Agreed.

> as far i remember the reason that nobody ever tried to change this was
not
> only technical, there was a bit of discussion at the time and was
decided not
> worth. unfortunately that's all i managed to get back from the sands of
time:
> 
> http://weblog.obso1337.org/2008/implicit-save/

Thank you for posting this article! Celeste brings everything to the table
in a 
very precise manner. This article is by no means a plea against instant
apply,
though.
She just argues that one has to be careful about error prevention when
doing
it. And she offers excellent suggestions for avoiding its pitfalls, which
we definitely
should act upon.
As soon as I find the time, I will incorporate the suggestion to offer a
means to 
automatically revert changes that are not easily reversible manually.

After reading this article, I'm pretty sure that the reason for Desktop
Systemsettings
still not using instant apply at all is that nobody could invest the time
to
carefully think about _every_ KCM and look were instant apply makes sense
and
where a revert function is needed.
And I can absolutely understand that, since there are so f**king many KCMs
that
it would have taken tremendous amounts of time to do it. 
But that's the cool thing about PA: We're at the beginning, so we still
have the chance
to do things right from the ground up. Let's not waste that opportunity,
even if
it means a little more time needed now. But if we don't use this chance,
we 
probably won't get another.

Cheers,
Thomas