KDE Usability Improvements

[James Richard Tyrer]

Alexander Neundorf wrote:
> Hi James,
> 
> On Wednesday 20 April 2005 16:53, James Richard Tyrer wrote:
> 
>>Carlos Leonhard Woelz wrote:
>><SNIP>
>>
>>><snip>
>>>
>>>>But, if those developers that write code do not follow standards,
>>>>what good does this most important part of the design process do --
>>>> what does it accomplish?
>>>
>>>Write a bug report. I am sure people will fix it, if they find the
>>>time ;) 
>>
>>Wouldn't it be better if developers followed the guidelines?
> 
> 
> Of course.
> But nobody can be forced here to anything. 

Yes, I realize that we can't force anyone to to anything.  But, it would 
still be better if the developers followed the guidelines.  One of the 
usability features of the Mac OS has always been fairly strict 
enforcement of standards.  I realize that in OSS that all we can do is 
ask that a developer fix non-compliance with standards or that someone 
else work on their app so that it does comply.

> E.g. I think often "this is how other apps do it, I think this is a good way, 
> so I'll do it this way." I don't check the styleguide very often (actually I 
> read it once, not much more).

Well, I have the guidelines opened in Konqueror while I am working.  I, 
as an engineer, see this as the normal way to do it.

> You are so active, and you can help KDE so much, if you just could change your 
> attitude slightly. 

I am trying to do that.  I am trying to be more objective about 
discussing things.  I realize that I have a tendency to get angry about 
things and I have even gone to an anger management group for help with 
that.  My current goal is to continue to discuss things that are 
important to me but to avoid being angry or whining.  If people flame 
me, I will still respond in kind but will try to do so with humor and 
sarcasm rather than anger.

I note that it *is* the engineering way to argue about issues.  I do not 
take arguments about issues personally and it distresses me that others 
do take such arguments personally and that they then degenerate to 
personal flaming.

You are very welcome :-)

Thank you very much.

> ...
> 
>>Perhaps you have not had the experience of a 'Developer' responding to
>>your suggestion by asking you to submit your patch.  To me, this is a
>>really lame excuse.  So, now with patchs in hand, I will have to see if
>>they come up with some other lame excuses. :-)
> 
> 
> If you are part of KDE, it's not "they", it's "we".

I intended 'they' to only refer to those that make lame excuses (and I 
hope that they are a small minority) rather than all of the KDE community.

>>>I completely agree. There are tons of these small issues in KDE. But
>>> you must have the nerve to accept refusals, to argue your point, and
>>> to modify your contributions following the maintainers feedback.
>>
>>Perhaps you can help get this started as an organized project.
> 
> How do you mean this ?

Perhaps we can facilitate users that find such issues and developers 
willing to work on such jobs (that are not much fun) getting together to 
resolve the issues.  Perhaps, in general, we can try to improve the 
culture by helping developers to see that doing a job well can also be 
fulfilling even if the work to do it isn't much fun sometimes.

> ...

-- 
JRT