The stupid toolbox

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Monday 03 March 2008, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote:
> On Monday 03 March 2008 15:28:40 Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > On Monday 03 March 2008, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote:
> > > What was the question again?
> >
> > a) what are the objections people have to the toolbox?
>
> us or users?

users. (which we are a subset of, but.. yeah.. =)

> > b) given those objections, how many can we address to the satisfaction of
> > those people?
>
> i think by providing a (not default) option for turning off the toolbox
> some people will be happy. 

yes, it will make them happy right now, but make the situation worse after 
the "right now".

> the side effect of that (which i am in favor of 
> in theory) is that it creates a conceptual switch for the zooming desktop
> (and whatever else toolbox will control).  

add widgets, lock widgets ...

> i think if the functionality was 
> something a user could turn on and off, they might be more compelled to
> explore it, learn it, and use it (this is particularly for people who
> wouldnt have otherwised cared about it).

hm. that's an interesting suggestion. do people really explore something that 
is on by default but which they can turn off?

btw, note that in the patch submitted by Dirk it just turns it off 
unconditionally, so as relates to that exact patch it's just .. yeah .. ugh.

> and i dont know why, but these kde people love to configure stuff, whether
> or not it is good for them :)

sure, but why be an enabler of it when it's not 'good' for them

maybe we need a 12 step program. "Hi, my name is Aaron. I've been wasting 
people's time and energy with my wonton configuration options. I am a 
needless configuration enabler. I've been clean for one release now." "Hi 
Aaron!" ;)

> > ok, so what are the usability issues with the toolbox?
>
> I didn't say there were any.  i think people are just complaining because
> it's new and different.  the lack of/(brokeness in older versions)
> functionality probably isn't helping this sentiment.

right, which is why i'm choosing to dismiss this request.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
humru othro a kohnu se
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

KDE core developer sponsored by Trolltech
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