[wp-hackers] Problem with preferences

[Firas D.]

Podz wrote:

> Matt Mullenweg wrote:
>
>> Something to keep in mind as we expand preferences in different ways:
>>
>> http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/getting_real_the_problem_with_preferences_interface_design_and_the_customer_experience.php 
>>
>
>
> But is wp "selling" ?


Well, one aims for software that delights, whether enough to have people 
turn out their pockets or make the investment to download it, install etc.

The linked article is rather light in argument; here are some great 
essays to get one thinking about the issue:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059.html
"There are enough choices that users will have to make anyway: the way 
their document will look, the way their web site will behave, or 
anything else that is integral to the work that the user is doing. In 
these areas, go crazy:  it's great to give people choices: by all means, 
the more the merrier."

http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html
"If a user is using my app FooBar and they come to something they think 
is stupid - say the app deletes all their email - it's extremely common 
that they'll file a bug saying "there should be an option to disable 
eating all my email" instead of one saying "your craptastic junk-heap of 
an app ate my email." People just assume that FooBar was designed to eat 
your email, and humbly ask that you let them turn off this feature they 
don't like."

It's important to make sure that any prefs we add are about the website, 
the blog, the discussion mechanisms, etc. and not about how wp does 
things (eg, most options relating to /wp-admin/)

-- 
http://firasd.org