Re: Comments on dialog proposal

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

> Sitting here, looking at the gnome control center, I can see many 
> current configuration options in which instant-apply has the potential 
> to be quite damaging. The most obvious ones are window manager 
> configuration (as in, changing the current WM) and the metatheme 
> capplet. I have witnessed X crashes caused by changing WMs (usually with 
> enlightenment or similar), and the current metatheme setup means that 
> you cannot ever retrieve your *current* theme, unless it is also a 
> metatheme. One further issue is those situations where instant-apply is 
> not possible. Again, looking at the current control center, the "Look 
> and Feel->Applications" section springs to mind. At the moment (I am 
> using gnome 1.4-ximian), all of these changes will only take effect when 
> an application is restarted. Unless gtk-2.0 will change this, this means 
> that you have inconsistencies in when the instant-apply is actually instant.

Then those are not instant apply dialogues. During the transition period
we leave it possible to have non-instant apply dialogues. Additionally,
the brokenness you describe really isn't an argument against instant
apply (with respect to Metathemer and the wm selection).

1) We should not have preferences that cause crashes. That is
*completely* broken. A preference that causes that should probably be
removed.

2) Metatheme being broken for this model just means metatheme needs to
be rethought in some interface matters. I think metatheme is a good
idea, but the interface currently has...some issues. I have hopes that
they will be resolved.

Differentiate between settings and preferences. A preference can't be
wrong. "I prefer green" can't be a "wrong choice". Preferences should be
applied instantly. Settings are usually different. Often settings
involve typing something into a text box (say, the IP address of your
gateway). We should minimize settings. Almost anything that's a setting
is something that a non-experienced user is going to have to ask
explicitly about anyway.

Settings perhaps should not be applied instantly, leaving the OK
dialogue.

 
> The other objection to instant-apply is that saying 'oh - you can just 
> go and change the settings back to what they were' implies that the 
> users *know* what the settings were. Some of the standard configuration 
> options tend to be quite complex, making reverting settings is a fairly 
> important feature.

That's why we talk about including some sort of "undo" or "revert"
button.

> > The advantage to instant-apply is that it makes it really easy to
> > tweak multiple settings to taste. 
> 
> 
> Which sounds great, until you realise that the majority of the user 
> population is going to do more harm than good via tweaking.

Really? I hope we won't have damaging preferences by the time instant
apply dialogues really land.  

cheers,

-Seth