Re: [Usability] Proposal + RFC: Improving the Bugzilla layout

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

[removed crossposts, sending only to usability]

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004, Ryan McDougall wrote:

> Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 14:59:00 -0700
> From: Ryan McDougall <ryan mcdougall telusplanet net>
> To: desktop-devel-list gnome org, usability gnome org,
>      gnome-bugsquad gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] Proposal + RFC: Improving the Bugzilla layout


> Bugzilla is a term that refers to the software implementation of a bug
> tracking system originally developed for the Mozilla project. It has no
> inherent meaning for anyone who is unfamiliar the Mozilla or some other
> OSS project, or anyone who is unfamiliar with software engineering in
> general.
>
> GNOME Software Quality System is the name of the system used to track
> issues regarding the quality of GNOME software, and should be used in
> place of "bugzilla".

Ooh goody!  That is inevitably going to get turned into an acronym like
GSQS or something which is even uglier and less comprehensible than
bugzilla.

> A Bug is a colloquialism for an insect, or jargon for a software
> malfunction resulting from programmer error. For someone unfamiliar with

Shouln't we wait until Gnome reaches its teens before we start saying
Gnome has "issues".

> common English usage may not be aware of either form.

I'd argue that Bug in the system goes so far back in computer science and
that *cough* windows *cough* computer users encounter them so often that
it has just about entered common usage and isn't a bad term to use.

Dictionary.com has a definition
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bug
4b #  Computer Science. A defect in the code or routine of a program.

And for good measure the Oxford English dictionary has it too:
 b. A defect or fault in a machine, plan, or the like. orig. U.S.

  1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Mar. 1/1 Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up
the two previous nights discovering a bug in his phonographan expression
for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has
secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble. 1935 Jrnl. R.
Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 43 Casting, forging and riveting are processes
hundreds of years old, and, to use an Americanism, have the bugs ironed
out of them. 1956 N. SHUTE Beyond Black Stump v. 138 They worked..until
the rig had settled down and all the bugs had been ironed out. 1958
Engineering 14 Mar. 336/2 The seven-and-a-half years..was not an excessive
time to..get the bugs out of a new system of that kind.

Besides users are going to need to learn it eventually.
You could try changing bug-buddy too but you haven't a hope of changing
Mozilla and Bugzilla itself.

> unfamiliar software engineering they are likely to partially confuse the
> first form with the last. Either way bug is not formal English, and
> therefore not clear enough.


> 1.1. GNOME Software Quality System Terminology

^shudder^, if you want to get rid of the term bugzilla you really need a
snappier title.

> A Program Feature Request is a formal request for the program's

I was interested that Sourceforge tried to seperate out feature requests
from bugs but I think it makes things easier to manage if they are all
together and if they are seperate developers tend to be more eager to
reclassify everything as an enhancement rather than admitting it is a bug.
It is all just semantics anyway and it is annoying if you have bothered to
file a report to be told it "not a bug, a feature".

> An Item is an entry in the database corresponding to any of the above
> three cases, previously called a "bug".

> None of the above are meant to be a forum for any of the following:
> abusing the program's developers, general discussion of the program,
> help in using the software, or any other kind of technical support.


> Welcome to the GNOME Software Quality System!

^shudder^
*cringe*
<sigh>


> 3. Comments please!!

A good start would be to get that "upgrade Gnome Bugzilla to a more recent
version" bug sorted out.

There is already an alternative "easy"  (read: tedious step
by step Wizard/Assisant) interface to Bugzilla.
If you goto http://bugzilla.gimp.org you get redirected to
bugzilla.gnome.rog and an example of this interface.

For Gnome programs that I know anything about I'd love to be able to
provide bug buddy with more information so that a better more complete
bugzilla report can be automatically generated.

Thanks for trying, although I dont agree with your suggestions
specifically I'm sure something good will come of this discussion.

sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/