Re: Pictures default directory.

[Jakub Steiner <jimmac novell com>]

On Thu, 2005-12-08 at 18:15 -0500, John Stoffel wrote:
> >>>>> "Martijn" == Martijn Vermaat <mvermaat cs vu nl> writes:
> 
> >> On 12/6/05, Alessandro Gervaso <alessandro truelite it> wrote:
> >> Why not just ask users upon first startup about root directory?
> >> Application shouldn't make itself look smarter than a user, especially
> >> when it isn't.
> 
> Martijn> No, asking questions at first startup should be avoided as
> Martijn> much as possible.
> 
> Why? 

Hi there!
Why? It makes using the app a really bad experience for a huge number of
people. I hate how gimp starts asking me these weird questions I don't
really have answers for when I first run it. I hate how gnome-meeting
does the same. The questions are redundant to majority of f-spot's
users. Let the software designer figure a decent default, not the user.
Putting these decisions on the user is not "putting him/her in control",
but showing that the designer failed to make it just work(TM). There are
cases where this is extremely difficult, indeed.

You seem to care about your picture folder location. You are free to go
change a gconf key somewhere, edit a config file. Most people will be
happy to know their photos are in a visible location. It may be an extra
step for a minority, but appreciated by a vast number of people. A
perfect design for everybody isn't possible. I tend to think a control
freak computer geek ain't F-Spot's major target audience.

cheers

-- 
Jakub Steiner <jimmac novell com>
Novell, Inc.