Re: Web links integration in applications: bugs, translations, help...

[Karsten Bräckelmann <guenther rudersport de>]

Basically, I wholeheartedly agree with Andre. And do share the very same
experience of end-user "problem" reports. That is, users having problems
understanding their ISP provided details. That is not a report about a
bug with the application itself...


Some more specific feedback.

On Mon, 2007-11-26 at 13:32 +0100, Loïc Minier wrote:
>  Distros, just like GNOME, have bug trackers, forums, support systems.
>  GNOME and some distros have translation infrastructure.  These are
>  usually not integrated into the end-user applications.

Before trying to re-route users, asking real life questions instead of
reading the docs -- seriously ask yourself the question, if the targeted
bugzilla / forum / IRC [1] can handle the possible flood. Can you stand
it now? Can you still stand it once we reached the 10 percent market-
share goal?

Also, how will the user ultimately feel, when he realizes after days
there is no one answering? Even though the Help would have resulted in
an answer within minutes? (A user who uses such a feedback / forum offer
is not likely to ever resort to the docs.)


>    I'm attaching a screenshot of Gedit's help menu on an Ubuntu system
>  as an example.

It reads "Report a Problem" in the Help menu.

Frankly, that is probably the most unfortunate wording you possibly
could have chosen. :)  It suggest to report general problems *using* the
application.

And that's exactly what he is going to do. "I've seen my college using
this nifty feature. Where do I find it?"

Joe user will not understand what it actually means to submit a bug
report. [2] He likely wouldn't even know the difference between Bug and
Problem, if the menu item would point it out. And for damn sure, since
the UI is translated, he will submit the "problem" report in his mother
tongue. [3]


At the very least, this should be stated unambiguous. So the user really
knows what it means, what he should use it for, and what he can expect
in return.

  guenther


[1] Back the old Helix-Code days, there was that "monkey talk" thingy.
    It has been dropped long ago...
[2] I have seen a lot users adding comments like "I am sorry, I didn't
    know that dialog is going to file a bug report with real humans
    answering..." to bugs I NEEDINFO'd.
[3] "Here's the translation, [...] Internationalization is so good that
    I forgot it exists."  (From bug 361474, characteristic real life
    example due to localized bug-buddy.)

-- 
char *t="\10pse\0r\0dtu\0  ghno\x4e\xc8\x79\xf4\xab\x51\x8a\x10\xf4\xf4\xc4";
main(){ char h,m=h=*t++,*x=t+2*h,c,i,l=*x,s=0; for (i=0;i<l;i++){ i%8? c<<=1:
(c=*++x); c&128 && (s+=h); if (!(h>>=1)||!t[s+h]){ putchar(t[s]);h=m;s=0; }}}