Re: Including instructions which require GConf

[Don Scorgie <Don Scorgie org>]

Hi,

On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 08:28 +0000, Matthew East wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Dec 22, 2007 11:56 AM, Phil Bull <philbull gmail com> wrote:
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > Myself and another member of the Ubuntu Doc Team have recently been
> > working on some documentation for deskbar-applet. We've included a small
> > section on changing the maximum number of items which are displayed in
> > the deskbar history list, which requires the user to change a GConf key
> > using gconf-editor. There is no other way of changing this setting at
> > the moment.
> >
> > Is it reasonable to document this setting, or should references to GConf
> > be avoided?
> 
> This is just my personal opinion, but I think that a desktop user
> should never have to touch GConf - as far as I know it's not intended
> to be an advanced configuration application.

I think this is the generally accepted rule.

> 
> If the only way to change the max number of items displayed in deskbar
> is to go into GConf, I'd tend to say that deskbar is simply missing a
> feature to change this aspect of its configuration, and avoid
> documenting it.

If you think the ability to change the number of items displayed is
important to users, I would file a bug against deskbar applet asking for
a configuration option.  Otherwise, maybe adding a small part like:
"You can change the maximum number of displayed items by changing the
gconf key
/apps/.../...
"
which is what other manuals do.  It's not the ideal solution, but it's
something.

Maybe something more to add to the style guide (Shaun).

Thanks
Don