Re: [Usability]too much choice?

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Alan Horkan">

> I think both Havoc and Mosfet made good points but neither meticulously
> pinned down and limited their arguements (which is quite reasonable) and
> if you follow either arguement too far it does not make sense.

Read Havoc's article again. He forcefully makes the point that you SHOULD
NOT take 'the argument' too far. It is about balance, and he makes that very
clear. It is hard stuff, balance.

> Sensible defaults with a minimal feature set makes sense, but hopefully as
> Gnome2 moves forward there will be room to add more features that users
> can easily enable without sacrificing clarity and maintainability.

There are a few things you're mixing up here:

  - sensible defaults
  - sensible feature set
  - sensible configurability (preferences vs. options)

It is important to consider these independently. You can have a very
featureful program with 0 configurability, or a minimally featured program
with terrible defaults. They are all independent scales.

- Jeff

-- 
       "Microsoft treats security vulnerabilities as public relations       
                        problems." - Bruce Schneier