Two things that I hate in Pidgin right now

[Ethan Blanton]

Josh Williams spake unto us the following wisdom:
> On 9/3/07, John Bailey <rekkanoryo at rekkanoryo.org> wrote:
> > We've had this particular debate before, and I agree with those that said
> > customized toolbars are very bad.  The only "customization" I would be willing
> > to accept would be collapsing the toolbar from individual icons to menus when
> > the window is too small and then expanding back to individual icons when the
> > window is large enough.  Even so, I never use the toolbar and have disabled it,
> > so I don't particularly care about that.
> 
> I don't see how the ability to customise something could be bad. Not
> everyone likes things the same way.

Customization carries a cost.  Witness the recent plethora of bugs
surrounding the info pane and tab placement options, regarding setting
combinations which Pidgin developers had apparently not used. Remember
that even simple *binary* preference (checkbox) combinations are
exponential.  (This applies equally to your favorite dead horse.)

> Perhaps the items in the drop-down boxes could be draggable so they
> can be placed wherever the user wants them. That would cut down the
> clutter in the preferences menus.

This is documented in numerous usability studies by multiple research
groups to produce confusing and unpredictable user experience,
unfortunately.

Ethan

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
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