[Adium-devl] Arbitrary UI decision asserted by jas8522 regarding Show Group Visible Count in UI; taking away user choice?

[Jordan Schelew]

This was the decision made originally, but I had forgot that we  
created the hidden preferences to switch it to the requested  
behaviour. Zac linked that ticket to the hidden preferences page that  
shows how to enable it if you wish.

Most people can't even find the advanced preferences because the  
preferences system in general is becoming overly confusing/complex.  
This is the reason for only using hidden preferences to change these  
options - especially considering people will forget it ever looked the  
old way over time, as such new users will not even know, nor should  
they be required to.

I don't see how it's unreasonable to make it a hidden preference, this  
is a design decision about the UI, which means those who dislike it  
are making personal decisions to decide this, ie: this change doesn't  
make it harder to use in any way. Personal preference does not imply  
everyone else wants things the way you want them, and as a result of  
that hidden preferences are excellent for those who refuse to adapt to  
new situations - they allow you to revert to the old behaviour, and  
for new users to not become confused by yet another preference  
(especially one that toggles such a very slight change like in this  
case).

Jordan


On 6-Jul-08, at 10:45 PM, Roland Dobbins wrote:

>
> Why?
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Roland Dobbins <roland.dobbins at mac.com>
>> Date: July 7, 2008 8:28:18 AM GMT+07:00
>> To: feedback at adiumx.com
>> Subject: Arbitrary UI decision asserted by jas8522 regarding Show  
>> Group Visible Count in UI; taking away user choice?
>>
>>
>> I'm a happy user of AdiumX - after all, the price is right, heh -  
>> but a decision has apparently been taken regarding the UI which is  
>> both puzzling and annoying to me.
>>
>> I discovered what I believe to be a bug in 1.3b7 - namely, that  
>> despite the user-expressed preference in the View menu, the Show  
>> Group Visible Count is locked in enable mode, which a) takes away  
>> user choice and b) mars the aesthetic of AdiumX when groups are  
>> collapsed, IMHO.
>>
>> I filed a bug on this issue here:
>>
>> <http://trac.adiumx.com/ticket/10391>
>>
>> and am quite puzzled by the 'wontfix' response and the assertion by  
>> jas8522 that this is expected behavior, that collapsed groups now  
>> always show the active count.
>>
>> Why take away user choice in this matter?  What harm does it do to  
>> let the user decided whether or not he wants this information to be  
>> displayed?  One of the appeals of AdiumX is its extreme  
>> customizability and the ability of the user to tweak it in order to  
>> suit his own personal aesthetic - why now decide to impose  
>> aesthetics on the user now, especially in such an ugly way?
>>
>> AdiumX is a great IM client, and I'm grateful to you all.  But will  
>> you please consider *not* taking away user choice in this matter?
>>
>> Thanks much!
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Roland Dobbins <roland.dobbins at mac.com> // +66.83.266.6344 mobile
>>
>>    History is a great teacher, but it also lies with impunity.
>>
>>                  -- John Robb
>>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Roland Dobbins <roland.dobbins at mac.com> // +66.83.266.6344 mobile
>
>     History is a great teacher, but it also lies with impunity.
>
>                   -- John Robb
>