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> Customizability Too often the last thing I want from software I use for myself is customizability. Many years ago Joel Spolsky called it [1]: --- start quo
by dmitriid 4y ago
> Customizability
Too often the last thing I want from software I use for myself is customizability.
Many years ago Joel Spolsky called it [1]:
--- start quote ---
Every time you provide an option, you’re asking the user to make a decision. That means they will have to think about something and decide about it. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but, in general, you should always try to minimize the number of decisions that people have to make.
This doesn’t mean eliminate all choice
--- end quote ---
There's another one on how customisation doesn't scale and doesn't transfer, but I can't find it now.
I personally want software that just works. Customisation often is an excuse for devs to not care about how software works, and to force the users into interminable twiddling with settings and options. No, thank you, I have enough of that at work.
[1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-design-for-programmers/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-des...
- andrepd 4y agoI couldn't disagree more. This is a situation where you very much can have your cake and eat it: customisability + excellent defaults. If software A works is not customisable and works out of the box, and software B is customisable but has the same defaults as software A, then how is software B in any way inferior to A?
- dmitriid 4y agoIn an ideal world software B would be superior. In reality there's never a software B. These days there's rarely even a software A, to be honest
- _Algernon_ 4y agoCustomisability+Sane defaults is the best of both worlds
- alpaca128 4y ago> Every time you provide an option, you’re asking the user to make a decision. No. Options are a passive feature, they are hidden away in a menu. When software pushes decisions onto its users it's almost always a manipulative method to bully users into giving up their rights or money. Like apps spamming you with ads to push you towards a premium subscription, or the cookie popups on websites, or Windows pressuring you to register an account. All those negative examples are not problematic because of choice, but because corporations don't want users to make the right choice.
- dmitriid 4y ago> No. Options are a passive feature, they are hidden away in a menu. Unlike customisation which is... hidden away as options or options in config files. > When software pushes decisions onto its users it's almost always a manipulative method to bully users into giving up their rights Every customisation option is pushing choices onto its users.