[pmwiki-users] "Perfection" and Menus (WAS: on over-bundling) . . .

Ben Wilson dausha at gmail.com
Wed Mar 9 07:28:00 CST 2005


Up front, there is some of my personal bias, but toward the end I
advocate the creation of "Menus," which are Recipes that we as users
have used and know how they interact.

I, too, belong to the minimalist camp. I believe I've posted on this
before. Perfection exists, not when there is nothing left to add, but
when there is nothing left to take away.

There are a few features of Core PmWiki that I believe should have
remained recipes in the Cookbook. Just as one example, I cite the GUI
edit buttons. First, I love the buttons. I support several
non-profits, some of whom use PmWiki. The buttons serve as a simple
tutorial--they learn what markup does what by pushing the buttons. So,
in this respect the buttons are good.

Do the GUI buttons belong in the Core? I opine no--and I realize I am
in the minority here. I used the Recipe for quite some time before it
became a part of the Core. I do like how PM matured the recipe.
However, (IMHO) GUI buttons violate PmWikiPhilosophy "3. Avoid
gratuitous features."

We have all seen software that was great, but then collapsed under the
weight of features. Granted, in many cases the features were poorly
implemented--something PM has masterfully avoided thus far. PM has a
good "wait and see" approach to a great many of these features.
However, at what point is the last straw added? Oftentimes it is well
before the camel's back actually breaks.

I strongly favor "Menus," to continue on with the food metaphor. In
this context, I define a Menu as a set of Recipes that we users have
adopted. I have six or seven that I personally "must" use to feel
comfortable (but would never approve them in the Core). So, I would be
more than happy  to create a Menu and document its interractions.
Heck, I could even go so far as to create a "menu_config.php"

What I like about this concept is twofold. First, it keeps
non-necessary features out of the Core. As you see from my rant, I
support that. Second, it allows the Community to contribute to new
users' learning curve. They can see which combinations at a glance
work well together based on past experience of seasoned veterans.
Third, I opine that when a user has set up a Menu, then the likelihood
that they will continue to mesh in future versions improves--because
that user will more likely catch problems. Fourth, Menus will group
the more commonly used recipes, which would make it easier to take
note of those frequently used recipies. By this I mean that if six
Menus use GUI Buttons, for example, then its prominance is
underscored.

Yes, I said "two"fold then listed four reasons. My own freeping creaturism.

-- 
Ben Wilson
" Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur"



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