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On 9/14/2012 13:49, Kent James wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:50536E12.5040105@caspia.com" type="cite">As
another user interface issue, I just tried some new Daily runs,
and immediately notice that my menus are gone.
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
Kent, I know that your main dev branch is Aurora due to your
extension work, so you might be excused for not noticing this <span
class="moz-smiley-s3"><span> ;-) </span></span><br>
But I see no reason that very few (if any) devs run trunk as their
everyday use build.<br>
The theme guys BTW are the best at offering pref alternatives for
most new features, while others are not so quick to respond.<br>
Decisions on what features land and which go away is perceived as
one-sided by most users that I know.<br>
I'm sure you are aware of this, but here is a quick example:<br>
Asa d declared the view switcher UI "Heavy and Ugly" and it was
gone within a week.<br>
On the other hand, long time users wanted a small option to the
attachments box display, and it took 5 months to get in.<br>
<a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=647036">647036</a><br>
It takes the most persistent personality type to hang in there and
lobby for certain bug fixes.<br>
The casual bug filer is in most cases not of this ilk (My bug is the
most important bug ever filed) I try always to be kind in bug
triage.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:50536E12.5040105@caspia.com" type="cite">That
forces a dramatic change in the way that I am used to working.
While I understand the reasons behind it, and probably agree with
them, for the typical user who had gotten used to doing things a
certain way, this is just an annoyance. Today may not be the day
that I really wanted to stop what I was doing, and figure out how
to turn the menus back on. The reaction of most existing users,
IMHO, is going to be a mild round of cussing at the arrogance of
developers who are constantly pushing change on users who really
don't want it. (Now I've been the guy getting cussed at in the
past, and there are times that change is needed, I understand
that).
<br>
<br>
Why not instead adopt a philosophy of minimal disturbance of
existing users? Couldn't we instead enable the menubar by default
for existing users, and only disable it by default for new users?
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
Migration assistant was very necessary for TB3.1 due to the number
of changes. But maybe we could use a simpler approach when there<br>
are fewer.<br>
How about something like this:<br>
When a new feature is available, offer the feature at startup, but
don't finalize the pref until shutdown. This does require a hidden
pref for the<br>
feature, and all the added code complexities that implies. Maybe
that could be a temp pref for the first few weeks of a new feature.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:50536E12.5040105@caspia.com" type="cite">And
follow that through when possible for all user interface changes
that have a major impact on existing users?
<br>
<br>
:rkent
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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