[Scummvm-devel] Options dialog design (long!)

[Torbjorn.E.Andersson at tietoenator.com]

(Did I get the right mailing list addres this time? Looks ok, but...)

I really should be leaving, and after this mail I will, but...

Max Horn <max at quendi.de> wrote:

> Actually, that's exactly the kind of hack I want to avoid. To use your
> argumentation, how many application do you know which do such a thing?

Yes, that *is* a problem. Given the options and some second thoughts, if
the dialog is used to change the config file, and is the only way of
changing the config file except for manual editing, then it seems least
unnatural to me if the config dialog showed only what's in the config
file.

Which means it would behave a lot like the "Edit game" dialog, and any
hotkeys would be reduced to a preview. (With the recent OSD feature, the
user would even know what he was previewing. If, that is, the backend
supports it. :-)

By that reasoning, "Ok" would always mean "apply the settings that are
currently shown in the dialog", while "Cancel" would mean "carry on with
the current settings, which may or may not be what you had when the dialog
was opened".

Though I agree that this could be confusing in some cases, and the only
workaround I can think of at short notice would be a "Use active settings"
button that would update the settings in the dialog to what the user is
currently seeing. But that, too, feels like a bit of a hack.

Re-reading what I've written, I see now that I view the options dialog as
a config file editor. It's all just another way of me saying "I don't want
to make any permanent changes to my settings without being well aware of
it". Others will say "What the hell happened to the settings I used last
time?! They were perfect!"

In the end, though, I'll be happy if the behaviour is predictable,
documented, and doesn't apply to me unless I want it to. Are we back to
square one yet? I don't know, I need some sleep. :-)

Torbjörn

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