Bug 20117: new rc2 sets a backdrop, and preferences for same

[Richmond Mathewson]

"Assault" . . . Woof.

"The screen seizure indicates a mindset catering to the simplistic, 
unsophisticated, and non-programming user"

Well . . .

I'm not sure why favouring a backdrop blocking out a desktop indicates 
that one is 'simplistic' . . .

Until I went to the US in 1993 I had never seen a GUI except for a 
really awful attempt at one on a BBC Micro;
but I was perfectly capable of doing distinctly non-simplistic stuff 
with FORTRAN, PASCAL, BASIC and so on.

Recently I started a group of kids on a summer programming course with 
BBC BASIC on a load of
BBC Micro computers: very effective and lots of fun was had all round.

There are front-ends for Linux available that do NOT splatter the screen 
with icons and other screen 'furniture' (docks and so on)
for people who prefer things that way: I don't suppose they are either 
simplistic or unsophisticated.

Personally I don't like using a backdrop with LiveCode, but I can see 
its use to the extent that my Devawriter Pro has an in-built
backdrop for those who want one.

"non-programming user"

My Mum uses a laptop running Xubuntu 14.04 where her desktop is gaily 
peppered with icons and a dock; while she is
neither simplistic nor unsophisticated she is most definitely a 
non-programming user.

For a lawyer you seem remarkably . . . [well, there we are, I'll leave 
you to fill in the dots].

------------

NOW . . . to be sensible . . .

Let us imagine when starting up LiveCode for the first time we are 
presented with a menu window that allows us to choose whether we think 
that we are:

1. A newbie who is seeing the thing for the first time.

2. A haory old programmer who does not need his/her/its handheld.

And at that point we can get all Prince-of-Denmarky with our backdrop.

Richmond.

On 7/19/17 10:16 pm, Dr. Hawkins via use-livecode wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 12:06 PM, Ali Lloyd via use-livecode <
> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Surely the most sensible route here is to decide on defaults and see if
>> people for whom those defaults are relevant have any objections? I'm not
>> sure it is necessary to be offended on behalf of hypothetical new users :-)
>>
> To be absolutely, crystal clear, as a non-hypothetical former new user:
>   there is very little chance that I would have become a user after an
> assault like that.
>
> The assault itself is an information signal, whether correctly perceived or
> not, about how the project development mindset views it's own importance,
> users, and how users should submit to its preferences.
>
> Seize my interface, and I'm pretty much instantly hostile.  At that point,
> you're not trying to attract a curious potential user, but an angry one,
> and that will color  the response.
>
> The screen seizure indicates a mindset catering to the simplistic,
> unsophisticated, and non-programming user--at the expense of hostility to
> those who have experience, ttc.
>