Design Discussion: A Process Question really

[purplecat]

I've picked a second bug to work on (2154) and I've realised there are basically two approaches to fixing it, one involves leaving the current interface as it is and building some (probably simple but potentially ugly) smarts into the code and the other involves getting a bit more info from the user up front.

So this is partly a question about which approach is preferable, but more generally a question about the appropriate place to have this kind of discussion. Should I use the comments in bugzilla, for instance? Similarly were I to pick the route that involved fiddling with the user interface, should screen shots of the potential new interface go into bugzilla for sign off (or review or ???) before a patch file is generated?

Comments

[kareila]

Asking for feedback in dw_dev will probably get more eyeballs than just using Bugzilla comments, but either method is fine. Asking around on IRC is also fine, although I personally am not in there much. Screenshots are probably a good idea for anything involving UI changes!

[denise]

There's also dw_design, which is low traffic but people should feel free to use it for "I'd like to make this UI change but I'm not 100% sure about it, can you give me feedback?"

That having been said, minor UI changes are part and parcel of patching bugs for the most part, so if you need to make a change, make the change! If it's a more involved change, a full redesign of the page/process, or something you're less sure about, make a sketch or a mockup and post in dw_design, then link to it from dw_dev, for discussion.

[purplecat]

Thanks! as you guessed it's a very minor change to the UI but I'm aware that incrementally even minor changes can end up with a tangle of ticky boxes all over the user's window so I wasn't sure if people liked to have more of a formal review of these things before it got to the patch stage. I'll make a record in Bugzilla of what I'm planning and why as I go, I think, that way at least there's a record of my thinking when someone comes to review the patch.

[purplecat]

Thanks, it's a very minor change which didn't seem typical of the traffic in dw_dev. I think, given denise's comment below, I might post a quick discussion of the options in the Bugzilla - so my thoughts are out there and a similarly a screenshot if/when I have one but I won't stress about trying to get some kind of sign-off on it.

[azurelunatic]

No matter the actual forum that the discussion happens in, archiving notes about it in Bugzilla is probably appropriate. (Also, yay icon!)

[purplecat]

Good point. I'll use Bugzilla as a record of my thoughts/plans.

Also, yay icon!

Snap!