RE: Preferences versus defaults

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>]

Agreed. Like totally. Sue just got there before I could. A "preference" is a
user choice, and a default is a design decision made before the user ever
had a twinkle in her eye about using the program.


Bonnie Granat
http://www.GranatEdit.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> techwr-l-bounces+bgranat=granatedit -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+bgranat=granatedit -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l
> .com] On Behalf Of Susan W Gallagher
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 4:51 PM
> To: Debra Graham
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Preferences versus defaults
> 
> To me, "default preferences" is an oxymoron -- there are 
> defaults and there
> are preferences and they are different.
> 
> When you first install software, any options that the 
> application offers are
> set to arbitrary values and these are the _default_. If the user does
> nothing, the software operates perfectly well using the 
> default values.
> 
> If users don't want to use the default values for any reason, they may
> access the applications _options_ and set (change) the values from the
> default value to their _preference_. Preferences are 
> persistent and replace
> the application's defaults.
> 
> My two cents
> -Sue Gallagher
> 


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