I'm just curious about how the MC defaults are chosen. It seems to me like there are quite a few items that I haved noticed over the past 3 months of use which should be defaults, at least in my opinion. While I can't remember a whole lot at the moment, I could gather a list quickly by just looking at the default settings--but this would be worthless if the default settings are NOT even open to suggestion.
One suggestion for MC 12 I know of immediately is...why is the checkbox, "Ignore special files (folder.jpg, etc.) checked....and more importantly, why does it exist?! First, what are the etc. special files? I'm not sure what other files would be "special." Who in their right mind would want cover art ignored for any reason. This means you just have to later add it on your own. Also, I made sure to not have this checked but after a scan, my cover art didn't show up. I still have to add it with the Quick Find feature. I could have made a personal mistake--but simply having this option introduces the possibility that it will somehow be activated accidentally. Just give me a reason why this might be useful and then I think it would be better off disabled by default.
In another thread, I asked for the playing of DVDs to default to asking every time. Think of it this way...the first time the user is asked, it will be nice to know that they can pick exactly what they want. If they keep getting asked, it might be annoying--but make sure there is a keep this setting checkbox. Then, everyone is happy, with one or two clicks vs. the user magically thinking, "oh, I didn't know I could change that setting" then getting the courage to dig for the option and change it. I don't like auto play but no play would be worse for the average person, so ask! It would be much better, I think.
Upon running MC for the first time, I think a VERY clean and simple questionaire should be presented. The most commonly changed features should be presented with a nice, short description of the feature so the user can change some settings before even launching the program. The most important question here would be to ask if the podcast feature should be disabled completely. I use another program for downloading podcasts and would love to have this disabled before even running the program so a Podcast folder doesn't get created in my music folder. I will probably try switching to MC for podcasts eventually, though, so that's why an option right away would be so nice. Other questions should be if CD ripping should be run in secure mode, what encoder should be used, etc. A button should be contained to skip the entire window and just enter using defaults--this should be the most obvious button so people can just skip it instantly. You could also allow the user to pick the skin they want in this window. Please don't use tabs--just condense it to a nice, clean, simple window.
Just some THOUGHTS!
Author
Topic: Program Defaults: Who picks em' (Read 1416 times)