[openbeos] Re: ShowImage Bloat

  • From: Michael Phipps <mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:53:59 -0500

Simon Taylor wrote:

I think it is stupid to make 2 applications just for that. Then you create redundancy. You would create extra application that contains (let us say) 80% of the functionality of another application. This wil not create simplicity but confusion? Users will not now what to use....



I don't think it could be more obvious what to use. You want to show a slideshow - use the app called "SlideShow". You want to view an image -
use "ShowImage". To me it's less obvious that I can open a single file using an app called "ShowImage" and from that click a menu item that displays a slideshow of all the images in the directory the original file came from.


I don't understand the 80% claim - I suppose you mean the fact that it loads an image and displays it using the translation kit? It really doesn't take much code to do that (the translation kit rocks!). A lot of ShowImage code isn't needed for a slide show app (dragging cuttings around, saving as different file formats, all the menus, etc). In the same way, creating a nicer slideshow app would involve a lot of code not needed for viewing individual images.


I am stuck between the two of you. I have to agree that an app just to make slideshows seems like a bit of a waste... BUT. If the app were a bit more, like, say, a presentation maker, that would make more sense. :-)

In any case, ShowImage is (now) what it is. The extra features are not coming out. There may be some UI changes, but they will not go away.

What I have come away from all of this discussion with, though, is a great deal more certainty that "just" (as some people say) re-implementing R5 was/is the absolute right way to go. Everyone has a pet feature that they feel we absolutely can't go R1 without. One man's tiny feature is another man's bloat. :-)

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