[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Documentation, Usability and Development

[Vasco Alexandre Da Silva Costa <vasc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 4 Dec 2001, Justin Moore wrote:

> > Hmmm, i don't think that's a good idea. I find bugzilla's web interface
> > way too cluttered and confusing. But don't take my word for it. Just look:
> 
>    You can customize what you want to see.  Check out
> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/ for a more stripped-down version.
> Plus we'd only have a very small handful of things to support, so that
> reduces the complexity of it all.
> 
> > <http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/query.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&product=Bugzilla>
> >
> > Yikes!
> 
>    Ok, bugzilla has bugs.  And?  Looking at the latest version for the PC
> and a *nix OS, I see 19 bugs, almost half of which are just wishlist
> stuff.  I don't see any showstopper bugs there.

I didn't mention anything about bugzilla bugs. I only used that bugzilla
page as an example of what a confusing interface it has. I could have
pointed you to any other bugzilla form, in any other site.

> > The only criticisms i have heard about the current bug tracking system are:
> > 1) people don't know how to reply to bug reports.
> > 2) it doesn't allow you to follow patches, etc.
> 
>    It's very unweildy and not well managed as far as I can tell.  It's not
> well placed on the web page.  It doesn't easily allow you to download

True. But that has nothing to do with the bug tracking system itself.

> attachments (as far as I can tell).  The 8-bugs-per-screen is irritating.

Ah yes. Well people with accounts can chose that. I guess we should make
guests able to change that, have acounts themselves or something.

> I know not all of this is Jitterbug-specific, but I think the system need
> to be overhauled.  And Bugzilla is something that has a pretty low
> learning curve for users and it pretty well-known in the community.  I'd
> even volunteer to help set it up.

BTW the Freeciv community should Real Soon(tm) include Windows users.

So just don't bother me if people then start complaining about how
awkward, slow and ugly it is :-)  Hmm... just like that other giant lizard!

---
Vasco Alexandre da Silva Costa @ Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa