Re: Customize buttons that change user's custom fileshouldaskforconfirmation

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

People can put in these Gnome style whole buffer buttons that Kim
proposed.  That is OK, I do not care.

But _why_ on earth does anybody want to _hide_ that small State button,
that barely takes any space?  How can this _confuse_ people?  There is
a help echo saying "Change the state of this item".  If the user is
not used to customize individual items, he can just ignore the button.
If the help echo is not clear enough, make it clearer.  (Also, the
names of some items when you activate the State button could be made
more self-explanatory.)

The names "novice" and "expert" are used in a very incorrect way.  The
difference we are talking about has _nothing_ to do with how long you
have been using Emacs or Custom.

The two kinds of users we are talking about are non-inquisitive users
and inquisitive users.  Non-inquisitive users will just ignore he
State button, like they ignore anything else they are not used to.
They will remain novices forever.  Novices at Custom, novices at
Emacs, novices at everything they use.  Inquisitive users will say
"Wow, interesting!  That is something new!  I never saw this in other
customization interfaces.  Let me try this out!."  Then they will play
with it, and realize that this is a _much_ better interface than the
Gnome one.  For instance, unlike the eternal novices, they will be
able to undo mistakes by setting individual options to current or
standard, which is often needed.  They will very quickly become
experts, not only at using Custom, but at using Emacs.

Please, do not impede inquisitiveness.  Do not put obstacles in the
way of people who are willing to learn new things, by hiding stuff
from them.

Definitely do not hide the individual state messages, although they
can be made into single word items with help echos.  This info is needed.

Sincerely,

Luc.