Bugzilla – Bug 10140
Option to hide plugins from the plugin extender
Last modified: 2009-07-31 02:15:19 UTC
It would be nice to include an option for each plugin that has not been installed that would allow the user to hide the plugin. With lots of developers adding plugins to the extension downloader, users will have a long list of plugins that they will not be interested in, but they will always be present in the list. The ability to hide plugins would make it easier for users to discover new plugins when they are available, as there would be less chaff! There could also be a "Show Hidden" checkbox filter above/below the grid in order to unhide and find plugins. Hidden plugins could perhaps be unhidden if the description changes, in case a plugin is enhanced new a newer version and a user may now be interested in the enhancement. i.e. hold a checksum for each plugin consisting of {name + description} and unhide if the checksum is different.
Would this be for you, Triode?
Michael - did we agree this would be useful? I think you expressed reservations about this?
The biggest reservation I see is that we're adding new features for a few users. Most users probably will never add additional repositories. Plus this is all web UI only stuff, but we should try getting the same feature set on SqueezePlay as well. One of our most important targets for 8.0 is slimming down SC plus a simplified UI. The millions of settins we already have are scaring most users faced with them. Adding even more doesn't help. We should stop developing for developers.
Sounds like an excuse, rather than a reservation. Surely more than a few users will not be interested in installing all plugins - all users won't be interested in all of them all of the time? Most other applications that I can think of provide a mechanism for hiding additional plugins/upgrades that the user doesn't want to install. Windows Update, Apple updater, etc. Otherwise over time, they all build up in the list, and discovering new stuff is really hard. A single checkbox on the ED screen to show/hide ignored plugins is hardly scary. Instead of the option, if that is deemed too hard and scary for users to comprehend, they could be moved to a table at the bottom of the page called something like "ignored plugins". >we should try getting the same feature set on SqueezePlay as well. Use Extension Downloader via SqueezePlay? Is that really necessary? >One of our most important targets for 8.0 is slimming down >SC plus a simplified UI. Get rid of the webUI and create bespoke apps for each target OS then. >The millions of settins we already have are scaring >most users faced with them. Adding even more doesn't help. > There's not millions of settings. It's all about grouping/partitioning them successfully. A proper set of basic settings for new users, and Advanced settings for the people that want more control. If they are categorised properly and put in the right place, they wouldn't be scary. >We should stop developing for developers. Then perhaps re-think the changes for 8.0 DB schema, as that looks like it's being developed for developers, rather than for end-user.