Re: [Pan-users] Auto download messages

[Duncan]

Mateusz Viste posted on Wed, 20 Sep 2017 07:36:39 +0000 as excerpted:

>  I guess the wording might be arranged differently for more clarity.
> The option talks about "caching", and by default it is "disabled", but
> Pan does cache articles anyway: once I read an article, it stays
> available from the local cache. If it would be named "Pre-load
> Articles",

Personally, I'd call it downloading the article, because that's what it 
is, downloading it to local cache, as opposed to saving what's already 
downloaded.  However, pan uses "download" to mean what I'd call 
"save" (obviously downloading first if not already downloaded), so that's 
out.

Also keep in mind that the automated "actions" are a relatively new pan 
feature, the last one required to give the C++ rewrite of pan all the 
functionality (and more) of the old C version, where things worked a bit 
differently and the same feature was available using what old-pan called 
"rules".  But "rules" were even more unintuitive, and Charles (pan's 
primary dev for a very long time) was never really satisfied with them as 
a result, so didn't reimplement them in new- (that is the C++ rewrite) 
pan.  Implementing "actions" was discussed, but he never got to it.  
Actions were thus implemented later, working as we had discussed on-list 
several years earlier with Charles, as one of several missing features 
that Heinrich Mueller implemented when he was active on pan.  (Actual 
binary uploading being the other major missing feature he added, tho 
there were several less major ones and a number of minor tweaks and code 
updates as well.)  So by then the terminology had to be chosen to work 
around already existing functionality and terminology, and this is what 
we got.

With that in mind, "cache" makes sense.  "Cache locally" would arguably 
be a bit clearer, but arguably "cache" is clear /enough/ once you've done 
it manually a few times and know what pan's use of "download" means.

Meanwhile, eventually the terminology becomes just one of pan's many 
quirks to enjoy as you work with it, the user adapting to the software 
instead of the other way around, but I do in general agree, the 
terminology is indeed somewhat confusing especially for the relative 
newbie.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman