Re: frescobaldi extensions [was: python-ly, ly.indent]

[Wols Lists]

On 18/08/19 09:00, Urs Liska wrote:
> Hi Mason,
> 
> 18. August 2019 01:05, address@hidden schrieb:
> 
>> > On 08/17, Urs Liska wrote:
>> > 
>>> >> ...
>> > 
>> > Thanks. While I personally prefer command line tools, I would consider
>> > turning this into a Frescobaldi extension if that would mean the
>> > difference between something only being useful to me versus potentially
>> > being useful to others. 
> OK. From my experience I'd say it is a worthwile but non-trivial effort to 
> make things generally useful and available. You always have to strike a 
> balance between enabling *arbitrary* use cases and imposing complex 
> configuration "costs" on the user.
> 
When doing this, it's always a good idea to think in terms of the
parochial and the universal. For example, in nature, it is a parochial
fact that mammals have four legs. It is a universal that legs come in
pairs. Confusing the two leads to pain:-(

My favourite computer example is why I love WordPerfect. Word contains
lots of parochial solution, WordPerfect tries to provide universal
solutions with maybe a parochial wizard. Labels, for example. Word
formats a table and populates it with a mailmerge - useless if you then
need to edit the label document. WordPerfect separates the concept of a
physical page (sheet of paper) from a logical page (user layout) and
provides a wizard to format the physical page in terms of logical pages.
So your logical page can be used for all sorts of things, labels, books
etc. And if you want to maintain a document of labels, it's easy - you
can insert pages, delete pages, do what you like.

So take the effort to try and make the fundamentals universal, and then
the users will find the configuration is simple and logical for their
parochial needs.

Cheers,
Wol