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Discussion on: Should configuration be avoided?

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Jonathan • Edited

Thanks for your comment, @djangotricks.

Agree with the idea of skipping configuration for simple cases. Here I think the concept of "sensible defaults" is useful.

However, while personalisation is definitely a powerful capability and selling point for customers. I would say that it should be raised to a product-level feature, accessible by the user directly through the UI, rather than buried inside a machine-parsed configuration file.

A full UI with suitable controls and navigation is much more user friendly than a verbose configuration file requiring additional training to master. This would strike a balance between usability and flexibility.


One of the basic principles of usability is that users shouldn't have to read an additional manual or documentation in order to use the system, if possible. It's interesting how often the field of usability intersects with software design.