The issue with this thinking is that it's easier for people to quit using the product than to figure out how to fix the font. You can't beat the simplicity of doing nothing, so you need to avoid getting into this state in the first place.

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estimator7292 4 days ago | parent [-]

Gotta keep users engaged in your app, right? Keep them onboard even if that means removing all their choices. I mean, should we even allow users to uninstall apps?

After all, the developer always knows best and all users are helpless children who need to be forced to conform and comply. Who cares what the user thinks or wants so long as we keep that sweet, sweet engagement.

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charcircuit 4 days ago | parent [-]

If your users are not engaging with your app, you can't deliver user value to them. If you are unable to provide value to their lives because they happened to accidently changed a font that is an unfortunate circumstance where the user is losing out on value they could have had.

It's not that users are helpless, but that they just don't want to spend their time dealing with stuff they don't want to. Users like it when things "just work."

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xg15 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

There is nothing wrong with providing sensible defaults and a good collection of pre-designed profiles to choose from (and yes, even a big, friendly RESET button).

But that doesn't explain taking away options. Users who don't want their time with this stuff would probably not use the customization options in the first place.

Also, the term "deliver value" has been badly tainted after too many companies have used it as an euphemism for "extracting value".

It's the same non-logic that advertisers use: Ads are both a service for the viewer, informing them of amazing opportunities, but also somehow the viewers must be forced into consuming that service.

I'm deeply skeptical of situations where people have to be forced into something "for their own good".

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LocalH 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Users who want things to "just work" aren't the entire target audience of software, and it's a huge misstep to act as if they are.

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charcircuit 4 days ago | parent [-]

Targeting users who enjoy debugging and troubleshooting software is not the way to develop high quality software. You shouldn't be purposefully adding bugs or corrupting installations just to give people problems to figure out.

	▲	LocalH 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Nobody said anything about "purposefully adding bugs or corrupting installations". What you're advocating is protecting the user from themselves, which is antithetic to the entire ethos of the hacker. Yes, you as a developer shouldn't fuck up the user's setup. But if the user fucks it up on their own? Then that's on them. Don't limit the power users because you want to infantilize the casual users.