I think you are missing the point. The app has to remain consistent with the behavior of the system as a whole. Having different things happen when similar actions are taken, in this case, double-clicking on or otherwise opening a PDF internally to BD vs externally, introduces variability into the user experience that is detrimental. As a general practice, developers must keep their apps as consistent as possible with the system-wide defaults for these things, because if they don't, the Mac user experience as a whole will degrade. If many apps allowed one or two deviations from the system defaults, the result would be an inconsistent interface, with many unpredictable actions.
You might know that your personal setup deviates from the system preference on your machine, but in general, most people, probably even those setting the preference in BD if it were there, will not know what explains the difference in behavior. I think that your point regarding Skim isn't right. Who knows what people are going to use Skim or in general any viewer application for. It wouldn't be right for the developer to assume that people are going to use it for annotating and viewing only in the context of BibDesk while using other apps outside of BD for viewing PDF's, or that generally, users will find it intuitive and clear that in BD one chooses one's own PDF viewer, while in other apps, one does not. Similarly with the icon issue. From the point of view of maintaining rational and predictable behavior, the icon must always match the app. So, the issue is not whether it would be more useful to be able to set this preference or not, but that even having a preference for this makes it possible and likely even that people will set it, and that this will detract from the usability of the system as a whole. Think about the various Java applications out there. Each has its own menu system and dialogue boxes. Once someone gets used to it, it's easy to use; but if you have enough of these, you can't remember what does what in which app. On Apr 29, 2011, at 12:21 PM, kbostroem wrote: > > >> IIRC my complaint with the preference is that it violates the principle of >> least surprise. For example, you have icons for Preview.app that open >> with Skim when double-clicked, and this is an inconsistency. >> > Adam, c'mon, I appreciate that developers think farther than the "simple > user", but is this wrong-icon issue really so grave? Does it justify to > entirely remove that preference item which does streamline an otherwise > cumbersome workflow? Honestly...? > > > >> Here's another point: BibDesk allows files of /any/ type as an attachment. >> Should we also have a preference for .doc, .docx, .jpg, .png, .rtf, .rtfd, >> .ps, .eps, .dvi...? There's a reason the system handles this for us, and >> it makes a lot of sense. >> > I somehow expected an argument like this. It's a purist point of view. > (Developers tend to be purist, in my experience.) Of course, logically, > proponents of the discussed preference item could not argue against further > preference items. But pragmatically (and this is what I think we should > stick with) it is preferrable for the user to have at least one of these > options at hand for the most frequently used file format, which is PDF. > There are comprehensible reasons to use specialized applications like Skim > in the context of paper-reading inside BD (for highlightening, adding > annotations etc.) but not in the context of viewing other PDF stuff (like > graphics and images) outside of BD. Those people will be happy to have that > preference option in BD. Those who are content with the system-wide setting > in every context just leave that BD preference setting untouched and so > everybody is happy. I cannot see why this causes so much dissens. It's just > an option!-- > View this message in context: > http://bibdesk-users.661331.n2.nabble.com/Way-to-make-Skim-default-only-in-Bibdesk-tp2201367p6317487.html > Sent from the bibdesk users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > WhatsUp Gold - Download Free Network Management Software > The most intuitive, comprehensive, and cost-effective network > management toolset available today. Delivers lowest initial > acquisition cost and overall TCO of any competing solution. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/whatsupgold-sd > _______________________________________________ > Bibdesk-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users ------------------ Adam M. Goldstein PhD, MSLIS -- [email protected] http://www.shiftingbalance.org http://www.twitter.com/shiftingbalance -- http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180621 -- Associate Editor Reviews Editor Evolution: Education & Outreach http://www.springer.com/life+sci/journal/12052 -- Spellman 205 (914) 637-2717 (msg) -- Dept of Philosophy Iona College 715 North Avenue New Rochelle NY 10801 http://www.iona.edu/faculty/agoldstein
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