Quote:
Originally Posted by Toadling
Many people weren't using the parents' default context field, though, so now many parents are showing up in the "No Context" bin in context mode.
|
Toadling,
For the sake of completeness in your good overview of the issue, may I add that the problem is deeper and wider than the "migration" of existing data to the new system.
1. Users are not accustomed to using the "default context" field, so they are prone to neglecting to set it, thus accidentally adding many future parents in the "no context" bin.
2. Some users don't even like to set a "default context" for parents. They just can't be bothered. Capricious or not, this needs to be taken into account.
3. (Some) users consider it conceptually absurd to assign a single context to a parent whose children carry a multitude of contexts.
4. The new system makes "default context" quite literally a misnomer, since it now also stands for "parent's context."
5. The new system equates the "default context" (i.e. normally the context used by the highest number of children) with the parent's own context. Even if we temporarily assume that "parent's context" makes sense (though it really doesn't), we must realize that it is not necessarily determined by frequency. For example, a project titled "Write article" may consist of
5 children in the "errands" context…
a. Make photocopies of research notes
b. Clean up desk
c. Call publisher to request copy of guidelines for authors
d. Enter new book acquisitions in bibliographic database
e. Get "XYZ" book from library
… and only
2 children in the "scholarship" context...
f. Write outline of article
g. Write article
While
5 > 2, and therefore the default context for this project would most likely be "errands," one would be hard-pressed to claim that the project "Write article" is itself an errand! Indeed, "Write article" itself belongs in no context. It seems more of a work of scholarship although, really, it is just what it is—a project.
So, clearly, the "double entendre" of the "default context" field is convenient for Omni (developers), but not convenient for us (users).
This is perfectly acceptable (necessary, even) as long as this is a pre-release version. But, as I said in an earlier post, it doesn't seem to me viable as a permanent solution presentable to a wider public accustomed to Omni Group's exacting standards.