[Koha] [EXTERNAL] fighting feature creep and cleaning up Koha

Sat Apr 7 04:00:14 NZST 2018

Hi--

Sorry to reply with questions, but before I try to log in to bugzilla to
comment, I'd like to be sure I'm understanding things correctly.  In this
bug:
https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20528

I'm not completely understanding the first paragraph:

The normal view offers a nice tabular display of the items, with
buttons to choose which one to modify, and lots of other options. The
items tab seems redundant to me, not as pretty/legible, and in fact
quite confusing.

I understand the "normal view" in the staff client.  Are the "buttons to
choose which" referring to the buttons on the right in each item record
that say, "Edit?"

To what does, "items tab" refer?  Is that the button on the left that says
"Items" which is in between buttons that say "ISBD" and "Holds?"

If I'm understanding correctly, I'll gladly try to comment in bugzilla,
because trying to edit items via that "Items" button on the left in between
the "ISBD" and "Holds" button is, to me, horrid--the resulting display of
item records going endlessly down screen with tons of white space is
terrible.  When I have a serial with 200+ items, it is pretty much
impossible to try to navigate to trying to edit an item via that button.  I
always choose the "Edit" pull-down-menu button across the top of the bib
record which is in between the "New" button and the "Save" button, which
gives me a more easily navigated visually table of items with instant
access to a search box at the top of the table, and I would love for this
to be the only way to get into editing items.

Thank you for the help!  Cheerio,
h2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heather Hernandez
Technical Services Librarian
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Research Center
2 Marina Blvd., Bldg. E, 3rd floor, San Francisco, CA  94123-1284
415-561-7032, heather_hernandez at nps.gov
Library catalog: http://keys.bywatersolutions.com/

On Fri, Apr 6, 2018 at 8:32 AM, Gaetan Boisson <gaetan.boisson at biblibre.com>
wrote:

>  Hello community,
>
> (please don't answer to this message with comments about the specific
> issues mentioned, do it rather on bugzilla to keep things manageable,
> thanks!)
>
> during the last hackfest in Marseille we started a list of features or
> parts of Koha that currently exist but don't make us entirely happy for a
> reason or another and could be removed. At first i was only thinking of
> broken features that are part of Koha, then defaults that could be better,
> and it grew to whole parts that might be considered not so useful. (The
> list was made mostly by me and two other BibLibre project managers :
> Claudie and Stéphane, Owen also had a look.)
>
> Since we started i have found the right term for what i was concerned
> with: feature creep.
>
> I feel like there's been a very solid effort into refactoring code. But we
> should also consider the features themselves. Every feature comes with a
> cost: we need to maintain the code for it, we need to maintain
> documentation about it, we need to train people about them, etc. Having
> redundant features might look like it leaves choice to the user and is a
> good thing, but it can turn into a mess pretty fast. Another aspect that i
> am really concerned about are features that don't actually work. The best
> example for this according to me is results highlighting. I'm so used to
> the interface I barely see it any longer and don't pay attention, but it's
> broken, and new users notice it. This kind of not really functional feature
> included in the release looks extremely bad in my opinion. We need to do
> something about it to make Koha more accessible and better.
>
> As this is very much as controversial as this sounds, some of these bugs
> have generated debates, as expected. So i'm bringing this to the mailing
> list in order for all users to be able to have a look at them and tell us
> what they think. Since there are a few places concerned, an omnibus was
> created: https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20396.
> I don't want to send one message per topic to the list, that would probably
> be way too much. I also think it won't be that productive if the debates
> start from this generic message on the list. If you are a library with a
> strong opinion about one of these issues, i suggest you create an account
> on bugzilla and voice your concerns there. You are most welcome to do so in
> order to say that killing feature X is a great idea! (I expect we are more
> likely to hear from people who are against change than from people who are
> for it.)
>
> I'd like to add that since i don't write code, i'm not going to "kill" any
> of these features myself, this is more about putting the spotlight on some
> aspects of Koha that i think should be streamlined.
>
> Here's what was created so far, i will try to put the more contentious
> issues first:
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20415
>
> Remove UseKohaPlugins system preference
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20417
>
> Remove OpacCloud system preference and feature
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20528
>
> Remove the items tab from the detailed bibliographic view
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20398
>
> Add a system preference to disable search result highlighting in the staff
> interface
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20401
>
> "Item circulation alerts" is overkill and could be removed
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20406
>
> Remove ISBD display
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20408
>
> Remove the availability facet and filter
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20414
>
> Remove COinSinOPACResults system preference and make it always on
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=10047
>
> "Cataloguing search maybe useless?": in the cataloguing module, there is a
> different kind of search, that we could do without.
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=12561
>
> Omnibus: Deprecate non-XSLT detail and result views
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20399
>
> "Remove "did you mean" for the staff interface"
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20403
>
> Refactor "Keywords to marc mapping"
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20404
>
> Extended patron attributes should always be on
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20405
>
> enhanced messaging preference should always be on
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20409
>
> Remove OpacBrowseResults system preference and make it always on
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20410
>
> Remove OpacGroupResults system preference and feature
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20411
>
> Remove StaffDetailItemSelection system preference and make the feature
> always on
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20413
>
> Remove the "template" system preference
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20416
>
> Remove hide_marc and advancedMARCeditor system preferences
>
>
> - https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20418
>
> Remove UpdateTotalIssuesOnCirc and make it cron everywhere
>
>
>
> --
> Gaetan Boisson
> Chef de projet bibliothécaire
> BibLibre
> +33(0)6 52 42 51 29
> 108 rue Breteuil 13006 Marseille
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=108+rue+Breteuil+13006+Marseille&entry=gmail&source=g>
> gaetan.boisson at biblibre.com
>
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