[Koha] fighting feature creep and cleaning up Koha

Tue Apr 24 04:34:14 NZST 2018

That's quite a list.  Thank you for putting it together. I know a couple of
those things have been irritating me for years.

Elaine Bradtke
VWML
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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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