MinimServer complexity (was Configuration Backup)

[simoncn]

(29-09-2014 15:00)DavidHB Wrote:  I am sure that your concern is valid (though I am less sure how 'major' the problems would be in practice). The issue is then: how to tempt the 'non-technical' new user into adopting MinimServer and learning its capabilities for themselves.

In my experience, 'non-technical' is more often an issue of attitude or confidence than of actual capability. By definition, 'out-of-box' will incorporate settings that new users will not understand unless and until they read the manual, which they may or may not be interested and confident enough to do. So the risk you describe is present to some degree in any case.

If the installation were to offer alternative out-of-box settings, the benefit of giving the new user tested options that are easy to adopt would arguably outweigh the slightly increased risk. Perhaps if the settings file worked like many Linux configuration files and, next to each setting, had comments that described its usage, this would allow the user to do 'intelligent' copying and pasting, and would provide some training as a useful by-product. I grant you that this is hardly 'fire and forget' or even menu-based configuration, but it would make the learning curve a good deal less steep for many new users.

I hope that these ideas are useful, if only as a stimulus to further thought.

David

Thanks for these comments. I understand what you are saying, but I think your suggestion won't work in practice because of the complex relationship between

• the way the user's library is tagged
• the way the user's control point presents information sent by MinimServer
• the way the user likes to browse and search their library
  

I could make up a few alternative configurations and test them with my library and my control point, but the chances of these working with the user's library and control point and doing what the user wants seems very small. Other users could join the party and contribute their preferred settings, which would have the same problem. The result (in my opinion) would be a number of confused and frustrated users.

The MinimServer User guide has a Properties page with a list of all properties, a short description of each property, and a link to a section that describes the usage of the property in more detail. This is far superior to adding short text comments to a sample configuration file.

These descriptive sections usually contain one or more examples that illustrate the usage of the property. These examples can't be fully comprehensive (or the User guide would be many times its current size), so the forum is available as a source of additional information and answers to specific questions when required.