I can understand your confusion. I am also conflicted about what to do, when.
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Originally Posted by jackie_w
Re: Sorting
I've been trying to get my head round the relationship between current Setting for 'Groups from custom columns' and items offered in: - 'Autosort when choosing a group'
- 'Select sorts to show in menu' As far as I can tell the options seem to be logical except that User defined sort #1/#2 should only be checkable if they have been created. I've only set up #1 so I shouldn't be allowed to check #2. |
My thought was that the person might choose to do things in the reverse order: say what they want to see and use, then define the meaning of what they want. The positive side of this choice is that there is no implied "modality" or sequence that things must be done. The negative side is that if the person does not actually do the second step, the end results may not be totally understandable.
As regards the sort menu, if you ask to show a user-defined sort that isn't defined then it will be greyed, showing that it isn't defined. I could do something similar for the grouping drawer, adding "undefined" or some such to the sort spec, assuming the sort spec is displayed.
This leads on to the question "what is the relationship between current setting for 'Select sorts to show in menu' and items offered in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'"?
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If I choose to have sort by #pages in my Sort menu, under what circumstances might I choose to uncheck #pages in the 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'? What is the point of sorting by #pages if I can't see the value of #pages afterwards? Am I missing something? To me, the items which I'd need to be checked in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist' are:- all the ones which have been selected as a Group Autosort plus- all the ones which have been selected in 'Select sorts to show in menu' in which case the list could be derived rather than needing a Settings option.
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This too is a hard one. Some people (@kaufman, you are one of them) don't want to see the information that controls the sort. The argument is that "I picked the sort so I know what it is". Another argument is that I want to see custom column X in the grouping drawer but never sort on it. A third argument is that I want to sort on custom column X but never group on it. The only way I could think of to satisfy the diverse demands was to give all choices in show-in-grouping-drawer and show-in-sort-menu.
I am really really really ready to hear alternative approaches. I would like them to be internally consistent and not prevent someone from doing something reasonable.
Final comment: you have hit on the head the penalty of adding options. They interplay with each other and their meaning can be obscure, especially as regards interaction. This is why my son (and partner) thinks that I shouldn't be adding them.