- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Bitwarden introduced a non-free dependency to their clients. The Bitwarden CTO tried to frame this as a bug but his explanation does not really make it any less concerning.
Perhaps it is time for alternative Bitwarden-compatible clients. An open source client that’s not based on Electron would be nice. Or move to something else entirely? Are there any other client-server open source password managers?
Ideally, the project should not require any documentation to read.
Yep, I know, I think everyone should read to learn, but I’ve seen so many times peoples’ spark die once I tell them “I will send you the docs with clear instructions. If you have any questions, let me know :)”. The reply is often " Oh, but it should tell me where to click".
Or maybe it’s because the docs are too difficult, I don’t know.
Generally, I agree. I think what I meant by the above is “how would you tell someone how to use the thing”. My favourite example is email vs email-with-PGP.
How do you send an email?
How do you send a PGP-encrypted email
Let’s first talk about this thing called a “keyserver”. Once you know what that is, you’ll have to go out and find some keys to add to it. We’re not going to talk about styling your message 'cause that’s not something you should be able to do… etc. etc.
Good documentation should, in part, tell people where to click. I have designed software documentation for high performing individuals at leading global companies, and I have designed software and hardware documentation for minimum wage fast food workers with limited English proficiency. In both extremes, I showed them exactly where to click on the screen at each step.
You might not need that level of help, but many people do. Others do not strictly need it, but they prefer the simple instruction set. “Click here then here,” instructions ease the transition into a new system one needs to learn, or it removes the need entirely to learn a system one uses infrequently.
The problem is that making good documentation is difficult and time consuming. It relies on a fundamentally different skill set than coding or even UI design.
I agree that the ideal is for software to not need any documentation. In my experience, I have yet to see software that rises to that task and is used across a variety of experience levels and societal cross sections.
The docs are not only often difficult for an inexperienced user, they commonly omit points of failure.
Various prerequisites, problematic settings, possibility of the user choosing the wrong menu etc. etc. should always be considered.