Bug status and importance descriptions are too wordy

[Curtis Hovey]

Launchpad beta testers are seeing the new picker widget that shows bug status and importance. mpt suggests we can shorted the text for several descriptions:

Many of these descriptions could be shortened by removing the words “this bug”. For example:
- Has not yet been confirmed.
- Has been reviewed and confirmed by someone other than the reporter.
- Is being worked on by the person assigned.
- A fix has been merged into the code, but not yet included in a release.

And for “Incomplete”, it would be useful to clarify that it doesn’t have to be the reporter who provides the information:
- Can’t be worked on until someone experiencing the bug provides more information.

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

The Launchpad project does not use medium. Since this issue is scheduled to be fixed as a part of discloser, it is high.

[Dan Harrop-Griffiths (danhg)]

Hi All,

I've worked on copy for these before, but seeing this working live in the interface has given me a bit of a lightbulb moment. I think in the past we've been scared that if we cut down these descriptions too much, users will be confused and that such brief descriptions will take away value from them.

Also, as has been pointed out already, we don't need to keep saying ''this bug'' when it's clear when we're talking about a bug.

I propose that we have cut-down versions in the interface (two versions of which I've attached here). I think we should then have a great wiki page that talks about bug status/importance in more detail - for users who really aren't sure, and to help us all to deal with the trickier ones and be a guide for general policy.

The purpose of the copy in the interface should be a quick helping hand - users shouldn't have to think too much about them. And when it comes to how it looks, it always looks better with less words in this kind of interface.

Dan

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

Hi Dan.

I think your suggestions are good. I think they might be written a little differently:

Bug importance is about organising work. We often image the work we do as a queue. The are some complications because the names we used are so generic that they do not work with any project's model of organisation. Projects with a lot of bugs (more bugs than can be fixed by the contributors in a year) only commit to work on bugs that are critical or high. small projects, which can empty the queue of bugs, will schedule medium bugs. We can image the top three importances as inserting bugs at the top, middle and bottom of the queue.

    * Critical: Fix now or as soon as possible.
    * High: Schedule to be fixed soon.
    * Medium: Fix when convenient, or schedule to fix later.
    * Low: Fix when convenient.
    * Wishlist: Not a bug. It's an enhancement/new feature.
    * Undecided: Not decided yet. Maybe needs more discussion.

I am concerned about the definition on incomplete. It is not just a request for information, The issue is that the bug cannot be demonstrated to exist so more information is needed. There was a historic problem where project did use incomplete to mean someone wants more information from the reporter, then Lp would expire the bug because it is not a bug. Opinion is the same as wont fix, but is deemed politer and Lp was asked to remove it.

    * New: Not looked at yet.
    * Incomplete: Cannot be verified, the reporter needs to give more info.
    * Opinion: Doesn't fit with the project, but can be discussed.
    * Invalid: Not a bug. May be a support request or spam.
    * Won't fix: Doesn't fit with the project plans, sorry.
    * Confirmed: Verified by someone other than the reporter.
    * Triaged: Verified by the bug supervisor.
    * In Progress: The assigned person working on it.
    * Fix Committed: Fixed, but not available until next release.
    * Fix Released: The fix was released.

[Dan Harrop-Griffiths (danhg)]

Following our discussion today I'm happy with all of those changes. One small point, let's add and 'is' to 'In Progress', so 'The assigned person is working on it.' Apart from that, they all look great. Thumbs up from Editorial.

[Launchpad QA Bot (lpqabot)]

Fixed in stable r15265 <http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~launchpad-pqm/launchpad/stable/revision/15265>.