Don't put settings in Switchboard

[danirabbit]

Switchboard is reserved for system settings. Your app's settings should be in its own window

[sgpthomas]

@danrabbit: If this is the case, you probably should put something in the HIG about it. I would argue though that it doesn't really make sense to reserve Switchboard just for system settings.

By design, Switchboard is an extensible place to gather settings. Suppose somebody wanted to write a compatibility layer for some bit of hardware, maybe some kind of light display that synchronizes to music. The user would expect to be able to plug it into their computer and have it just work. Occasionally they might want to configure the color settings of this device. Instead of forcing the user to remember the name of the device, and find it in Slingshot. it would make sense to keep these settings in the hardware section of Switchboard. Furthermore, these settings don't really belong in Slingshot. Slingshot is a place for applications, not settings.

In the same vein, I don't think my application really belongs in Slingshot. Redshift is not so much of an application as a service. 90% of the time, the user will never interact with the settings. When they do, Switchboard is a very reasonable place to look for such settings. It makes more sense to look for these settings in a centralized place like Switchboard, rather than looking in a place for storing applications like Slingshot.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to make an argument. If you think Switchboard should just be reserved for System Settings, I'd be happy to write my own window for Redshift settings. I would just suggest mentioning this in the HIG. I can file a report.

[sgpthomas]

One last thing. In a user's head, what does "system" mean in "system settings"? I think that this is pretty much synonymous with, "everything that isn't an 'application' ". This does not just include default OS stuff that comes out-of-the-box. It includes everything that isn't a traditional 'application' with a window. By this logic, I think non elementary OS plugs should be allowed in Switchboard.