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Build Identifier: Version: Juno Release Build id: 20120614-1722 When ever I install a new version of Eclipse, I see it as an opportunity to setup a clean new workspace, but there seems to be a whole of of settings that I change, and IMO they seem like they'd make better defaults. Link with Editor - default to enabled. Package Explorer package presenetation - Default to hierarchical Show Line Numbers - Default to enabled Preferences -> ...Workspaces -> Refresh on Access - default to enabled Preferences -> Java -> ...Type Filters - Does it ever make sense to use com.sun.xml.internal.*? etc Preferences -> ...Compiler -> Errors/Warnings - Default to "Warning" for a lot of the options. It's not that hard to turn them off, and are one of the many reasons why we use a Java IDE over notepad :) Content Assist - Insert mode - default to "Completion overwrites" Editor Presentation toolbar - Shown by default XML Editor - default to source viewing mode (I know it's not part of the Java stuff, but just another example) Obviously these defaults are just my ideal defaults, which isn't necessarily the most ideal option for the average Joe user of eclipse, hence the "Evaluate..." in the summary. This enhancement could be far wider scoped than just the things I've mentioned. Reproducible: Always
Btw: This is not a criticism of the work done already. For example: it's nice that the highlight mode is now on by default. "Back in my day" it wasn't on by default :)
Another one for the list - Incremental search for Ctrl+F dialog should ideally default to enabled.
(In reply to comment #0) > Show Line Numbers - Default to enabled This has my +1. But I know many users who like the current settings. > Preferences -> ...Workspaces -> Refresh on Access - default to enabled This is enabled by default in Juno. > Preferences -> ...Compiler -> Errors/Warnings - Default to "Warning" for a lot > of the options. Can you be more specific here.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #0) > > Preferences -> ...Workspaces -> Refresh on Access - default to enabled > This is enabled by default in Juno. On my version of Juno (The "current" Java EE version), it's not enabling this option by default. I created a new workspace to confirm this. > > Preferences -> ...Compiler -> Errors/Warnings - Default to "Warning" for a lot > > of the options. > Can you be more specific here. Sure, Code Style - Resource not managed via try-with-resource Potential programming problems - Possible accidental boolean assignment - Unused object allocations - Potential resource leak Unnecessary code - Value of Parameter is not used Generic Types - Redundant argument types Annotations - Missing @Override annotation
(In reply to comment #4) > On my version of Juno (The "current" Java EE version), it's not enabling this > option by default. I created a new workspace to confirm this. Ok, that's bug 384104. > Potential programming problems > - Possible accidental boolean assignment Maybe there is a case for this, but the rest are either dependent on a person's taste or produce several false positives.
(In reply to comment #5) > > Potential programming problems > > - Possible accidental boolean assignment > Maybe there is a case for this, but the rest are either dependent on a person's > taste or produce several false positives. I can see your point, but surely it's better to get a few false positives (which can be easily suppressed on a / case basis), and get all the benefits of having warnings for some fairly common mistakes or potential mistakes? The reason why I think it's important is it's often the ones who need the warnings the most (junior developers etc), who are often the ones who don't seem to take the time to go through the compiler errors and warnings.
> Link with Editor - default to enabled. I also enable it but many people "hate" that feature, so "no". > Package Explorer package presenetation - Default to hierarchical -1 as the normal entity is the (entire) package. > Show Line Numbers - Default to enabled See https://bugs.eclipse.org/191154 > Preferences -> Java -> ...Type Filters - Does it ever make sense to use > com.sun.xml.internal.*? We should not hide things by default. > Content Assist - Insert mode - default to "Completion overwrites" I'd be willing to do this. Markus? > Editor Presentation toolbar - Shown by default This is already shown by default (3.8 and 4.2). > XML Editor - default to source viewing mode (I know it's not part of the Java > stuff, but just another example) We don't own that editor.
(In reply to comment #0) > When ever I install a new version of Eclipse, I see it as an opportunity to > setup a clean new workspace, but there seems to be a whole of of settings > that I change, and IMO they seem like they'd make better defaults. You could have a command that starts Eclipse with your own default preference file with: -pluginCustomization <locationToPrefFile> With that, each new workspace would get the default settings you like.
(In reply to comment #8) > (In reply to comment #0) > > When ever I install a new version of Eclipse, I see it as an opportunity to > > setup a clean new workspace, but there seems to be a whole of of settings > > that I change, and IMO they seem like they'd make better defaults. > > You could have a command that starts Eclipse with your own default preference > file with: > -pluginCustomization <locationToPrefFile> > With that, each new workspace would get the default settings you like. Thanks, that's good to know. I still think it would be a valuable exercise to go over defaults for the vanilla install, and evaluate ideal defaults for the various pre-packaged flavours of Eclipse.
(In reply to comment #7) > > Link with Editor - default to enabled. > I also enable it but many people "hate" that feature, so "no". Does Eclipse still have usage reporting? If so, it'd be interesting to see what the ratio was. Perhaps that would assist in deciding what some better defaults would be for all or most preferences. > > Package Explorer package presenetation - Default to hierarchical > -1 as the normal entity is the (entire) package. Sure that might be the case, but if usage reporting was to find out that most people chose hierarchical, would that still be a valid decision? I'm not saying hierarchical is the right choice - the jist of this enhancement request is to ask the Eclipse team to evaluate and rationalise good defaults. > > Editor Presentation toolbar - Shown by default > This is already shown by default (3.8 and 4.2). Sorry, an oversight on my part, I think I'd flicked to an Indigo workspace. > > XML Editor - default to source viewing mode (I know it's not part of the Java > > stuff, but just another example) > We don't own that editor. I realise that (as stated in the main description), it was just another example to help illustrate that the default preferences (for the Java EE download package) were not necessarily the best choice (IMO). Anyhow, it seems like this is a losing battle, but thankfully I've had my chance to voice my opinion. Cheers Troy
(In reply to comment #10) > Does Eclipse still have usage reporting? Nope. Usage Data Collector project is not active anymore. Some old data is still available - http://www.eclipse.org/org/usagedata/results.php - but I do not think it includes info about 'Link with Editor'. (FWIW I do not use 'Link with Editor' in all the views all the time, so I would oppose changing the defaults here :-)
