[cups.general] Why not "recommend" PPDs in the NickName?

[Michael Sweet]

Till Kamppeter wrote:
> Johannes, I am of exactly the same opinion as you. I think it is very 
> important that if there is more than one driver for one and the same 
> printer model that unexperienced users are guided somehow which driver 
> they should choose. Or one should even hhave the possibility to offer a 
> beginner's mode in a printer setup tool which shows only models and not 
> drivers and the tool selects the driver (This I did in printerdrake in 
> Mandriva Linux).

Right, and that does *not* require the word "recommended" in the
NickName, which (without proper context) is useless and misleading.

> I also think that a central supplier of knowledge and information about 
> printer support like the OpenPrinting database (former 
> linuxprinting.org) should recommend drivers (and not only list the 
> working ones).

What is the sense of listing non-working drivers?

> Mike, if you do not like the way how I guide unexperienced users by 
> putting information into the OpenPrinting database, please tell me in 
> which form I should provide the info about which driver is the best for 
> a printer.

I suspect a rating system that accounts for how well the driver
supports a printer's features, whether the driver is a native CUPS
driver or a Foomatic-based Ghostscript driver, and suitability for
various types of printing (text, graphics, photos) would be the most
useful.  Then your helper application can choose the best match based
on what the user wants the printer for (with preference for native
CUPS drivers...)

 > I am open for any suggestion to improve the OpenPrinting
> database. And in my opinion it must be possible for an unexperienced 
> user to set up a printer by selecting only the model and not requiring 
> from him to know what a driver is and which one is the best.

I agree completely.  However, the current mechanism ("recommended" in
the NickName) is completely arbitrary and usually wrong.  For example,
a Foomatic driver should NEVER be the recommended driver when a vendor
PPD or CUPS-based driver is available, since Foomatic drivers do not
work with Windows clients or page accounting.

> If the OpenPrinting database recommends a wrong driver, this is a bug, 
> missing user experience coming to me, or outdated information in case of 
> a new, better driver having appeared. In all these cases please tell me 
> about the bad choice for a recommended driver and I will correct it. If 
> you like I will give you write access to the database, so that you can 
> add drivers and/or change recommendations.

Again, static recommendations are useless.  You need context for the
installed drivers on the local system and the specific device and
usage.

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products           mike at easysw dot com
Internet Printing and Document Software          http://www.easysw.com