Rules for software

A list of things that every piece of computer software do. This list will grow as and when I think of stuff to add to it.

1) Context-sensitive help (such as the "What's This" style help), if implemented, should be defined for EVERY button/option, in much the same way as every single image on a website should have an ALT tag.

2) All software should include an "uninstall" option, whether by an operating-system-provided mechanism or by a simple program supplied with the software. The uninstall should NOT require a reboot (except on those OS's where it's the only way to do it), should kill any running instances of any part of the software, clean up after itself (removing itself and the directories it was contained in) and ask the user if they want to remove configuration information for the program, save games, other files it finds in it's install directories, etc.

If the user does choose to keep this information, it should be put into a directory of the user's choice, labelled by default with the name of the software. This information should include any and all registry entries and, at the user's option, removing or reverting back any file association changes etc. that were made by the software.

3) If a program requires a certain file, library, etc. it should explicitly check for it at install time and run time. If any required file isn't found at any time, a check should be made for all required files and a list printed of the files the program needs in order to run. Lower-numbered versions of required files are seen as incompatible and will make the software print the file AND version required. Websites and other sources of these files should be displayed if known.

4) New versions of a program should ALWAYS come with a small utility or facility within the program itself to convert an installation of an older version into a format compatible with the new version. Hence, older config files are translated into any required new format automatically by the software to the equivalent or a safer configuration. These "convertors" should always be run whenever a previous installation has been detected and should be installed no matter what. Users should be informed by the software of any regressions in new configurations.

5) ALL software should co-exist with ANY version of itself without conflicts. On installation, it should not overwrite any previous installation unless asked to although it may steal, for example, file associations from it's previous versions.

6) Any installation changes with system-wide effect must gain the approval of the user before they are executed and provide an option to skip that step. Unless absolutely critical to the running of the program, the software should run whether the users chooses Yes or No. This covers file association changes, default printer changes, URL handler changes, default action changes (such as auto-insertion of audio CD's etc.) and similar measures.