Settings are in the Settings App

With the release of version 2.0 of Tweetie – and its consequent (and noticeable) shift from the Settings app to an inside-the-application Settings mode – has rekindled the debate of where the settings of an application should be ideally placed. This write-up tries to give a wholesome view on the issue and put things in perspective.

Reasons to put application settings in Settings.app

There are three simple, lucid reasons that support placing the settings in Settings.app. These are: a) ease of implementation, b) consistency, and c) advised to do so by Apple themselves. Let’s tackle these one-by-one.

a) Ease of implementation: Having all of the settings in the Settings.app feature means that you can use/change them quickly, and easily.

b) Consistency: Having a centralized interface for the settings of all the applications ensures uniformity over a wide range of applications. This makes for simpler and easier user experience.

c) Apple’s recommendation: Apple has taken great care to designing the Settings.app feature – and surely, a lot of thought has gone into it. If the company itself recommends the use of the Settings mode for third party applications, then there must be a good reason – such as the unnecessary burdening of the application’s utility.

Reasons to put app settings in the application itself

Now let’s hear the other side of the debate. For starters, if the application settings are located in the application itself, the incorporated setting changes can be viewed instantly. You don’t have to exit the Settings mode and start the app again to view the new changes.

Moreover, it is always easier for the users to locate the Settings dialog if it is there in the app itself. It will be hard to search for the settings of a particular application in the Settings.app feature once you have a large number of applications installed.

Putting the application settings in the app makes it easier for executable codes. Such codes are, in fact, not allowed to run from the Setting.app mode.

Another problem that can arise from having a large number of apps installed is that the Settings.app dialog may take a long time to load if all of them have their settings in it. This can be avoided if most apps have their settings dialogs in themselves.

The tough thing nowadays is that – with more and more switching over to within-application Settings modes, once a user comes across an app that does not have one, he/she is most likely to (wrongly) presume that the application does not have a settings option at all. The truth might be that the particular application in question has its settings in Settings.app.

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