264907 - about:config : can't rename or delete preference names

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 193332

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

Description

[Alexandre Lima]

User-Agent:       Opera/7.60 (Windows 98; U)  [en]
Build Identifier: 

In the about:config page, if you try to create a new preference but make a typo, 
there is no (easy) way to correct it. The context menu has Modify and Reset but 
these only work to the preference value, not the name.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Type "about:config" in the addressbar.
2. Right click on a preference, New..., Integer.
3. Typed "nglayouy.initialpaintdelay".
4. Noticed that it was missing a "." between "paint" and "delay". Tried to 
modify the entry but never managed to do it.


Expected Results:  
There should be a context menu option to modify the preference name.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

You should normally be able to remove them by choosing 'reset', but then there's
bug 193332 ...

Comment 2

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

reset clears the value, so it'll be gone on restart.  Just recreate it.

Comment 3

[Alexandre Lima]

(In reply to comment #2)
> reset clears the value, so it'll be gone on restart.  Just recreate it.

OK, but no one knows that the value will disappear on restart -- that's NOT 
intuitive at all. Firefox should be smart enough to make these modifications 
without a restart. We're talking about usability. Even regedit lets us modify/
delete entries on the fly. If security matters, let us delete only the user set 
entries. But let us do it in an easy, quick and doubt-proof way.

Comment 4

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

about:config is something that exists for advanced users, not something that's
intended for typical use.  Users who actually find out about it should also be
astute enough to learn its quirks.

Comment 5

[Alexandre Lima]

(In reply to comment #4)
> about:config is something that exists for advanced users, not something that's
> intended for typical use. 

Neither regedit is, for example.

> Users who actually find out about it should also be
> astute enough to learn its quirks.

"astute"? oh god. they are lucky if they find out that a resetted value 
disappeared. If deleting the value on the fly is so hard to do, at least change 
the string "Reset" to "Remove" and make a popup saying the value will only 
disappear on exit/restart.

Being an "advanced feature" has absolutely nothing to do with the usability 
issue i'm talking about.

Comment 6

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

its more of a "hidden and barely supported" feature than an advanced feature,
actually.  And this is probably a dupe, but I have no idea where about:config
bugs really live.

Comment 7

[Tuukka Tolvanen (sp3000)]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 193332 ***

Comment 8

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs,
filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change