modern software is overbloated by default, i think most people can agree with me on that one. and i think that Plugins are the solution to that issue.
as an example
take a look at Obsidian - when you turn everything off, it does what note taking software is meant to do - Take Notes. and then, you can flip switches in settings to enable whatever you'd like for workflow improvement. want backlinks to other notes? have em. want to record audio? go ahead. graphs for link visualization? you're done. have a fuckton of files? enable search. you're a power user who wants a command palette? feel free to.
and that's just a small subset of core plugins. there are a metric ton of community plugins that enhance the experience even further. (and hey, i'm even drafting this chost in Obsidian!)
and more software should adapt to this
i especially want platforms to do this. like, if i go on a Website, let's take pre-moron birdsite for example, i used it only to browse my timeline and occasionally look people up. i wish i could disable all these unneeded features, like DMs, spaces, whatever else was on twitter at the time.
i'd also like to do the same to youtube - only leave in the home page, notifications and search.
on discord - i'd like to disable whatever nitro bullshit devs come up with, and have a simple UI that Just Works.
do i even need to mention itunes?
i even adapt my own things to this mindset
take puffer for example. great little discord server management bot i work(ed) on from time to time - and it also uses a neat plugin system. you open the config file, only select whatever cogs you need for your use cases, and it's only gonna launch those. neato!
some time ago i wrote about an audio player that i want to actually daily-drive, instead of the iphod. and what i didn't write is extensibility. by default, i believe, it should be an Audio Player - you put music on it, you hit Play, it outputs music. simple as.
but what would be nice - is extending it. adding wallpaper, custom fonts, maybe custom UI for those who want it, whatever people come up with, that works for them. but this shouldn't be the default, because it'd overbloat the product. and that's something not a lot of developers/manufacturers of modern products understand.
this isn't anything novel either
this chost is just me putting my thoughts on this out, this isn't a new idea or anything. but it's a view that i'd love to see more developers and manufacturers to adopt. because that is how you make software that adapts to the user, and not the other way around.
