There is no such thing as a feature that doesn’t need documentation. Anyone who thinks so is asking everyone else not to use it
I write two forms of documentation:
One is an in-depth description of function, form and reason to understand and advance on the principles, stepping through processes and offering the opportunity to build on it if they choose
The other is designed for a hungover tech with a screaming customer on the line who just wants to know what to do to make it all go away.
// teabag
// flail
Appropriate that you used tea bags because it’s a popular legend that tea bags were created after customers misused the product. Some tea sellers started selling their tea in silk bags with the intention that customers would remove the leaves from the bag before use. Instead, customers dipped the bag of leaves directly into water.
Every application kind of needs two modes: a default mode where the user is railroaded into making the right decision, and an “I’m not an idiot and will actually read the documentation before/after trying to make things work” mode. If you stick the toggle for the two modes somewhere that you’d only find by reading the documentation, people will automatically categorize themselves into the mode the ought to be in.
You actually need proper documentation, though. I’ve had to read source code to discover or figure out how to use cli flags way too many damn times. (I’m not a real programmer, I just work on infrastructure).
I’m sorry to tell you this but you are a real programmer.
android does it well, if you want “developer” mode that let’s you have better control over your system you have to do some funny IT rituals you can only access by 1. knowing they exist 2. googling how to do it
Steam OS has kind of the same philosophy too. Normal users can treat it like a switch, only ever downloading from steam, and have a perfectly intuitive experience. But power users still have the options to run other software, customize the os, and even outright replace the os.
I love my Steam deck for this reason. I started out using it to replace my switch and now I’m easing my way into learning Linux.
Although it’s pretty easy to stumble upon some guide that you don’t understand that gets you to enable dev mode. Not saying it happens a lot, but there’s not a very high bar for the test for enabling dev mode.
The documentation:
Put the leaves inside the cup
Then the user rips open the bag and pours the leaves inside
And pours the boiling water on its legs.
Yes, that could be a third option.
Making apple pies is much harder cause you have to build a universe first. I just skip right past those recipes.
The sort of end user that gets common sense stuff wrong is not the sort of end user that would ever have read the documentation anyway 🤷
