Configuration Hell
Heya! So, I saw Ava's blogpost about customizing stuff you like a bit ago, so I wanted to give my own perspective about customizing stuff.
First up: I 100% agree with her. Buut... When it comes to customizing software specifically, there's some traps I see people (and myself) ocassionally fall into, and I wanted to talk about that.
"That" being the dreaded configuration hell! (Patent pending). Basically, if you're a nerd like me and love customizing the software you use, I'm sure you've been in a similiar situation before:
You want to write a story. "Hmm" you say. "I've been using obsidian for two years now, maybe there's a better editor out there to let me write faster."
Noble goal i suppose, makes sense to care about your tools.
So you go online and you search. You look at scrivener, You look at Notion, You check out Ulysses and Atticus.
"Hmm, but maybe there's something better."
You try out Emacs, you try out Vim, you spend hours configuring them to get the perfect setup.
...Then you realize you've spend a good five hours configuring tools instead of getting any writing done.
So, out of time for today, you put off writing that thing until tomorrow.
The next day, you start writing. It goes well for a few minutes, maybe half an hour. But then you realize that things could be better. Maybe a shortcut that would've helped save a few seconds. Maybe a custom menu bar that displays some info you want. Maybe you want a built-in filebrowser. So, you spent a couple hours fixing that.
Then a nagging thought enters your brain. "Maybe... I could do better still. I heard sandy is a good editor..." So, the cycle repeats. This is configuration hell. Sharpening your axe until there is no axe left to sharpen and the tree you were going to fell has already rotted away.
Configuring things is fun, but... there's limits. The problem is that customization can often become a goal unto itself. Because it feels productive. It feels like you're making progress. But, often times, you end up in a worse place than where you started. Because highly intricate setups can often be very complicated to use, and prone to breaking. One update that breaks a few plugins, and you're back at square one of config hell. And the thing is, you're never done. You can always be slightly more efficient, add one more feature. This is how you kill any hopes of ever getting anything done.
So, I think it's important to set boundaries there, to have some place you consider "good enough". I tend to not configure anything before thinking about whether changing that thing is worth the added complexity. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. If I didn't have that rule I would probably be jumping between weird indie web blogging platforms every couple of days lol.
Anyways. Obligatory xkcd here:
Thanks for reading :3