Re: Are Message Catalogs Worth It?

[pboin]

Not knowing too much about your specs, I'd lean towards "Yes, have a structured message system."

For one, it's really not that difficult before-the-fact. It can be much more expensive to implement if you change your mind and do it later. Also, it should be much easier to standardize and control the message delivery, (formatting, tense, tone-of-speech, etc.).

Finally, I think it would be easier to test. One of my pet peeves is when a project has the capability to issue messages that aren't to be found in the docs. If the messages are structured, you'll be able to more easily ensure that they're all documented correctly.

I just can't really see much downside to doing it 'right'. Who ever regretted that?