One more tidbit: In the "When I do this", I find it useful to omit stuff that isn't interesting. Does the thing fail if I do something immediately? Or does it only occur if the application has been dormant for a few minutes? Does it only occur using the mouse, or can I use the keyboard?
Get a good set of steps for reproducing the problem, but wander a little off those steps to see what is actually necessary. I've been surprised more than once when something that I thought was incredibly complex only required a few steps. And also been surprised when a complex repro was actually complex (e.g., if I drag quickly it works, but if I drag slowly it doesn't? what?).
One more tidbit: In the "When I do this", I find it useful to omit stuff that isn't interesting. Does the thing fail if I do something immediately? Or does it only occur if the application has been dormant for a few minutes? Does it only occur using the mouse, or can I use the keyboard?
Get a good set of steps for reproducing the problem, but wander a little off those steps to see what is actually necessary. I've been surprised more than once when something that I thought was incredibly complex only required a few steps. And also been surprised when a complex repro was actually complex (e.g., if I drag quickly it works, but if I drag slowly it doesn't? what?).
It's probably better to err on the side of having too many steps rather than missing cruicial steps to reproduce the problem.
...4. And this is my software version and Linux distro.
Also useful to run the app from the terminal, replicate the bug, and see if any logs pop up.
Ugh no thanks, I'll just send them a screenshot and say "it's broken, please fix this!"
If it's good enough for my colleagues to submit tickets like this, it's good enough for me!