RE: RGSG

["Wesley Felter" <wesf cs utexas edu>]

> > See this, folks?  What was once a nice, semi-predictable 
> menu(left most text
> > menu is where I can do all my input output stuff) now becomes a 
> frothy huge
> > mess of "document?  betcha page numbering would be nice, and columns per
> > page, hell lets just mix the entire file and options menu, thank you
> > document!"  I phear this.
> 
> if you're trying to make me mad, i hope you enjoy whatever weird
> satisfaction you get from succeeding. i have in front of me right now a
> macintosh laptop running claris works, famed for its simple and
> intuitive user interface. in the "file" menu i picked "page setup" and
> am presented with a dialog box with paper sizes, orientations, and other
> document-wide settings.
> 
> see this, folks? what was once a nice, highly-acclaimed program in use
> by thousands of schools and colleges, still winning awards with its user
> interface, has hereby been declared a frothy huge mess in which, hell,
> we just mixed the entire file and options menu, thank you file!

Aww, I think you're picking on Dan here. The reason why Page Setup is in the File menu is because it has to do with printing, so they put it right next to Print. In this case, the designers apparently thought grouping related commands was more important than putting each command in the right menu (Print belongs in the File menu; Page Setup properly belongs in the Options menu.).

I don't know what the UISG should say about Page Setup, but both Dan and Claris have rational reasons for where they put it.

I don't think we'll be able to come up with any kind of totally-internally-consistent set of rules for designing user interfaces. There are always trade-offs. Page Setup is one of them. The About box and online help is another tradeoff; should they go in the Gnomeprint/Program/tmfkap menu or a separate Help menu? Theoretically they belong in the Gnomeprint menu, but online help is an exception because it needs to be really, really obvious.

Wesley Felter - wesf@cs.utexas.edu - Hack the Planet