Re: PROPOSAL: UISG Menu Line Standardization

[John R Sheets <dusk smsi-roman com>]

Bowie Poag wrote:

> Thank you. :) I've been working with programmers on one or more projects
> since like '92, and it never fails -- The LAST thing that ANY of them
> wants to do, is document. They feel whatever you have to write for command
> line help should be sufficient.

There's a difference between CLI apps and GUI apps.  GUI apps, by nature, have much
more complex, visual interfaces, and are more prone to need documentation.  CLI is
very straightforward, once you get the general concept.  Command
name...parameters.  Period.  However, GUI apps have many different types of clicks
that affect the app differently in different areas...plus many different
widgets...etc.  You really can't compare the two as far as the importance of
documentation.

> Coders are coders, thats never going to
> change. You can only encouraget them to write the documentation in order
> for their program to gain more acceptance in the public. You cant force
> them, ala a Style Guide requirement, to write dox -- They'll reject it
> outright.

Then they won't get so-and-so level of compliance.  And they're free to.  They can
still release their app in whatever form they like.  It may be a killer GNOME app,
with very advanced features.  But until it has good, reliable docs, it should not,
IMHO, get higher compliance.  If compliance is important enough to the programmer,
he will deal with the docs, or get someone else to do them.

It is more important to have GNOME in a solid, well-documented state, that it is to
play PR games with programmers (of which, I am one, so I'm slipping my own neck
into the noose, too).

John