[GnomeMeeting-devel-list] re: HIG review

[Christopher Warner <us_redwolf yahoo com>]

I read the full HIG and the current GUI doesn't follow
it even closely. There are numerous problems including
the vertical toolbar. spacing etc as stated in the
review.

However me and dominance were disucssing this at some
point and came to the conclusion that if the GUI is
going to be drastically changed we'd have to provide
an option for users to use the "classic" or non HIG
compliant GUI. Also the vertical toolbar isn't
necessarily disallowed by the HIG.. it says to use it
as a last resort so technically it's not against the
HIG. Also some of the reviews items such as not
knowing what specific acronym stands for etc are
remedied via documentation. It's understandable that
the user shouldn't need to read documentation to use
something as simple as a video conferencing app but
when the terms need to be used; they simply need to be
used. If it means that instead of acronyms we use the
full phrase to describe "X" then thats what we have to
do. However if a user doesn't know what ILS is then
they aren't going to know what Internet Locator
Service is until looking it up, so in some cases it's
a practice in futility, at the very least though the
acronym should be expanded.

Everything else in this review I generally agree with,
but it means that the GUI has to be totally redone.
I've also already voiced my opinion on reporting GUI
bugs in bugzilla. Simply put, I think it's retarded;
you either try to follow the HIG for Gnome or you
don't. Even if the HIG is wrong or doesn't work for
certain situations then it's the HIG that needs to be
addressed first. Also program functionality and user
interface problems I feel are two different classes of
problem. So UI problems should probably be reported to
the list or compiled into a monthly, quarterly,
whatever review.

In any event i'm back 7/29 if no one does an HIG
mock-up of the new interface by then I'll also help
with that. I've put aside approximately 4 weeks (28
days) specifically for gnomemeeting so it shouldn't
affect getting the documentation complete. 


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