Re: App menu Help/About consistency

[Jim Nelson <jim yorba org>]

I've been on vacation and am still catching up.

On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 11:55 PM, Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net> wrote:

I don't think that core apps should be built like external ones, otherwise there'd be no point in making them core. On top of my head, the differences are: - they are shipped with the OS, not separately - they use generic names, not branded ones - they integrated with the OS in ways that stand-alone apps might not be able to (I'm thinking of every "sharing" app we use in the Sharing panel) - they follow the GNOME release process So I don't think the "core apps are models to third-party apps" argument works.

I'm not saying there are no differences between core apps and third-party apps.  I hardly think generic names and ship dates somehow prove a major distinction in basic software design either.  (And when you say OS, which OS are you referring to?)  I'm saying that third-party developers will want to know what patterns to follow in their design, and the core apps are the natural models for this.  This is hardly a bold concept.  Windows and Apple developers have followed those companies' lead for three decades now.

We've done this many times at Yorba, asking ourselves "What does gedit do in that case?" or "What does Nautilus do?"  It doesn't mean those are the final word on our design, but they suggest to us how the GNOME designers think an app should be modeled.  We want to be good GNOME desktop citizens, and core and blessed apps are guides toward that end.

If I'm so off-base here, then, please, someone enumerate all the things about the core apps third-party developers should ignore.  For example, we have a lot of interest in Geary using GtkHeaderBar because the core apps are using it.  Should we forgo that as well?  What else is special about core apps that other apps should ignore?

-- Jim