Re: [Evolution-hackers] Filling in the Menu Bar: UI questions

[duncan mak <duncan login1 simplemente net>]

On Tue, Jun 06, 2000 at 04:25:02PM -0400, Ettore Perazzoli wrote:
>   I agree.   That was  first introduced by  Netscape and I  think it's
> broken because  the edit menu  is supposed to  contain editing-related
> commands. 

i don't think so, because the 'Preference' option is standard on the Mac,
and it's always part of the Edit menu. I think it is Netscape that is
copying the standard Mac beheavior, not the other way around.

>   Also,  usually the  top-level menu  items are  categories  and their
> children are actions  (like, edit/cut, file/open and so  on).  In this
> case, instead, it's more like  verb/object, and I think it's confusing
> and ugly.

i agree with you that 'edit/preferences' is a bit weird, however,
Microsoft's layout is not any better, i think they decided to make it
'Tools/Options' instead, and i find that to not be as intuitive as the Mac's.

>   The preferences should be in "Options" IMHO.

Well, a seperate top-level "Options" menu would be nice, since you can stuff
all the component settings into this menu. However, it won't be anymore
intuitive than any other layout, because ex-Mac users would expect the
'Preferences' dialog to be part of the 'Edit' menu, while ex-Windows user
would try to find some sort of 'Tools/Options' dialog box.

I think it would be quite pointless to try to find some sort of 'bestest'
layout, because everyone would have a difficult opinion, depending on their
computer background. As long as there is a standard set of guidelines for
which standard 'action' such be placed in which standard top-level menu, i
think we'll be okay. Consistancy is the key.

ps. Right now, i think the average beheavior in GNOME apps tend to be
'File/Preferences', or something like that. there really isn't a set of
guidelines for something like that, maybe someone should start working on
one ;)

duncan.