[gnome-db] HIG issues

[Axel Krauth <krauth fmi uni-passau de>]

Hi!

I'm using mergeant as found in Debian's unstable (0.11.0). While using it I
encountered inconsistencies of mergeant with the HIG. This is list is
definitely not complete I wrote just the most prominent ones. 
The .html-Files mentioned in parentheses are the HIG-files that explain/
recommend the specific issue. 

1) Desktop Integration (that's mergeant.desktop)
The HIG suggests using a functional description of your application in
addition to the proper name of the application. The current name is
"Mergeant". I suggest using "Mergeant Database Administration" instead. The 
tooltip on the other hand should describe the most important tasks the users 
can accomplish with the applications and also phrase it using an imperative 
verb. So "DBMS admin tool" isn't sufficient and according to the foreword in 
the manual I'd say that "Maintain and query a sql database" would be a better 
tooltip.
 
2) Some nitpicking (windows.html#preference-windows)
Gnome's default title of a setting dialog is "ApplicationName Preferences" and
not "ApplicationName Settings"

3) Authentication window for connecting (windows.html#alerts-authentication)
- There is a stock item for authentication windows
- An authentication window is an alert window. This implies that is has no
  title and the default keyboard navigation is as follows:
  - Okay/Connect not enabled until all fields have been filled by the user.
  - When the user presses Return, move focus to the next field instead of
    activating the default button, unless the field is the last one. In that
    case, activate the default button.
- The window that pops up while connecting and which tells what it's doing
  has a stop button (good) which is not enabled (bad). Don't provide a
  cancel button if it's never enabled.

4) Main window
Some issues, but the most disturbing one is changing of the toolbar and the
menu after connecting/disconnecting to a DB.
Users expect (and the HIG recommends) that the toolbar and the menu structure
don't change! If an item isn't available (like disconnect when not connected) 
items ought to be disabled instead of being invisible.
- Several menu items open a window stating "not implemented, see in .....".
  Their existence maybe is a good reminder for you but for the user it's plain
  unusable.
- Please rename the "View" menu. It's a standard menu
  (menus.html#menu-standard-view)
- On my machine not every toolbaritem is visible, the "R" of "Rollback
  transaction" is the last visible letter.
- The toolbar item "_Contents" should not be included in the toolbar since:
  "A toolbar is a strip of controls that allows convenient access to
  commonly-used functions". And also:
  "Don't add buttons for Help, Close or Quit to your toolbar by default, ..."

5) Quit
Quiting mergeant before connecting raises the following dialog

Do you really want to quit ?
 <no> <yes>

First, this is a confirmation alert so it shouldn't have a title. There is
also a stock item for this, the stock warning icon (but I'm not quite sure 
whether - when you see it - you'll like it. Remember why Gnome recommends
stock items). The recommended button combination for Quit is "Cancel&Quit" 
not "Yes/No". You have an appropriate quit dialog when connected to a DB
(well, besides the fact that it has a title).


Hope this helps :)

/Axel