Re: themes for GNOME2 docs

[Chris Lyttle <chris wilddev net>]

On Wed, 2001-12-19 at 02:45, Pat Costello wrote:

> - Screenshots should appear as close as possible to what the user really sees 
> on-screen. There are no drop-shadows around windows on-screen, so what is the 
> justification for adding them to screenshots in documentation? 
> 
> - Any non-essential visual or textual information can distract a user, or even 
> confuse a user. 
> 
> To sum up, every component of information design, whether textual or visual, 
> should play a role in communicating concepts to the user. If a specific 
> component does not convey a concept, or part of a concept, then the presence of 
> the component only adds to the processing burden for the user, without bringing 
> a piece of understanding. Essentially, decorative components reduce  
> communication effectiveness. 
> 
Ah ha! Now these are the sort of arguments that seem reasonable to me
against using special effects, esp the one about confusing the user. I
would suggest adding these comments to the style guide instead of a
plain 'dont do this' as this will give some view of the reasoning behind
doing things a certain way.

Chris