Re: RSG, draft three

["Dan \"Effugas\" Kaminsky" <effugas best com>]

>i think the approach to this category of software is going the wrong
>way.
>
>the examples given, kai software and mp3 players, shamelessly fly in the
>face of apple's style guide and break every little rule they possibly
>can. the question is, so what?
>
>it's great software, it is still designed well in spite of its
>differentness, and it's still rare enough that it doesn't cause major
>consistency problems. so what's the problem? let them be non-compliant.
>no need to bloat the style guide to accomodate software authors who
>don't give a rip what's in the style guide anyway. :) that would be like
>a girls' school headmistress, when confronted with an all-nude girls
>basketball team screaming "we wanna play nekkid" and brandishing large
>sticks, going, "um, well, uh, okay." i kinda think they're going to do
>what they want anyways, so it doesn't matter. let them go. enjoy their
>software. don't try to pin them down.
>
>hmm. all-nude girls basketball teams screaming "we wanna play nekkid."
>hmm. think we can fit them into the style guide, guys? :)


LOL, probably the funniest image I've had in a while.

I didn't say we should take ALL the possibilities for a strange interface
into account.

I said we should take THE possibility for strange interfaces into account,
and not say "Oh if you don't fall into line with the style guide then you're
automatically a bad app."

Anyway, there are STILL some minimum-level requirements we might have of
"experimental apps", and even some higher level requests.  "Creates entry on
taskbar/minbar" is something like a GC2, mayyyybe a 1, I dunno.  "Does not
leave a phantom process behind for any reason when the user closes the
application" is a definite #1.  I don't care if the MP3 player wants to open
up fast, if I tell it to close and it looks like it closed, it better damn
well have closed.

No presumptions here.