RE: PROPOSAL: UISG Menu Line Standardization

[Josh Steiner <Josh BerkeleyNet com>]

I hear this argument all the time: "coders don't want to be _forced_ to
documentation, they just want to code, code, code!".  I understand that
this is based in reality, but this should not stop us from aiming high
in our guidlines.  Afterall, isn't the point of the GC to _ensure_ that
"Gnome Compliant" apps are the shining examples of good free software?
I might agree that maybe having a program without docs would still allow
you too qualify for the loosest (is this GC1 or GC5? I am confused here)
compliance rating.  Many coders out there will not like to put time and
energy into a well desinged gui, because they think their time could be
better spent optimising their methods, but this does not mean that we
should not mandate good gui design in this document.  The very _point_
of this document is to try to raise the standard of the software out
there.  To sum up, perhaps the lowest level of compliance does not
_require_, but strongly encourages docs.  But if you want to earn the
pride and joy of a high Gnome compliance rating, you best take a little
time to learn docbook :)  Sound reasonable?

Josh

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Evan Lawrence [SMTP:evan@unix.worldpath.net]
> Sent:	Monday, August 10, 1998 2:39 PM
> To:	gnome-gui-list@gnome.org
> Subject:	Re: PROPOSAL: UISG Menu Line Standardization
> 
> On Mon, 10 Aug 1998, JR Tipton wrote:
> 
> > Write the documentation.  The users will love you for it.
> > 
> > There is no argument to that.
> 
> One thing I'd like to point out here is that, while I'm sure noone
> says
> documentation is a bad thing, many coders (and I certainly include
> myself
> is this) code for fun  (why else would they be giving the software
> away
> for free?) and feel that their time could much better spent actually
> coding, or learning, or coding, or debugging or (did I mention
> coding?) 
> since writing documentation is kind of a drag IMO... My suggestion
> to those people here who aren't actually writing any code - I know
> you're out their :) - and feel that documentation is so important
> (although if you develop an intuitive enough UI very little
> documentation
> should be necassary) *and* if you also feel like helping out in the
> GNOME
> project, volunteering to write documentation I'm sure would be much
> appreciated. Telling the programmer to write the documentation is
> slightly
> less well recieved, since they're already contributing in some other
> way.
> 
> 
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