Re: Style Guide suggestion

[Gleef <gleef capital net>]

On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, sun wrote:
> Frederick I Gleef wrote:
> 
> >    * Preferences
> >    * Properties
> >    * Options
> >    * Configuration (or Configure)
> >    * Settings
> > 
> > The set I prefer is File|Options for application options, and
> > File|Settings for document specific settings.
> 
> of course, my new favorite being "configure" because it's the only verb
> on your list, and is very clear, and if used in conjunction with the
> trees/tabs/whatever discussed elsewhere, would make a nice portal into
> _all_ the application's configurations: document, default document,
> application, hell, even global gnome configurations, all available right
> there. talk about easy to find, easy to use, easy to accomplish simple
> tasks.

Yes, having it be a verb would be a Good Thing (TM), particularly for new
users.  I am strongly against combining application options and document
settings under one menu item, however.  This means we would need two
verbs, sufficently different to be easy to learn.  Brainstorming, and
consulting dictionaries:
   * Set (too confusing, probably hard to translate)
   * Fix (same problem)
   * Opt
   * Choose
   * Select
   * Pick
   * Adjust (not quite what we want to say)
   * Define (again, not quite what we're looking for)
   * Assort (too archaic)
   * Setup (My favorite here)

So, I would say that my modified stance would be to:
   1) Replace all references to a "File" menu in the style guide with a
      "Main" menu.
   2) Delete the sentence which says: 'In the event that "File" ["Main"]
      is not appropriate, another label may be used in its place.'
   3) If the application has a menubar and a dialog box to
      modify the settings of the application, the menu item should be
      "Main | Setup...".  If it doesn't have a menubar, whatever accesses 
      the dialog should be labelled "Setup".
   4) If the application has a menubar and a dialog box to modify the
      configuration of the currently active document, the menu item should
      be "Main | Configure...".  If it doesn't have a menubar,
      whatever accesses the dialog should be labelled "Configure".


> one other item, though, while it's on my mind: i think we should adapt
> apple's convention (although they don't always do this so well
> themselves) of putting ellipses (...) on menu choices that require
> further input before execution. true, it makes the menus a little wider,
> but it lets the user know before they make the choice that they get to
> "fine-tune" their command, and also that they will get a chance to
> cancel out of the command in case they decide it's not what they wanted
> to accomplish after all.

That's already in the style guide:

   'Menu items that open dialogs or require additional user information
    should indicate it with a "..." after the label. For example, the
    "About" menu entry in the "Help" menu should actually look like
    "About...".  '

-Gleef