Re: Revisiting App Menu

[Tom Vogt <tom lemuria org>]

Carl Thompson <carlt@elinux.net> wrote:
> On 8 Jul 1998, Preben Randhol wrote:
> >  ---------------------
> >  | Gnome  File  Help |
> >  -|-----|-------------
> >   |     --------
> >   |Preferences |
> >   |About       | 
> >   |Exit        |
> >   |------------|
> > 
> I see two problems:
> 
> 1. New converts aren't going to know to look under the Gnome menu to exit
>    the program.

they will learn very, VERY quickly. why not change an app to look that way,
force some users in front of it and time how long it takes them to find the
exit. my bet is at 20 seconds.


> I think the extra menu will throw some people off.  New
>    Linux users aren't stupid, but they often are very used to doing things
>    in a particular way.

I don't think an extra menu will throw anyone off - people are used to
sometimes as much as a dozen menu items in especially bad cases. and as long
as the gnome menu is consistent, it's a one time learning effort that - as
someone else wrote - is almost expected by anyone. if you install a new gui,
you KNOW that it will be at least a bit different than what you were used
to.


> 2. Users may eventually wish to use programs that aren't part of Gnome.
>    These programs will almost certainly continue using the "standard" menu
>    layout so, if we change the Gnome layout from this standard, we will be
>    causing more UI inconsistency headaches for users, which is the exact
>    opposite of what we intend.  Remember, Gnome apps will run in a heter-
>    ogeneuos environment; it's not realistic to believe users will only use
>    Gnome applications.

this is the only problem I agree with. however, if we don't have the courage
to break with current standards, we can forget about everything anyway, so
the question is if this is worth the break or not. imho it is. yours?


-- 
The universe does not have laws -- it has habits, and habits can be broken.