[Fwd: About the GNOME user inteface]

[Christopher Blizzard <blizzard appliedtheory com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: About the GNOME user inteface
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 19:33:32 +0200
From: "Jonas Persson" <jonas.persson@mactive.se>
To: <blizzard@appliedtheory.com>

Hi!

I am a system developer and Linux/GNOME user, and I am following the
GNOME
project with great interest. But I do have one major suggestion:

Do steal user interface elements from the NeXTstep GUI! I do not think
of
NeXT as the ultimate OS/GUI, as some do, but some things are just
incredibly
clever. What I like the most is the cleanness - it sets it apart from
the
Windows UI, which simply looks cluttered in comparison. I am sorry to
tell
that I see a little to much common thing in Windows 95/NT and in GNOME
(as
speaking of UIs):

- Cluttered windows (menubar, buttonbar, statusbar). Keep windows clean,
show only the information that is usable, not as much as possible! I
consider statuslines at the bottom of windows incredibly irritating,
they
almost never tell anything of importance but they are always stealing
screen
estate.
- Lack of proper shortcuts. Please add a standard shortcut page (like,
always close windows with Ctrl-W, just an example). These should be
GNOME-wide.
- Stupid icon layout in the file manager. Allow the user to place his
icons
as he want! I do not like the 'fill-modes' that both W95/NT and GNOME is
currently using.

But most important, methinks, is adding the possibility of of removing a
menubar, and instead activating it with the right mouse button (and
making
it context sensitive). All menus can be hidden this way. If there is
bost
static menus (like the menu bar) and contextual menus, add a separator
line
and put the static first (or last) in the background menu. And the menus
should be 'pinnable', i.e. turned into windows. This can be VERY
convenient!
Take a look at:

http://www3.pair.com/mccarthy/nextstep/NeXT_Menus.htmld/

to see what I mean (this concerns the future Mac OS, which I do not care
of,
but the arguments are very good). The GIMP partly behaves as I wish (you
still cannot pin the menus...).


I hope you find the suggestions worthwhile! If not, or you even find
them
downright stupid, do not hesitate to discuss it with me if yoy wan to...
I
am not a flamer, but a thinking person...;-)

Cheers! / Jonas Persson