Re: interactive style guide

["Dan Kaminsky" <effugas best com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Oskar Liljeblad <osk@hem.passagen.se>
To: gnome-gui-list@gnome.org <gnome-gui-list@gnome.org>
Date: Thursday, July 30, 1998 7:10 PM
Subject: interactive style guide


>I'm not really keeping up with this mailing list, so I might've missed
>something. But...
>
>It would be nice if the next official Gnome Style Guide was somewhat
>interactive, with more than just statements like "this is right" and "this
>is wrong". For each item or statement, there should be some background as
>well as information on WHY the rule exists. People who don't like or agree
>with that statement, and have a good reason not to, should be able to post
>their comment. Everyone should be able to read the comments.


This is a good idea, though I really don't think this form of interactivity
is good or necessary.  The *guide* should be a rock-solid document.  There
should be areas of *commentary* that contribute to the next version of the
guide, but the guide should be the guide.

I agree with the statement that all segments of the guide must explain *why*
a certain design philosophy is used, *as well as rebutt the reasons against
certain portions of the guide*.  Maybe we need to separate the document into
"what to do" and "why", but if we don't say "why", then we'll either be
eternally spending time explaining *why* X is a good thing, or just never
get it implemented.

>The Style Guide should be a constantly evolving and updated project. A
>repository for new ideas (we've seen many of them - the lightbulb widget,
>document-based interface, etc) would be nice too.


There's somewhat of a repository on the GNOME site; I expect it to grow
after Sunday.