Re: To answer your question about the upcoming Style-Guide...

[Tom Vogt <tom lemuria org>]

George <jirka@5z.com> wrote:
> > plus things are moving to higher resolutions, if only for smoothness. who
> > knows what the main res will be in 2001 ? and we ARE building for 2000+
> > aren't we?
> 
> that's what the plus means ...  800x600 and MORE

but something looking cool on 800x600 will be absolutely tiny on 1920x1600.

> the point is .. we shouldn't fret about it being 100% as usable on a 640 as
> it is on an 800

ok, I agree. proposal: move "looks good on 640x480" into the "suggested"
category.



> > that's why I'd say "resize"
> they will be hanging around if we resize ... apples won't be able to resize

again, you're right.
what about the really high resolutions? sizing up should be much less of a
problem than sizing down.



> > that is true. and it's also true that it depends very much on who you put in
> > front of the machine. my victims were novice users and other non-nerdish
> > types, people who ARE afraid to tinker. should we take away most of the
> > power of gnome from them? I thought the "for nerds only" button was one of
> > the things we were trying to put away with?
> 
> if they are afraid to tinker then they WILL NOT TINKER ...
exactly. but they STILL might want to have an easy way to their favorite
apps. they'll be just too afraid to try out how it might work. that's why I
say we've got to put it right in their faces.


> > see what I'm going at? exactly those people have to have it right in their
> > face what they can do. these are people who will NEVER find out they can
> > roll up the window in afterstep by clicking on the title bar, because unless
> > there's a big red "click me!" button there, they won't even THINK about it.
> 
> in gnome we have a small button called "add" by a menu entry ... I guess that's
> suggestive enough
maybe it is. none of my test-people thought so, apparently. none tried.

I'm not saying I'm right here. I just suggest that I MIGHT.


> > I really want to make gnome useful for THOSE people. everyone with half a
> > clue can figure it out for himself.
> 
> such people won't figure out what they can do even if some default config is
> made for them

don't put them down. these people aren't stupid, just computer-illiterate.
if they have an interest AND the app is newbie-friendly, they'll figure out.
the same way you have people that will toast you in quake any day, but don't
know bits from bytes.


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