Re: Menu Guidelines

[thristian atdot org]

On Tue, Jun 26, 2001 at 06:47:28PM +0100, Calum Benson wrote:
> colin z robertson wrote:

<mass snippage>

> File menu
> ---------

#include <std_i_agree_with_calum.h>

Just a mention - in the description for "new", you write "The New
command should create a new window with a blank document in it". I
hope it doesn't; rather it should reflect the user's current GnomeMDI
settings (new window, new tab, whatever). I'd be quite annoyed if
suddenly Galeon's tabbed-browsing mode were taken away by adherence to
UI standards. :)

> Edit Menu
> ---------
> 
> Separate Undo/Redo menu items tends to suggest multi-level Undo... if
> the app only supports one level, should we suggest a single menu option
> whose label changes between Undo and Redo instead?  

Yes. It also would be nice if the Undo and Redo menu-items' labels
changed to describe the last undoable/redoable action, too. What would
be *really* nice would be if gnome-core had a multi-level undo-redo
library you could slot into any application. :)

> Or would one of "Undo" and "Redo" just always be greyed-out?  (Can't
> say I really care much either way, but traditionally it's been done
> the first way, so the guidelines should probably at least say
> something about it).

Should be the same menu-item, renamed, with the same shortcut. Old
Photoshop users on the mac (as an example, not a target demographic)
no doubt remember trying a finely-adjusted filter, then repeatedly
tapping Ctrl-Z (or Command-Z on the Mac) to undo and redo the change,
looking to see if the filter was Just Right. :)


Why is the "Redo" shortcut Shift-Ctrl-Z? Vim has ^R and I've seen
other applications with Ctrl-Y or even Alt-Backspace (!) on Windows.
I think it would be easier if both undo and redo had two-key
shortcuts. I think Shift-Ctrl-Z would be a little uncomfortable on
this keyboard, at least.

> What about the concept of "Repeat" (which is basically "keep redo-ing,
> but to my new selection", as supported by M$ Word etc.), is this
> useful/widespread enough to be worth providing a guideline for?

Why not? Make the standard as far-reaching as possible, but you don't
have to include *all* feature in every app. Then when someone wants to
add a feature to their program, they're quite likely to find a
standard for whatever esoteric feature they need. :)


While we're here in the Edit menu, how about a standard shortcut for
Find/Find again? The fine folks in Galeon-devel have got it in their
brains that the Gnome standard for "Find" is F6, causing untold
headache for many users as they try to figure out why, and how to
change it. 

I think standardising on Ctrl-F (for Find...) and Ctrl-G (for Find
again) would do quite nicely.

> Options Menu
> ------------
> 
> Ah, okay, you've solved the "Preferences/Settings" debate by using the
> most neutral term for the configuration menu title :)  

How about we stick with "Settings" being things that you *have* to get
right for the program to work properly (think HTTP proxy, POP3 server,
etc) and "Preferences" having no Right Answer but rather whatever you
prefer. Right now, most GNOME apps use a "Settings" menu containing
one item, "Preferences", which seems rather odd.

And let's not forget the useful ability to put checkboxes and radio
buttons in the Settings menu, like Galeon's ever-popular "Enable
Javascript" item, "Enable proxy", as well as the image animation
prefs as well.

I suggest (well, OK, I nabbed it from mpt of n.p.m.ui :) that the
Preferences dialog be given the shortcut key "Ctrl-;".

<snip>

> Help Menu
> ---------
> 
> Personally, I'd also like to see a "Search Help" menu item by default,
> possibly even above "Help Contents"-- searching is probably about the
> most common thing people do with a Help system, and support for an
> (initially primitive) Search capability is being added to
> Scrollkeeper/Nautilus Help sidebar as we speak.  (This assumes that
> everyone would be using Nautilus or some other search-enabled viewer,
> though, which may not be a valid assumption?)

Er, no. :) Not on this little 300Mhz box with a measly 96MB of ram, at
any rate. I even can GMC to keep the memory usage down.. maybe I
should go back to Gnome 1.0 or October GNOME or something :(

> "About appname..." -- don't think this should have the trailing
> ellipsis?  Well, not if we're sticking to the traditional definition of
> what the ellipses mean, anyway.
> 
> Er..., that's it :)

Witty, Mr. Wilde, very witty. :)

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