Re: UI Rantings [was: Re: gmc and file-selection mockups]

[sungod <sungod atdot org>]

"James M. Cape" wrote:

> IMO, the open/save dialogs are only lacking an icon for filetype, an
> easy sort method, and perhaps a carryover of the gnome dialog icons.
> Period. It works cleanly and efficiently *right now*. Making Gnome do
> all the useless interface crap that Microsoft has seen fit to bloat
> their programs with should never be a goal. Ever. And unfortunately for
> Microsoft, most of that interface crap comes from Windows' reuse of that
> godawful Explorer object.
>      Looking over some of the other suggestions, I came accross Double
> Right Clicking. Double Right Clicking?!?!?!? New users have a hard
> enough time dealing with double left clicking, why complicate the
> procedure needlessly. Keyboard shortcuts are the Right Way to do this
>      As for the consistency problem, why not store all the keyboard
> shortcuts in *one* place. That way, all the Open commands have the same
> shortcut, all the New commands have the same shortcut, all the
> Properties commands have the same shortcut, etc., etc., etc.

james, glad to see your input on the list. looks like you have some good
ideas about user interface design but would like to see some of them
developed fully and examples or code to clarify.

> Since I have started using Linux, I am constantly amazed by the general
> level of suggestions about the UI of Gnome/X/whatever. In the end, it
> amounts to "In Windows 95, I can do this one kewl thing (which violates
> quite a few basic UI principles and should never have been included in
> the first place). In Gnome/X/whatever, I can't do that, so
> Gnome/X/whatever should change." This "solution" is patently wrong.

agreed.

> Gnome is not Windows.

agreed.

> Gnome shouldn't try to emmulate Windows.

agreed.

> The
> reason for this is simple: The Windows UI is a pathetic attempt at
> usability.

disagreed. some of it is good. some of it is bad. i don't think
dismissing a suggestion merely on the basis that "windows does it that
way" is any better than _implementing_ such a feature for the same
reason.

i'd urge you to ignore windows altogether when designing the user
interface. use it for inspiration, sure, but distance yourself from
outside influences when writing code for gnome. let usability testing
and proven design rules take priority over how "other guys" do it.

[much more agreed upon and deleted]

> My personal UI Rules:

check out the apple human interface guidelines book or ben shneiderman's
eight golden rules of hci design for tested and proven design
fundamentals which should imo be adhered to like glue. if you have
problems finding either, check out my summary and grouping in the
archive for this list. i originally posted the comparison for inclusion
in the style guide; if demand still warrants, i have more material for
contribution as well.
-- 
 ______(sungod)_____________________________________
| To ensure privacy and data integrity this message |
| has been encrypted by using dual rounds of ROT-13 |
 ---------------------------(sungod@atdot.org)------