Re: [gnome-love] a way to document the design of a GUI

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 17 Aug 2008, at 19:11, Carlos Pereira wrote:

> Is there any method to do this documentation/design ? Is UML able to
> do this documentation ?

What you're describing is a UI specification document.  There are a  
few templates for such things floating around on the web, but there's  
no one "best" way to do it.  What's right for your project will depend  
on factors such as the other documentation conventions being used, and  
the audience for your document--whether it's programmers, managers,  
help writers etc...

UML can be used up to a point, but personally it's not an approach  
I've seen used on projects other than those where UML has been  
mandated for all the design documents--probably because most UI  
designers don't speak UML:
<http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/4697.html>
<http://www.ksl.stanford.edu/people/pp/papers/PinheirodaSilva_IMKB_2000.pdf 
>

More often, a UI spec looks something like these:
<http://www.uidesigns.com/spec/>
<http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/bridge/Software/Files/User%20Interface%20Specification.pdf 
>
<http://ui.netbeans.org/docs/hi/promoB/tasklist.html>
<http://shellrevealed.com/files/folders/2770/download.aspx>

Here's some more thoughts on writing UI specs:
<http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/getting_creative_with_specs_usable_software_specifications 
>

Cheeri,
Calum.

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            GNOME Desktop Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems