[HIG] Style and Substance (HIG Summary for 16 August)

[Adam Elman <aelman users sourceforge net>]

HIG team --

OK, here's a summary of what I think we've decided and what remains 
to be decided for the pre-production phase of the mini-Guidelines 
(i.e. before we start spewing out content :).

Open question:
* We need to agree on a higher-level style guide for the content. 
See my and Calum's previous emails on this.  I'd like to have 
consensus by Sunday evening (00:00 GMT Monday 20 August, 5PM PDT Sun. 
8/19).

Decisions:
1) We will use docbook SGML for writing the content. 
Screenshots/figures will be created in PNG format; we'll test them on 
different browsers and fix them or convert to JPEG if we have to (but 
will not use GIF due to GNOME's position on patents).

2) The outline of the mini-Guidelines will be as follows.  Initials 
next to each section are claimed; an (o) indicates a section that is 
not a showstopper if it's missing.

(o) Introduction (AE)

(o) Usability Principles (AE)

Menus + Toolbars
- Principles (CZR)
- Standard Menus (CZR)
- Toolbars (CB)

Dialogs
- Principles (CZR)
- Modal v. modeless (CZR)
- General layout, standard dialog button labels (CZR)
(o) Standard Dialogs (Property dialogs, what else?) (CZR)

Layout and Aesthetics / Controls and Layout
- Choosing the right control for the right job (CZR)
(o) Why layout is important (CZR)
- Fonts + colours, inc. relevant accessibility/i18n/l10n issues (CB)

(o) Terminology (GM)

Keyboard and Mouse Input basics
- Relevant bits from accessibility guidelines (CB)
- Default Keybindings (??)
(o) Guidelines for drag and drop (??)

(o) Reality Checks (CB)

3) Here is the updated calendar for the mini-Guidelines.  I agree 
with Maciej's comment about the review period and have taken that 
into account.

DONE: 00:00 UTC Thursday, 16 August (aka 5PM PDT on Wed. 8/16): firm 
decisions on:
* Outline and prioritization of mini-guideline contents
* Technical style guidelines for writing mini-guideline content

00:00 UTC Monday, 20 August (aka 5PM PDT on Sunday, 8/19):
* all sections of the mini-guidelines have volunteers to write them. 
(almost there!)
* firm decision on higher-level style guidelines for writing 
mini-guideline content.

VERSION 0.1
00:00 UTC Friday, 28 September (aka 5PM PDT on Thurs. 9/27): draft 
content for all sections has been committed to CVS so that other 
members of the HIG team can comment.

00:00 UTC Friday, 12 October (aka 5PM PDT on Thurs. 10/11): primary 
reviewer comment period ends; all reviewer comments should be in by 
this point.  HIG team incorporates comments into the content.

VERSION 0.5
00:00 UTC Friday, 26 October (aka 5PM PDT on Thurs. 10/25): reviewer 
comments are incorporated into text, draft is published for further 
comment by wider GNOME Usability Project team.

00:00 UTC Friday, 16 November (aka 5PM PDT on Thurs. 11/15): primary 
reviewer comment period ends; all reviewer comments should be in by 
this point.  HIG team incorporates comments into the content.

VERSION 1.0
00:00 UTC Friday, 30 November (aka 5PM PDT on Thurs. 11/29): All 
comments are incorporated, "final" mini-guidelines for GNOME 2.0 are 
published.

Let me know if you have any comments on this.

Thanks,
Adam
--