Re: [HIG] Must-change list

[Maciej Stachowiak <mjs noisehavoc org>]

On 22Oct2001 01:18PM (-0700), Adam Elman wrote:
> 
> SECTION 1. Introduction
> -----------------------
> 1. We will replace Seth's intro with Maciej's alternate introduction, 
> with the following changes:
> 
> * We're not really covering the philosophy and general design 
> principles behind the GNOME UI, so we should remove that sentence.
> * I'd like to add the following text at the end (comments welcome):
> 
> These guidelines are, like the rest of the GNOME project, created and 
> maintained primarily by volunteers.  If you are interested in 
> participating in contributing to future revisions of the GNOME Human 
> Interface Guidelines or other usability projects related to GNOME, 
> please see http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/ for further 
> information.

I suggest cutting this to:

"If you are interested in contributing to future revisions of the
GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, please see
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/ for further information."

I think that gets the point across in half the length.

 
> If you're not convinced that usability is important to your 
> application, we recommend reading Seth Nickell's essay, "Why We Care 
> About Usability (And So Should You)". (linked)
> 

I suggest that the essay link to the guidelines ("here are some ways
to make your Gnome applications more usable") rather than vice
versa. Why? Because the article will, if all goes well, sound
incredibly dated when the problems mentioned in it get fixed
items. The HIG will hopefully have more staying power. :-)

Also, I think we shouldn't even mention the possibility of not caring
about usability in the HIG. We should assume that people do. I think
the best way to persuade people who are not already convinced (an
increasingly small minority) is to do good work, rather than
constantly trying to justify ourselves.

Regards,

Maciej