[Fwd: Re: [HIG] Icons in application menus and dialog action buttons]

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

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• From: Gregory Merchan <merchan baton phys lsu edu>
• To: Seth Nickell <snickell Stanford EDU>
• Subject: Re: [HIG] Icons in application menus and dialog action buttons
• Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 02:09:26 -0500

(Quote reflowed for readability.)
On Wed, Oct 24, 2001 at 10:24:05PM -0700, Seth Nickell wrote:
> Comment by Sullivan on the mixed use of icons in Nautilus menus....
> 
> ---- Additional Comments From sullivan eazel com 2000-12-12 11:20:09 ----
> 
> Currently we use standard GNOME menu icons for (at least some of) the
> standard menu items, like Cut/Copy/Paste/Close Window. We haven't been
> careful about doing this for all the standard menu items. Also, we have
> the bookmark items, whose icon is an integral part of the item, much more
> so than for Cut/Copy/Paste, etc. I've deliberately made the bookmark icons
> always show up (ignoring the GNOME user preference) because I felt they
> are of a more essential nature than the arguably-decorative icons next to
> standard commands.
> 
> We could leave this as is, remove the few standard-command icons we're
> using, or add icons for more standard-command items. Any of these seem
> fine to me, so I'll leave this up to Arlo.

Bookmarks menus are indeed a place where menu icons are sensible. But they
really belong in a global location to be shared by apps. That is probably
beyond the current scope of the HIG.

Amusingly, Nautilus is the application I know which is critically affected
by turning off menu item icons. I now have no way of knowing what is my user
level. Then again, I haven't really check to be sure that is the cause. The
strange icon from the menubar seems to have been removed regardless.

As it stands, we need a policy. Either one that says simply "No application
menu icons" or one for what and when those should be and how they should
behave. We also need a policy on dialog action button icons. I regard these
as separate issues. (And I probably should have sent two emails.)

Unfortunately, I feel constrained in trying to draft a policy for having them
as I do not know how they will work in 2.0. Nonetheless it is possible to
decide now whether to have them or not.

Rather than moving into debate over what they should be if they exist, let's
first decide whether such a debate is necessary.

Cheers,
Greg Merchan

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