[HIG] Comments on the GNOME 2.0 Human Interface Guidelines

[Kathy Fernandes <fernande nosc mil>]

1.  Recommend that one of the sections in the Introduction address 
what it means to be "GNOME-compliant."  This term is used in the 
GNOME User's Guide but not defined there.  I would like to see the 
HIG provide some general policy statements about what developers need 
to do if they want to describe themselves as "compliant" with the 
GNOME style.  When I made a similar comment on a previous draft of 
the HIG, the response was that "hackers will do what hackers want to 
do."  Not everyone who uses the HIG will be a hacker; some of us work 
with developers that will be directed (contractually) in the near 
future to deliver a "GNOME-compliant style," and it would be helpful 
if these statements were available for those of us who need them.

2. Make Your Applications Consistent - This section needs to address 
the following issue with regard to "consistency:"  GNOME provides the 
mechanisms to mimic attributes of the style of other GUIs (e.g., 
Windows). However, the HIG contains visual design guidelines that 
differ from these GUIs (e.g., push button order in dialogs).  As a 
result, users interacting with an application that provides a 
Windows-appearing style will encounter some significant divergences 
from that style which will negatively impact the transfer of their 
expertise with that style to the GHOME application.  This section of 
the HIG indicates that "a misapplied, or incomplete, consistency is 
actually worse than inconsistency."  For those of us who develop and 
maintain software that must be usable by operators working on 
multiple platforms, this issue is a significant one.  While I'm not 
suggesting that the GNOME HCI be identical to that of other 
established GUIs, you need to at least acknowledge this dilemma with 
regard to consistency in the HIG.

3.  Utility Windows - Why does the list of frame commands for a 
Property window and a Preferences window include Maximize?  I would 
expect the normal size of these types of window to be large enough 
for all of its contents visible without having to resize or maximize. 
Recommend deleting Maximize from the command lists.

4.  Alerts - Nonconcur with the guideline that places OK in the 
bottom right corner of a window (e.g., Confirmation Alert, 
Authentication Alert) and Cancel to the left of OK.  Users in western 
locales scan the button row from left to right and expect to 
encounter the positive actions first.  Users should not have to scan 
the entire row before finding the "default" or desired action in the 
window.

5.  Dialogs - What is the difference between a Property window and a 
Preference window (as described in the section on Utility Windows) 
and a Property dialog and Preferences dialog (as described in the 
section on Dialogs)?  If they provide the same basic functionality, 
why do they have different sets of frame commands?

6.  Labels and Tooltips - Recommend that users be able to turn on and 
turn off tooltips as desired.