[HIG] REVIEW: Controls
- From: Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>
- To: hig gnome org
- Subject: [HIG] REVIEW: Controls
- Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 19:31:44 +0000
Someone needs to go through this with their active language hat on, a
lot of passiveness here :)
More importantly, there is *still* nothing about notebooks, lists or
trees, which are all hugely important controls and much-abused in
current GUIs.
Controls
--------
- "It is important that controls are used appropriately and that they
follow standard behaviours...": passive (and UK spelling of
"behaviour"); suggest "Use controls appropriately and ensure they follow
standard behaviors..."
- "Controls which behave...": should be "Controls that behave"
Buttons
-------
- This and every other subsection here needs a picture of the control in
question
- "Buttons should generally be labeled with verbs": passive and could be
more precise; suggest "You should generally label buttons with
imperative verbs".
- "In a dialog, one button may be made the default button.": suggest a
brief description of what this means, i.e. "which is activated by
pressing Return".
- A list, table or screenshots of some correctly-labeled buttons with
ellipses/multiple words would be good
- Add links at end to dialogs chapter (for default button guidelines)
and captalization guidelines in layout chapter
Toggle Buttons
--------------
- Needs pic
- "...are buttons which remain depressed after they have been clicked
on": "which" should be "that", "on" should be removed, and the sentence
is only true if the button is part of a mutex group or, if it's not, if
it was depressed before you clicked on it.
- Need to discuss the same topics in all subsections; in this one, we're
missing a discussion of correct labelling/capitalization. Guidelines on
when to use graphics rather than/as well as text on toggle buttons would
also be appropriate here.
- Add link at end to captalization guidelines in layout chapter
Checkboxes
----------
- Needs pic
- Needs guidelines for labelling/capitalization
- Needs examples of when to use two radio buttons v. one checkbox
- Needs description of when to used mixed state
- Add link at end to captalization guidelines in layout chapter
Radio Buttons
-------------
- This section should be the same size as the one on checkboxes, but is
much shorter! Missing picture, labelling/capitalization guidelines,
mixed state guidelines, and description of how to handle controls that
are enabled/disabled when the radio button is selected/deselected
Option Menus
------------
- "They should not be used to...": passive, suggest "Do not use them
to..."
- "In general, radio buttons are preferable to option menus": what about
lists, are they preferable too? (I'd say they're probably more
preferable in some cases, but it depends on the application of course)
- Again, no picture, and need more info on labelling/capitalization of
option menu items and label for the option menu itself
Combo Boxes
-----------
- Again, no picture, and nothing on labelling/capitilazation of the
combo box's label
- "Determinate progress bar" is currently called "measured progress bar"
in Feedback chapter; need to pick a term and use it consistently
- Add link at end to Feedback chapter, where appropriate use of progress
bars is covered in some detail
Status Bars
-----------
- No picture
- "Status bars should always be positioned at the bottom...": passive,
suggest "Only place the status bar at the bottom..."
- "Status bars should only contain information which it is not critical
that the user sees": passive and wordy, suggest "Only show non-critical
information in status bars"
- "Important information should be presented by other means": need
examples
- Need info on wording/capitalisation of status bar text, possible link
to capitalization guidelines again
Sliders and Spinboxes
---------------------
- I added these rough guidelines a while ago and haven't touched it
since, so it's also missing pictures and better-phrased guidelines
--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie +353 1 819 9771
Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems
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