Re: GUI terminology

[kenny whitecape org (Kenny Graunke)]

On Mon, Jul 09, 2001 at 04:49:35PM +0200 or thereabouts, Christian Rose wrote:
> On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Calum Benson wrote:
> > FYI, the recently-published (draft) GNOME documentation styleguide
> > contains a list of standard GUI terminology to be used in GNOME
> > documentation... I hope it goes without saying that we should generally
> > use the same terminology within our user interfaces where possible :)
> >
> > http://developer.gnome.org/documents/style-guide/wordlist.html
> 
> This wordlist certainly looks promising! Whoever wrote it (Dan?) needs a
> big, big thanks.
> 
> From a quick look at it:
> 
> * applet / panel applet
> Some time ago, someone on usability-list mentioned that usability studies
> showed that the "applet" terminology was confusing (confusion with Java
> applets). "Panel applet" was suggested for those cases where the context
> could be uncertain (i.e if you right-click on the panel, it would only
> need to be "applet", but in other cases "panel applet"). The wordlist
> does not mention this, maybe it should?

My favorite: Panel Gadgets. An "applet" doesn't really imply anything to me.
Perhaps a Java applet. A "panel gadget" doesn't really imply anything specific
either, but it makes me think "neat little things I can put on my panel to do
cool stuff", a much clearer picture, at least for me.

Also. That applets menu *has* to go - the entire "Add to Panel" thing really
needs to die.

http://jimbob.myip.org/sshots/2001_04_29_035028_shot.jpg

Something like this should replace it. You can select an applet and add it
to your panel. the "Add to Panel" button would change to "Remove from Panel"
if you selected one that was already added. Now, this would have to accomodate
multiple copies of panel applets somehow - it's not perfect. But it's a lot
better than having to go to:
Main Menu->Panel->Add to Panel->Applets->Clock->Another Clock
...and then realizing that I picked the entirely wrong clock and have to right
click on it, select remove, go back through the menus, and pick "Clock" again.

With this dialog, you can select a gadget, see a picture of what it looks like
on the right, set up the most common options, and -then- add it to the panel.
If you want the rest of the configuration options, you can click
"More Properties..." to bring up the gadget's configuration dialog.

On a related note about the panel UI, the "Properties" menu has to die. It's
fairly useless to me. We already have a dialog that (AFAIK) can do everything
that the menus can do. I typically want to set more than one setting at a time,
making the menus fairly useless and slow, as I have to navigate through many
submenus at a time to get there.
(Example: Main Menu->Panel->Properties->Size->Large)

I don't think most people would be against getting rid of this monstrosity.
It's easier for me to use the dialog, and in fact I *have* to use the dialog
if I want to set a pixmap background image for the panel.

> * folder / directory
> An even longer time ago, there was a big discussion on gnome-gui-list on
> the pros and cons of "folder" versus "directory" in the UI. If I remember
> correctly the discussion finally ended on "folder" being preferred by more
> people for various reasons. Currently, the state in GNOME regarding this
> terminology is very inconsistent - some apps use folder, others use
> directory. I think a decision on this is very much needed to be in the
> word list if it is to be used as a GNOME terminology guideline...

Nautilus is supposed to be using "folder" everywhere in the UI; if you find an
instance where it says "directory", please file a bug report. I am sure they
have very good reasons for this, as they had some of the best UI designers
working on the project. I personally prefer folder, as it makes more sense as
"something to put things in" to me than "directory" - where I think of store
directories (maps), phone books, and other such things that are typically
published by others. I hope the rest of GNOME transitions this way as well,
though it's clearly a "which are you used to" thing, and there are valid
reasons both ways (though certain people seem to refuse to give any credit to
the other side, c'mon people...geez.)

We need to pick common terminology, and use it consistently. It's the only
professional thing to do. (I'm ignoring Microsoft's mess with lots of different
fileselectors and other nasty things...ugh.) However, people are extremely
opinionated about things like this. Noone will be happy with the results, if
we push a change to folder rather than directory, some will be happy, some will
be extremely mad. On the other hand, I don't think it really matters *too much*
which is used. Jokingly, I suggested changing Files and Folders/Directories to
"Treasures" and "Treasure Chests". Ridiculous sounding, but the idea is the
same - you have something important (your files), and put it in something that
stores things (a chest). Calm down, don't take things too seriously, and lock
your guns back in the closet, OK?

Here's hoping the flames stay away,

--Kenny