[Usability] Re: Menu guidelines updated

[Marco Herrn <herrn gmx net>]

Hello,

On Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 12:57:05AM +0200, Reinout van Schouwen wrote:
> >>As I see it, a program that runs in GNOME doesn't *have* to have a menu
> >>bar at all, when the functionality the program provides doesn't require
> >>it. You still have the close button in the title bar which even newbie
> >>users can find easily.
> >
> >Ooh, I _hate_ phrases like "which even newbie users can find easily" 
> >which don't have accompanying data.  :)  In fact, I imagine with the 
> 
> 
> This is taken from personal experience; each year I see firstyear 
> students using CDE for the first time. When they want to close a window, 
> they'll first click the top right button (which is Maximize in CDE). 
> Realizing that it doesn't do what they intended, they click the Minimize 
> button next to it. Since the window has now disappeared they do not 
> realize the program is still running, even though the iconified window 
> is still present on the desktop. This results in people having their 
> desktops completely cluttered with iconified terminal windows etc. :)

But this isn't a problem 'real' newbies have, but a problem that people
have who used MS-Windows before. The whole concept of 'windows' is new to
people who use a computer for the first time. But we shouldn't assume that
everybody is known to MS-Windows. 
So it isn't obvious for 'real' newbies to klick on a button on a certain
position on the titlebar to close a window. It isn't even obvious for them
to klick on button to do this. They need to have a way to do this, that is
available in every program. But take a program like gkrellm. No newbie
would use such a program, so it isn't important to have exactly the same
usability like other programs. Not only because you have experience when
you use such a program, but also because the intention of such a program is
a different than e.g. a wordprocessor.
It is the same like comparing applets to applications. Applets have a
different way of closing. But it is ok, and even necessary for them,
because their usage is different to normal applications.

-- 
Marco Herrn 		herrn gmx net
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