[Usability]2 of 3: Suggestions for KDE Usability Project

[JP Schnapper-Casteras <jp_sc yahoo com>]

Dear KDE and GNOME Usability Lists,
     Some suggestions for the KDE Usability Project

1) First and foremost, the web site really needs to be redone and
updated semi-regularly.  This is just crucial for current and
prospective members of the project as well as for outside application
developers.  It doesn't have to be fancy or incredibly dynamic, just
clear and simple:

What do we do? [Overview]
How do we do it? [Overview]
Who are we? [Names, e-mail adresses, roles]
Current work:
 - Guidelines
 - Desktop Usability Resource spoT (DURT) [See following e-mail]
 - Working Documents
 - Reccomendations
 - Status [of documents, communication efforts, as explained in
following e-mail]
 - TODO [As explained in following e-mail]
Get Involved
Mailing List
Contact Active Member

2) Substantially rework the Interface Guidelines:
 2.a) The "KDE User Interface Guidelines" were a great start and I
thank its author (Richard Moore) for them.  Enormous usability gains in
KDE have been made because of it.  The current state and needs of KDE
Usability is different now than they it was when the document was
written (December 1998).  The document should be updated to reflect
those changes and advances.

URL =
http://developer.kde.org/documentation/standards/kde/style/basics/index.html

The new document should be solid about its guidelines, well-organized,
and have clear, semi-formal language.  I'll try to send out more
detailed suggestions and perhaps a rough draft soon.

2.b) There is another document entitled "KDE User Interface
Guidelines", which is a list of design principles. It is a very useful
document and probably doesn't need too many changes, but having two
documents, let alone two with the same title is very confusing.  It
should be integrated into the single, KDE Interface Guidelines
document.

URL: http://developer.kde.org/documentation/design/ui/index.html

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