Re: GIMP [Re: [Usability] HIG and MDI/SDI/Tabs]

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 22:46, Curtis C. Hovey wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 11:57, Alan Horkan wrote:
> > On Mon, 1 Sep 2003, Curtis C. Hovey wrote:

> > > the user.  This would be a non-issue if we had a document-centric UI
> > > that hid the application from the user.  It would be nice if GNOME had a
> > > global menu like the Mac to alleviate the menu clutter of multi-document
> > 
> > how about a panel applet to swallow the menubar of the current
> > application?  the GTK on OS X is going to have to solve this problem at
> > some point if it has not already done so, hopefully this
> > behaviour/functionality could be made available in some way (but I
> > digress).
> 
> Yeah.  This comes up every year.  If I learn enough about GNOME UI I
> will give it the team try.    Integrating GNOME's menus with OS X is a
> lot easier because there is an existing API ready be be linked too.  Do
> we think that a fitt-compliant menu must also play well with KDE?

I think with GTK2.4 this will be a lot more feasible.  The new GTK2.4
menu code looks designed for easy merging (plugins, bonobo, etc.) so I'd
guess it'd work with the menubar applet well enough.

However, other usability issues pop up.  For example, in a merged
menubar, would the GNOME icon or the focused app's icon be shown?  Mac
OS shows the app's name and not generally a File menu, what should be
done here?  I'm not all that familiar with Mac OS, but if a feature like
this is part of GNOME, some UI study and experimentation needs to be
applied to make sure that we do it right.  And just because Mac OS does
it one way doesn't mean that way is right.  ;-)

> 
> > > desktops too.  Something along the lines of alt+# to switch between
> > > document windows as well as document tabs.
> > >
> > > we also must address the fact that the application/user may have
> > > additional windows needed work with the document.  I like the Gimp's new
> > > (1.3x) palettes--they provide an excellent example of how single-view
> > > and multi-view can operate.  I would only alter it to offer a menulist
> > 
> > > if that is the user's preference.  The menulist solves the problem when
> 
> I'm referring to the optionmeun as used by Nautilu's side bar to switch
> between views.  Bad terms on my part.  Sorry.
> 
> > menulist, do you mean document menubar?
> > The GIMP 1.3 has had a document menubar for quite a while.
> > 
> > > tabs are two large to fit in the space of the window.
> > 
> > i assume you mean too large.
> 
> yes
-- 
Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>
AwesomePlay Productions, Inc.