Re: [Usability] FYI: UsabilityGuidelines handbill

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

[I prefer not to crosspost]

On Thu, 5 Feb 2004, Tim Janik wrote:

> Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 14:55:14 +0100 (CET)
> From: Tim Janik <timj gtk org>
> To: hig gnome org, usability gnome org
> Cc: Beasty Crowd <beast gnome org>
> Subject: [Usability] FYI: UsabilityGuidelines handbill
>
> hello usability folks.
>
> the beast wiki web gained a usability guideline document, listing
> short on-the-spot design rules for common design considerations.

This is a great idea.  A cheat sheet like this will be very useful.

> while the GNOME HIG does a good job of explaining things in depth
> and giving rationeles, this handbill is intended to quickly lookup
> advice on an issue, or rule-of-thumb sum ups on several items.
>
> 	http://beast.gtk.org/wiki.php?id=UsabilityGuidelines

The page eventually loaded but I'm concerned by the section on Abbr.
or abbreviations for those of you who had to stop and think for an extra
second to figure out what that was.
My concern is that the section doesn't begin by saying that Abbreviations
(and Acronyms) should be avoided like the plague.  They force you to take
that extra mental step of expanding them, if you are lucky enough to be
able to figure them out at all.

I think that acceptable use of Abbreviations or Acronyms is extremely rare
if it exists at all.  (I do always try to refer to the HIG as Guidelines
and as often as possible and avoid acronyms and abbreviations but I might
sometimes fail to meet my own high standards).

Sincerely

Alan Horkan