Re: [Usability] "About" menu items galore...

[Jason Hoover <jasonhoover verizon net>]

> Yeah that too.  It almost goes without saying.
> 
> I love being thanked for my efforts and some projects have an extensive
> list of people they thank, anyone who has ever provide a line of code
> or filed a bug report in one or two rare cases.  Others only mention
> the maintainers (a missed opportunity in my humble opinion).

How about the bug testers and usability folks too? ;-)

[Note: The following crit^H^H^H^H rant is from the Joe Point-'n'-grunt
perspective, it is not meant to be a troll or a flame. It is intended as
tounge-in-cheek criticism. Thank you.]

I agree, myself, but it almost seems a bit excessive to have one for
every single applet. About-Panels, About-Show-Desktop-button,
About-Window-switcher, About-task-panel, About-notification-area,
About-clock. About clock? Does the clock really need it's own 32bpp SVG
image and an about dialogue?

Why does the about box say "Copyright FSF" but the manual say "Sun
Microsystems?" (A good example of under-maintained documentation)

It's a little confusing, and bizarre to me. Though, I'm sure the authors
are good people and all, putting so much time and work into it.

It brings up another issue, there seems to be no standard when it comes
to the order of that menu. Some have it at the top, some at the bottom,
some have a divider between that and preferences, some don't. Having the
"About" button wouldn't bug me so much if it was always in the same
over-look-able place. But having it sort of jump around like that makes
it an almost intrusive distraction, yet another thing for my lazy brain
to scan over.

Why can I lock an applet in a panel, but not a panel to a side of the
screen?

And why do some applets look like buttons when you hover over them, but
others don't?

Does the HIG have any kind of recommendations for consistency of panel
applets? It appears to be an area that's a bit on the lame side outside
of a few key points. Would Gnome panels benefit from more specific
recommendations?

So, let's see, so far I've got inconsistent;

1) Tool tips.
2) Documentation locations.
3) Documentation.
4) Placement of menu items.
5) Options.
6) Appearance.

Oy, what a mess. Though, this is just one unhelpful man's opinion. Take
it with a grain or two of salt.