Re: [Usability] application names in the application menu

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 30 Mar 2008, at 09:14, Gabriel Burt wrote:
> [Sorry for the out-of-thread reply, just joined]
>
> Quote Calum:
>
> "In summary, now that you're a core desktop application and there are
> no other core applications with a similar function, your menu entry
> should not include the word "Cheese". It should be something like
> "Webcam Snapshot" (I'm sure we can do better than that, I haven't
> really woken up yet!), and the tooltip something like "Take photos and
> videos directly from an attached camera". You can use the name
> "Cheese" in the application itself, and in the documentation if that's
> what the current docs guidelines allow, but preferably no more than
> necessary. "
>
> I don't believe this is what the HIG says.

No, it's not, but the HIG doesn't quite reflect what we ended up  
doing, unfortunately.

It is what we've asked core desktop app maintainers to do via bug  
reports over the years though, but I know we've taken our eye off the  
ball a bit on that (and a lot of other usability things) recently too,  
so there are a bunch of inconsistencies there right now, as you  
pointed out.

Perhaps, while we're in this inconsistent state, this would be the  
best time to change things along the lines of what you and the other  
posters have suggested, though.

Cheeri,
Calum.

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            GNOME Desktop Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems