[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Settings vs. View
From:       Waldo Bastian <bastian () kde ! org>
Date:       2001-07-31 21:39:53
[Download RAW message or body]

On Tuesday 31 July 2001 01:58 pm, Lenny wrote:
> They would profit from the not so correct version.

No, they wouldn't. A user may not notice the underlying concepts but you are 
to run into deep trouble if you, as developer, don't keep them in mind. 
Imagine a situation where a single mainwindow has two views... each view can 
now get his own "view" settings, but the "settings" would apply to the 
mainwindow as a whole. 

That has nothing to do with "implementation" and has everything to do with 
the underlying concepts. Users usually are ware of concepts, that's why we 
have things like "clipboard", "drag & drop" and "icons" (images that start a 
program when you click on it) It is very important to be very consistent in 
the use of concepts, the cut&paste concept for example, is sort of 
incosistent in KDE/Qt 2, and as a result it is a major source of frustration.

Coming back to implementation. KDE is strongly object oriented in design and 
that means that whereever possible we try to map objects to the underlying 
concepts. That's why there is QClipboard class, that's why there is a 
KMainWindow class. They are the representation and implementation of the 
concept.

I don't agree with your remark that "The day kde starts to truely separate 
look'n feel from implementation, is the day it matured.". Look&feel should be 
driven by concepts and it doesn't hurt, on the contrary, if implemenation 
follows the concepts closesy. That may very well result in a more or less 
direct mapping between look&feel and implementation. The big issue is not to 
mistake cause and effect, implementation should follow the concepts, it 
shouldn't drive them.

Cheers,
Waldo
-- 
Andrei Sakharov, Exiled 1980-1986, USSR, http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/
Dmitry Sklyarov, Detained 2001-????, USA, http://www.elcomsoft.com/

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]