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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Proposal Introduction pages.
From:       Thomas Zander <zander () xs4all ! nl>
Date:       1999-09-19 19:26:49
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Proposal for kde-look. Chapter basics

here goes: (ps .the html codes you just have to ignore..)
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<h1>Basics

<h2>Scope of this document</h2>

<p>This document tries to specify the look-and-feel for KDE applications. 

<p>To provide KDE software with a consistent look-and-feel some guidelines
were created so software developers can use the rules-of-thumb to create their
applications interface.

<p>This document will describe the not-so-apperant implications of developing
for KDE, and with this knowledge the developer will be guided through the
different elements of the user interface.

<h2>SDI vs MDI</h2>

<p>In KDE, and X-windows in general we have a Single Document Interface (SDI).
In several popular other OS'es the interface is a Multi Document Interface (MDI).

<p>The difference is that in a MDI there is one window which contains all of
the  documents the application has. That window has a menu or a set of buttons
from which  documents can be opened as 'child' windows. 

<p>In the SDI there is no such 'mother' window. Every document contains it's
own set of buttons and menus.

<p>The implied difference is that, for example, a paint application can have
a couple of  pictures open, each with its own menu. The separate windows of the
paint application  can therefore be used totally separate from each other.

<p>This creates the following problem. When different document of our paint
program are open, they can be fully visible, iconified or even on a different
virtual-desktop  totally independent of other document of paint. 

<p>For this reason the different documents are not grouped as an application.
More specifically application wide settings and functions are generally not
supplied. So a "Quit application" should not close all windows belonging to
that application.

<p>Please note that this implies a different look upon the term application,
a look forced by  the X-windows system!

<p>In the SDI applications have no more that one document or main window. 

<h2>The usage of the GUI</h2>

<p>
Most modern applications have a very similar layout to their  main windows. They
offer a view of a <b>document</b> and the controls needed to manipulate it. Controls
for actions are accessed through <b>menus</b>, with short cuts available through
<b>tool bars</b> and the <b>keyboard</b>. Feedback of what is happening to the document is
usually displayed on a <b>status bar</b>.

<p>This model for the user interface largely won out even when the content
displayed by an application, for example a file manager, is only a document in
very loose sense. 

<p>It's industrial standard, that the following points have to be fulfilled
to declare a software "user friendly" (note that today still 80 - 90 % of the
software doesn't fulfil all these points). User friendly software has to be: 


<p><ul>
<lI><b>task suitable:</b> Don't offer to much functionality, which confuses
the user or harms functionality.   <li><b>self-describable:</b> When the user
uses the application for the first time - is the user able to see what it does,
and how the user can do it?   
<li><b>navigatable:</b> Always tell the user where he is and don't restrict
him to much in navigation.   <li><b>expectations-conform:</b> Try to be
consistent throughout the whole application!   
<li><b>mistakes-tolerant:</b> Users are human - they make mistakes, so help
them to solve them (undo) and don't let your application crash.  </ul>


<h2>Example</h2>

<p>Here's an example of a document centric user interface. Please have a look
at the order of the menus, the design of the tool bar, the status bar and the
content area. 

<p>Please note that the content area as shown here may not always be so
obvious, a printer queue comes to mind, where the jobs are in the  content
area. The rule is that the variable data which can be manipulated with buttons
or menus are displayed in the content area.

<img ....>



- --

Thomas Zander                                              zander@earthling.net
Today, it's understood that of course you'll use a computer,
because it makes other people's lives easier -- or, more         icq: 970 00 05
accurately, it enables them to maintain their manic pace.      gpg-key:  0588D5

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