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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: User Interface Guidelines
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () kde ! org>
Date:       2004-08-07 18:14:40
Message-ID: 200408071214.40822.aseigo () kde ! org
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On Thursday 05 August 2004 11:32, Datschge wrote:
> On Thursday 05 August 2004 17:49, Aaron Seigo wrote:
> > as you probably know, at the last KDE World Conference there were
> > people interested in rewriting them with us.
>
> Someone anonymously started a wiki page around that time at
> http://wiki.kdenews.org/tiki-index.php?page=KDE+Pseudo-HIG
> It's now the second search result for 'kde hig' on google, as far as I
> can see it took over plenty of the current KDE user interface
> guideline, but some stuff is new there. Possibly we can reuse that
> for our "unified effort"?

wow.. i wasn't aware of the existence of this. i'm at once impressed and 
horrified. impressed because someone took some initial efforts to get the 
ball rolling, which is needed. horrified because the last thing one wants 
forked is the UIG, because then they are no longer standardized guidelines 
but rather just a confusing mountain of babel. especially when they are all 
only partial works. =(

this is indeed one of the things we must rectify, and something that will take 
the cooperation and effort of developers, usability enthusiasts and usability 
experts alike.

> PS: For the new guideline I'd like to have a twofold approach, first
> describing rules in a general way applyable also to non-KDE apps, and
> then describing which tools/libs developers can (re)use within KDE to
> comply with said rules.

your ideas are very similar to thoughts of my own ... that's encouraging (at 
least to me =) ... though i'd put the emphasis the other way around: the main 
body of the document should be how to accomplish in straightforward, 
imperative language a usable interface. "Do this, then that, then the other 
thing."

background information can then be linked to each section covering the "why's" 
and underlying rules and axioms. this allows those interested in usability to 
delve deeper without this information getting in the way of the developer who 
just wants to consult the standards or the person who is auditing an 
application for conformity.

then there's this:

> This could later be extended with code 
> examples also for KDE bindings and may as a result well help for
> those just starting programming within KDE. 

this is where developers can contribute strongly, and thereby increase buy-in 
=) these too would be hyperlinked at appropriate spots.

isn't it interesting how virtually every single set of usability guideliness 
provided is a serial manifesto when we have at our disposal tools such as 
hypertext, stylesheet based rendering, searching and other such devices that 
could make such documents more usable themselves? =)

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
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