Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 3rd Aug 2004 22:18 UTC
LinuxWorld's Expo 2004 started today and we were there for a few hours discussing a few interesting matters with the Linux luminaries and companies. Check in for some info and images from the expo.
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Recent Original Stories
Recent Comments
Headlines
Random Comments
Random Stories
Random OS Link
The thing is, KDE really doesn't need a pixel-level HIG, which is what a lot of the Gnome HIG actually is. KDE dialogs, menus, widgets, etc. all inherit from the KDE and QT classes anyway, so the drawing and response aspects are dealt with by the toolkit and the KDE extensions.
As a developer, I just ask for a menu bar, define which menus I want, and their entries. If it is better to have a two pixel dead border around a menu, rather than 3px, then that can be dealt with by KDE and QT, not me as a developer. And if anyone eventually decides that 3px is actually better, then it can be changed back in KDE, automatically changing the way *all* applications draw menus.
This is similarly important in the cases of things like toolbar icon text, where some people like it, and some don't. A quick KDE switch in the control panel, and both sets of users can be happy, and the application developer doesn't even need to think about it, because the libraries do it for him/her.
Which is why KDE and QT really don't need a pixel-level HIG, and Matthias is right that some higher-level guidelines on design are more helpful. The KDE development guidelines help quite a bit, but a comprehensive usability starter text book that can give good tips to developers for all platforms and environments would be a real boon to all computer science.