Re: Of applications and documents

[David Adam Bordoley]

Sheldon Gill writes:
> > The key with toplevel menus is to reorganize them to be more document
> friendly. I'm a big fan of the macintosh single menubar design. One idea
> i've had floating around in my head is: 
>
> > New File Edit View Help
>
> First problem is that the single menubar at the top is copyright Apple so
> _nobody_ else can use it. They've threatened people in the past.

I'm fairly certain this isn't true, especially with apple's loss of its look 
and feel lawsuit way back when. The single menubar has so many advantages 
that not trying to implement in gnu/linuxstep would really be a shame. 

However it is worth noting that apple has taken to actually patenting some 
of there more current ui innovation and I would be somewhat more careful 
when thinking about implementing these (spring loaded folders come to mind). 

> The order of menu items etc and why is explained in the Mac HIG and
> elsewhere so I won't repeat it but I will point this out: 
>
> A big part of the "ease of use" on the mac is by applications adhering to
> the standards and conventions. If every application has the same menu order
> and puts items in the same places as far as possible then it becomes easier
> for everyone. 

This is true, but HIG's only provide the base for a good ui. A ui that 
follows a HIG exactly can still suck. This is a common falacy that i've seen 
amoung gnome developers. That said the current gnome hig is quite good, 
though slightly incomplete. I would recommend gnu/linux step think about 
adopting it with some changes (notably close buttons in instant apply dialog 
really suck). 


> Anyway, what you're really are suggesting here David is writing a
> 'Finder-alike' with more sophisticated features and behaviours. That's a
> large task and one that gnustep currently isn't complete enough to
> undertake. 

As stated before my interest is linuxstep mostly. My hope is that 
gnustep/linuxstep can eventually mature enough that it can finally provide 
the really great unix desktop experience that so far has eluded us. 

dave