Re: [Usability] Re: Settings windows and dialogs

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2002 at 02:09:08PM -0500, Havoc Pennington wrote:
> 
> Gregory Merchan <merchan baton phys lsu edu> writes: 
> > The code is already there. It just needs to be put in and namespaced
> > appropriately.
> > 
> 
> It's too late to do that, though. (I don't think putting in a propbox
> widget at this stage makes any sense at all - we still have numerous
> possibilities for how the API should look, maybe it should use gconf
> or pong somehow, etc., there is no time to test an API right now, and
> we're in a freeze.)
> 
> We don't have an option of "not moving to instant apply," everything
> is already half-written that way, and it's far easier to 
> replace GtkDialog with a new widget than it is to port plain apply to
> instant apply.
> 
> So how about the Done button?
> 
> Havoc

Unfreeze the API or do the work without a lib. Having a bad UI until 2004
should not at all be considered an acceptable solution. There are any number
of things that cannot be coded into libraries and have to be standardized
by duplicated programmer effort. The HIG can specify the appearance and
behavior in whatever amount of detail is necessary and failure to comply
should be regarded as a bug. The widgets I have written will comply with
the HIG (spacings et al. need to be set still) and they can be used
as cut and paste code until merged into the UI.

Not doing this means having a bad UI for 2 years, and should GNOME see
a dramatic increase in use during that time it will be hard to make changes
no matter how important they might be; witness the placement of Close
and Maximize on Windows.

If the schedule is such that the users be damned, then do whatever with 2.0
and get things fixed for 2.0.x.


Greg Merchan