Re: GUI terminology

[Dan Mueth <d-mueth uchicago edu>]

On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Calum Benson wrote:

> I'm cross-posting your comments on the word list to gnome-doc-list,
> where the document authors live and other people are currently
> commenting on the draft styleguide too...
>
> Cheeri,
> Calum.
>
>
> Christian Rose wrote:
> >
> > This wordlist certainly looks promising! Whoever wrote it (Dan?) needs a
> > big, big thanks.

I believe it is Eugene O'Connor and Pat Costello who deserve the thanks :)

> > >From a quick look at it:
> >
> > * applet / panel applet
> > Some time ago, someone on usability-list mentioned that usability studies
> > showed that the "applet" terminology was confusing (confusion with Java
> > applets). "Panel applet" was suggested for those cases where the context
> > could be uncertain (i.e if you right-click on the panel, it would only
> > need to be "applet", but in other cases "panel applet"). The wordlist
> > does not mention this, maybe it should?

Sounds like a good improvement.

> > * folder / directory
> > An even longer time ago, there was a big discussion on gnome-gui-list on
> > the pros and cons of "folder" versus "directory" in the UI. If I remember
> > correctly the discussion finally ended on "folder" being preferred by more
> > people for various reasons. Currently, the state in GNOME regarding this
> > terminology is very inconsistent - some apps use folder, others use
> > directory. I think a decision on this is very much needed to be in the
> > word list if it is to be used as a GNOME terminology guideline...

This debate sounds about as fun as the recurring mouse button terminology
debate.

Dan