> Stephen Somogyi writes "But Revolution's multi-platform support has > an Achilles' heel: the program's interface doesn't quite adhere to OS > X's conventions. Revolution's Quit and Preferences options, for > example, aren't under its application menu; they're under the File > menu, as in the classic Mac OS."
Why is that the case? With a proper 'plst' resource those items should be moved automatically to the application menu. > Is it just me, or is this garbage just one more example of the focus > on form instead of substance (read that lack of depth of research) > that is typical of software reviewers? A reviewer must find at least one Con for the write-up. It's good when the Con is so trivial and such an easy one to fix :) > And whether it is or not, I'll use a big flashing stop-sign-shaped > Quit button and no File menu if it suits the purpose of my > application. If Mr. Somogyi and other "interface police" want to > focus on that instead of the substance of my application, I'll move > my focus to Windows...now that I can. In a perfect world, you'd encounter the same passion on Windows. Not for UI fascism, but for something truly valuable: consistency across applications. In a given computing session, any single app is likely to be only a small part of a larger, integrated workflow. The more consistency between app UIs, the more smoothly the user traverses them. There's an upside to having been raised by Apple's HIG Police: our heightened sensitivity to such details gives us a significant edge over many Win-only UI designers. Even as late as 1998, I was reading best-selling Win API books that described the GUI as a marketing-driven annoyance programmers simply must learn to endure (as though CLUIs were somehow superior, explosive post-GUI growth in the industry apparently notwithstanding <g>). The foot-dragging with regard to adopting good UI and user-centered design practices set thousands of developers on MS systems back several years. This is reflected in the cold, gadgety feel of so many Win UIs. To make a Win app that shines simply means using much the same process as we Mac folks have been using for years: read the HIG, know the HIG, depart from the HIG where necessary but never depart from the core principles. > Why is it that so many revolutions disintegrate into dictatorships > over time? Apple gave its users the HyperCard hammer to destroy Big > Brother, then took the hammer away, and now hammers us to do it their > way. Ironically, they gave us a broken hammer: elements of Apple's HyperCard design make it difficult, in some cases (like scroll bars on document windows) impossible, to comply with their own HIG, a case of "Do as I say, not as I do". :( -- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation Custom Software and Web Development for All Major Platforms Developer of WebMerge 2.0: Publish any Database on Any Site ___________________________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com Tel: 323-225-3717 AIM: FourthWorldInc _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
