"Conforming" UI (was:REALbasic vs. Revolution)

[Kurt Kaufman]

Ray Bennett wrote:
"Kurt - can you give us an idea of what sort of users you had? Were they
random public folks or folks from a specific walk of life (such as
engineers, math teachers, lawyers, accountants)? Just curious because
we're in the middle of several UI considerations for a cross-platform
app that will be going to a somewhat random "suzy/joe public"

One application is used to create MIDI files, obviously of interest primarily to musicians. All necessary functions were accessed by way of buttons or "pull-down" buttons located within the window. One person commented on lack of obvious "Quit" menu item (in Mac OS X, ironically, where such a function is "built-in" to the application-named menu).

Another application is used to view video clips in succession (typically the output of digital cameras in video mode), and for this I received much positive feedback, especially from Windows users. Again, no "Quit" menu item, and all functions accessed via buttons. I would suppose that this application has been downloaded by a more "general" public than the MIDI application. -No mention from anyone of lack of menus.

Please note that I am not condoning the creation of applications without menus. In the past I have tried to place the appropriate menu items in the appropriate places to stay in line with typical user expectations. I am merely suggesting that strict adherence to "official" UI guidelines may not be as important as we might think- as long as the program is not too complicated or difficult to use in the first place.

KK

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