fd.o HIG

[Rahul Sundaram]

Hi

> Then this isn't FDo material; take it elsewhere. 
> FDo is not
> "GNOMEandKDE.org" it's "FreeDesktop.org", and ROX
> and GNUStep are just
> as Free as GNOME or KDE.

You have misunderstood it. Rox or gnustep isnt
included because they havent documented their designs
and guidelines. It is impossible to include
everybody's idea. we can create a guideline first and
except those interest to comment on it and revise it
as necessary. if gnustep or rox developers wish to
comment or participate they are most welcome





> > targetting stuff for windows or mac users here.
> 
> So any cross-platform application (and the desktop
> is definitely part of
> the platform) will still need separate UIs for OS X
> and Windows targets.
> Having a unified look (and that's all you can get
> with a HIG) across two
> platforms (GNOME and KDE) while still having a 100%
> alien look on other
> Free desktops and other non-Free desktops doesn't do
> a developer a whole
> lot of good.  The proposed HIG's scope is too small
> to be of any
> practical design use.

of course different different systems have different
design decisions. a cross platform application like
firefox would be targetting the fd.or hig for
freedesktop enivorments and windows and mac guidelines
for those operating systems. 

Having a consistent look and feel when you use
freedesktop enviroments in the goal here. not to
create a cross operating system guideline.

> 
> My point is, what good would those guidelines do? 
> They perform
> absolutely no useful function.  The UI differences
> between KDE and GNOME
> run very, very deep. 

UI differences might exist. The HIG would just be a
basic set of guidelines at first. one step at a time


  Not to
> mention low-level notes
> like the VFS layer.  (Apps that can't access my
> WebDAV shares in GNOME
> piss me off, and I'm sure KDE users feel the same
> about apps that can't
> access their KIOSlaves.)

These are obsolutely beyond what the HIG can cover. a
fd.o HIG would basically only cover the high level 


> Let's say we have this FDo HIG like you propose.  It
> only documents the
> things that are the same between two (and only two)
> of the Free Desktops
> for UNIX/Linux.  Now, I come along and write an app
> that complies with
> that new HIG. 

its NOT a new hig but an amalgamation of existing
acceptable design decisions. these can be revised to
cover new things later on



> If you actually want a HIG that is of *any* use, you
> should perhaps work
> on actually unifying the HIGs of KDE and GNOME. 


This is *exactly* what I proposed that we do in my
first mail. Please read it first. The unified HIG
would be the fd.o HIG


regards
Rahul Sundaram


		
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