<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html lang="en">
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;">
<title>Scalix message content</title>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
.Normal { text-align: left; text-indent:0pt; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; }
.Default_Paragraph_Font {font-family: Arial; color: Black; background-color: white ; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: normal; text-decoration: none;}
div.ltTOCtitle { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;}
div.ltTOCl1 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:32pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
div.ltTOCl2 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:40pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
div.ltTOCl3 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:48pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
div.ltTOCl4 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:56pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
div.ltTOCl5 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:64pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
div.ltTOCl6 { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left:72pt; text-indent:-32pt;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="Normal"><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>+1</span></div>
<br>
<div class="Normal"><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Developers,</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
As we approach QGIS 1.0, I would like to see a menu overhaul both to
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> make QGIS more accessible to new
users and to bring QGIS into </span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
compliance with Apple standards. I will prepare a revised menu
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> design and implement it if the
general concept is acceptable. If any
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Mac standard conflicts with
other platform standards, I will
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> conditionalize these differences
just for a Mac.</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> 1. The menu
system should be somewhat like a table of contents. When
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> I first use an unfamiliar
application, I check the capabilities by
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> scanning through all the menus.
If I don't find a menu item with a
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> phrase related to the task I
hope to accomplish, I conclude that the
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> application doesn't do it. At
present, some QGIS functionality is
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> accessible only though toolbars
and context menus. A new user </span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
shouldn't have to guess the meaning of icons or where to click to
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> get a context menu even though
these make great shortcuts for </span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
initiated
users.</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
The Mac also has a Hide/Show Toolbar window control. An application
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> should be fully functional when
toolbars are hidden. Apple's Human
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Interface Guidelines says "Make
sure that every toolbar item you
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> create has an associated menu
command."</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
2. Every QGIS window should have an associated menu bar, either the
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> main menu bar or its own menu
bar. The application menu bar is
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> displayed across the top of the
screen on a Mac; this space becomes
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> blank when there isn't an
associated menu. At present, Print
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Composer and Attribute Table
windows have no menu
bar.</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
3. There is no Window menu and windows get lost below other windows.
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Although it's a bug, some
already open QGIS windows don't move
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> forward when the command to open
them is invoked again; a Window </span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
menu would let you know what's open. There is also no Edit menu; the
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> highlight state of the
Copy/Paste menu items should provide a clue
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> for where these functions are or
aren't
available.</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Apple's HIG says: The menu bar ... is always visible and
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> available ... Always contains
... a Window menu ... contain the
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> following menus, if they make
sense in your application ... an Edit
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
menu"</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Moving beyond these Mac usability issues, I would also like to see
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> consistency between menus and
toolbars. For example, the File menu
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> uses the order New, Open, Save
while the File toolbar uses New,
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Save, Open. I find this
confusing. A similar oddity is that New
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Layer is in the Layer toolbar
but Add Layer is in the File toolbar.
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> Combining two menus into one
toolbar might make sense but having two
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> almost corresponding menus and
toolbars where a few items are in one
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> menu but the other toolbar is
also
confusing.</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Now that the feature set for QGIS 1.0 is fixed, I think we should
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> take the opportunity to review
and organize all existing commands.
</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>> What do others
think?</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>></span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Tom</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
_______________________________________________</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Qgis-developer mailing list</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
Qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>>
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer</span></div>
<br>
<div class="Normal"><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>_______________________________________________</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>Qgis-developer
mailing
list</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>Qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer</span></div>
<br>
<div class="Normal"><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>_______________________________________________</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>Qgis-developer
mailing
list</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>Qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org</span><br><span style='font-size: 10pt; '>http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer</span></div>
</body>
</html>