On 7/10-2004, at 17:56, Ryan Platte wrote:
I'm discouraged by this thread, I hope TextMate won't be another product whose developers think they know better than Apple's UI team AND negatively-surprised users.
Yes well... read these quotes from Allan, earlier in this thread:
I'm getting slapped with AHIG a lot, but no-one provides any quotes, so here are some.
Regarding preferences in general: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ AppleSWDesign/UsingTechnologies/chapter_7_section_6.html
[...] avoid implementing all the preferences you can think of. Instead, focus your preferences on the features users might really want to modify.
A preference should be a setting that the user changes infrequently. If a user might change the attributes of a feature many times in a work session, avoid using preferences to set those attributes. Instead, give the user modeless access to the controls for modifying that feature. For example, you might implement the feature using a menu item or a control in a palette or window.
[...]
Regarding the View menu, which I use for most options: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/ OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGMenus/chapter_7_section_4.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/ TP30000356/TPXREF148
The View menu provides commands that affect what users see in a window. In the Finder, for example, the View menu contains commands for displaying windows as columns, icons, or lists. Commands for showing, hiding, and customizing a toolbar belong in the View menu [...]
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Maybe YOU people should start comming up with some argumentative quotes and references from the AHIG :-).
Please, guys, don't make us argue the carefully-considered conventions of Mac software to you; we're potential customers who need software that fits us. You've created something that fits your needs and aesthetics, which is a great start. Now adapt it to suit your target audience (all of whom are Mac users, by the by) without ruining it for yourselves, and the world will have another piece of great software instead of another mediocre wanna-be.
Believe it or not, a _lot_ of people like the preferences the way they are now.. I don't think you speak for the entire target audience, while I do acknowledge that several people on this list have complained about the lack of a prefs window.
If you don't understand folks' objections to abandoning conventions from the Apple HIG, please explain why your way is an *improvement* -- [...]
I believe Allans post and also previous posts from him and me explain our argument well.
What problem does this deviance from user expectations solve?
Deviance from _some_ users expectations. What it solves or rather why it has been chosen is explained elsewhere, in Allans earlier post etc.
Thanks for your great work so far.
Just a note: I am not speaking for Allan here, and I am not on the payroll for Macromates. I am 'just' a friend of Allan.