rename "File" menu

[GoogleCodeExporter]

(I'm using v.0.2.2 with Ubuntu 7.10)

Since Specto has nothing to do with files, i think the "File" menu should
be renamed
In Specto, "File" menu is actually about Events : import and export events
(sorry i have the french version which says importer/exporter les
observateurs - i guess that "event" stand for "observateur" in english ?)
Obviously the menu name should be "Events"

Original issue reported on code.google.com by [email protected] on 2 Mar 2008 at 1:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hm, I kind of know about that, but could you point me to a place where this 
rule is
written down so I can know more about its suggested use? Naming the File menu 
as a
"watch" menu would be nonsensical to me, as it is not a menu to control watches;
there are commands that affect watches in the Edit menu.

All I can find is
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/draft_hig_new/menus-standard.html#th
e-file-menu

Some quotes:
"If your application does not operate on documents, name this item for the type 
of
object it displays. For example, many games should have a Game instead of a 
File menu."

"Adam noted in the last review that we don't make any suggestions for 
applications
that do not edit document/files. In an OOUI, the Game menu would have items 
such as
(modulo phraeseology) Open New Game, Open Game Settings, High Scores.
>For non-game UI there would be at the very least, Open as ... and Open 
Settings."

Looking at the Apple HIG now:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelin
es/XHIGMenus/chapter_17_section_4.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000356-TPXREF103

Quotes:
"In general, place the menus that display commands to handle higher-level, more
universal objects toward the left of the menu bar and the menus that focus on 
the
more specific entities toward the right."

What is interesting is that the Apple way-of-design includes an "application" 
menu
before the "File" menu. Maybe we could rename the File menu into a "Specto" 
menu, but
I doubt that would look fine in a GNOME desktop.

What is interesting is that Apple places actions like "about" and "quit" in the
Application menu, and stuff like "Open" and "Export" in the "File" menu (just 
like
specto currently does).

So, I'm not certain what to do here. To some extent, I don't feel the current 
layout
is confusing (at least, that's the best I could think of in terms of logic).
(Note: the term used in the English version of Specto is "Watch")

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 2:45

• Changed title: rename "File" menu
• Added labels: Component-UI, Easy, Priority-Low, Usability
• Removed labels: Priority-Medium

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh and I do recommend looking at the apple HIG, their menu documentation is 
pretty
interesting. There are sections just for the Application and File menus with 
screenshots.

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 2:46

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'll read that

All i know is that Totem's menu, for instance, is about Film/Movie and not File
because Totem actually deals with movies *
Specto deals with watchs and not with files

Concerning "Maybe we could rename the File menu into a "Specto" menu, but
I doubt that would look fine in a GNOME desktop", naming a menu with the 
application
name doesn't seem a good idea to me because it is not descriptive

* A navigator should not have a File menu either. Too much softs have menus 
names
borrowed from Office softs (writer mainly) which is often a non-sens

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 11:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

(see totem screenshot
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MultimediaApplications?action=AttachFile&do=ge
t&target=totem-1.png
)

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 2:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

(see also Sound Juicer screenshot
http://yeknan.free.fr/blog/images/ubuntu7.04/softs/soundjuicer.png )

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 2:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If we rename File into Watches,
1- menu items "Import watches" and "Export watches" become redundant, must be 
renamed
"Import" and "Export"
2- Edit menu becomes irrelevant. All its items should be transferred into the 
newborn
Watch menu.
3- menu items "Refresh" and "Clear All" in the view should be transferred into 
the
newborn Watch menu.

The result is:
[Watch]
- add
- remove
- edit
- clear
-------
- refresh
- clear all
-------
- import
- export
--------
- preferences
- close
[View]
- error log
- sorting>
- display all watches
- display toolbar
[Help]
- help
- about

Is this really better? I'm not sure, and still a bit sleepy right now :)

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 3:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Well :

1°) [Watch]
- add
- remove
- edit
- clear
-------
- refresh
- clear all
- close

are redundant with buttons bar

2°) [View]
- display toolbar

hum maybe that should be a gconf option (we're talking about GNOME after all, 
which
aims at being simple)

3°) Finally there's left : 
- import
- export
- preferences

[View]
- error log
- sorting>
- display all watches
[Help]
- help
- about

error log could be a Preference option. Have your ever thought given up the 
menus bar
and keeping only buttons bar like tomboy and gnome-schedule (i know you know 
well
gnome-schedule new UI..) ?

Original comment by [email protected] on 3 Mar 2008 at 3:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

to sum up things, a balanced move could be to :
- rename the "File" menu 
- remove redundant entries in menus (with toolbar).

Concerning the second point, GNOME applications usually don't have this 
redundant
entries. For instance Totem menu allows to erase the whole playlist which is an 
extra
functionnality since toolbar only allow to erase one entry of the playlist.

These redundant entries in Specto are linked to the ability to hide toolbar (i
guess). But does a GNOME application really need a menu entry to display/hide 
toolbar
? It seems quite unusual to me

Original comment by [email protected] on 21 Mar 2008 at 1:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

1- I (and others I've spoken to) don't think removing any entries from the 
menus is a
good idea, even if they are available in the toolbar. For consistency and 
keyboard
navigation. Menus are *expected* to contain all the available functions of an
application. That's an implicit design rule of the the desktop ecosystem, I'm 
pretty
sure.
2- Hiding the toolbar is a valid option that is found in most of gnome apps
(examples: epiphany, gedit, abiword...)
3- I don't think displaying the error log viewer is an action that should go in 
a
preferences dialog.
4- deleting the menus and keeping only the toolbar is not an option because we 
have
too many actions/viewing settings. Gnome-schedule/Tomboy can have this luxury 
because
their user interfaces are from SPARTAAAAAAA.

Original comment by [email protected] on 6 Apr 2008 at 12:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you for your answer even if i'm not convinced that having duplicate in UI 
is
optimal (1)
I agree with you about 4

Original comment by [email protected] on 6 Apr 2008 at 12:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

After thinking longer you may be right concerning 1 also

what about the "file" menu ?

Original comment by [email protected] on 6 Apr 2008 at 12:43

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Well my best proposal that I could think of was comment #6 (which results in 
having
only 3 menus total o_o). If we don't have a File menu and rename it Watches, 
the Edit
menu does not make much sense anymore, I thought.

Original comment by [email protected] on 6 Apr 2008 at 2:13

[GoogleCodeExporter]

also, maybe the option to hide toolbar should be in gconf instead of being in 
Specto
UI (comment 7)

Original comment by [email protected] on 6 Apr 2008 at 3:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by [email protected] on 16 Apr 2011 at 5:21

• Changed state: Opinion