Re: Visual consistency across platforms

Am 08.01.2005 um 23:52 schrieb Guy Rouillier:

>
> Since we are in the midst of a major rewrite for gCvs, this seemed to 
> be
> a good time to raise a question about visual consistency across
> platforms.  Before I raise any issues, let me start by complimenting
> all the work that has been done in this area to date.  The primary
> reason I started using gCvs was because I was looking for a tool
> with the look and feel of WinCvs, since I had gotten used to that.
> And gCvs does indeed behave like WinCvs in many ways.  My thanks to
> everyone who has done such tremendous work.
>
> Does anyone besides myself think additional visual consistency is a
> worthy goal? I switch between WinCvs and gCvs very frequently, so I
> notice these things.  For example, WinCvs puts a checkmark inside the
> folder icon for CVS folders.  gCvs, on the other hand, leaves CVS
> folders empty, and puts a question mark inside non-CVS folders.
>
> I've gotten used to the differences by now, so this is not a big issue,
> but if consistency is desired, I'll keep that in mind as we update 
> gCvs.

My personal preference here is to try to keep consistency in 
functionality, but not necessarily in visual representation.
The problem with trying to keep visual consistency is that every 
platform has different paradigms and conventions for the UI widgets, so 
in general - at least in Mac OS - programs that try to mimic too much 
of their Windows counterpart, stick out as an alien on that platform.
To pick up the icon example: at the very least, we'd need a different 
set of icons for each platform, so the icons can fit nicely into the 
platform's general icon scheme (unfortunately, e.g. MacCvs currently 
does not have proper icons, so it looks somewhat like a Windows 
application clone in that respective). However, one could of course 
have the same kind of badges on the icons to indicate special folder 
types. Still, I'm not sure that e.g. on Mac OS, an icon badged with a 
checkmark would look 'right'...
So, to summarize, I think it's better to focus on a native appearance 
than to strive for complete visual consistency. If the latter can be 
achieved without giving up the first, that's fine, too, of course ;-)

</jum>



 
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