[sldev] Roadmap: 1.19.0 Viewer

[Lawson English]

Argent Stonecutter wrote:
> On 2008-01-12, at 13:17, Lawson English wrote:
>> And they should  keep in mind that "game" interfaces have always been 
>> exempted from the Apple Interface Design Guidelines,
>
> This has nothing to do with guidelines, or looking like a desktop 
> application or not looking like a desktop application.
>
> This has nothing to do with SL being a game (which it is) or a 
> development tool (which it is) or a chat system (which it also is), 
> though it is also a general purpose platform used for a lot of 
> different things and that it wouldn't be nearly as useful if it was 
> designed around being ANY of the above things. It's also worth noting 
> that games are notorious for having lousy user interfaces, and the 
> example you give of a program that breaks the UI guidelines isn't a game.
>

OK, so I'm wrong on all counts, but my point still stands.

> The point that I'm making here is that configuration hooks are 
> something to be encouraged, not attacked as a sign of a bad UI design, 
> because the "best" general purpose UI out there is just loaded with 
> configuration hooks AND they get used.
>
But configuration hooks should be built-into the interface in a rational 
way. Often, the hooks are hacked in, which makes the application unstable.

Lawson