Re: Plans for ahead

[H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 29.11.2015 um 15:16 schrieb Riccardo Mottola <riccardo.mottola@libero.it>:

> Hi,
> 
> Gregory Casamento wrote:
>>> I absolutely want "our" menus, they are distinctive and useful and if I were
>>> >to make a reference distribution, I'd want to retain that.
>> They are OLD.   More important than their usefulness is what they
>> invoke and that is they make people think that we are NeXTSTEP and
>> OPENSTEP only.  Like it or not our old look is part of our problem.
>> I'm sorry you don't like this fact, but it is based on tons of first
>> hand observation over the last ten years.
> 
> I'm sorry you mix look and with interface design. Facts and factoids.
> 
> Actually, our menus are NEW, they are newer than in-window menus and  
> one-menu-bar on the top which came from Mac and Motif/OS2/Windows. They have 
> close parents and predecessors (e.g. SGI menus, Amiga menus) but NeXT made 
> them consistent.
> 
> The interaction with our menus makes NeXT & GNUstep distinctive and as trying 
> to port applications back and forth it allows for a unique interaction. It 
> allows, for example to have very smooth document based applications which are 
> impossible to achieve (as still the latest office suite of a big software 
> company proves) with in-window menus.
> It offers the same functionality as a top menu bar, but is more flexible and 
> works well with big screens or multiple-screens. We do not need to invent 
> things like "tearable menus" and even "palettes" are not strictly necessary.
> 
> Thus, playing the same song is of no good for anybody.

That is IMHO all correct about being distinctive, unique and consistent over 
multiple screens, but you don't see that in a screenshot. There you only get 
the look, not the feel.

Imagine, someone from outside our community successfully installs GNUstep, is 
happy about how applications work and writes a blog entry, he/she will add 
screen shots which indeed looks old fashioned to his/her readers. This spreads 
a negative touch (except for fans of retro look). Unless some default theme 
looks "modern" or "vivid" or "up-to-date".

Just my 2 cts.

BR,
Nikolaus