[openbeos] Re: Patch: Prettifying the default decorator

Thom Holwerda wrote:

Curtis Wanner wrote:

Then you fail to recognize the goals of this project.  The OS is to
be
functional above all else, not just look "pretty".  I never said
graphical
design is not a part of it, but it seems both you and Thomas seem to
have an
idea that graphical design has the highest priority in UI design.  It
doesn't.

Definitely, I would even go as far to say that UI design has almost
nothing to do with graphical design, similar as software design has
nothing to do with either one.
They may interact, and they share a creative process, but that's it.


This whole concept is much easier to understand if we start using different
terminology. I personally always make the following distinction:

I) UI design: the *behavioural* part. This answers practical questions like
"what key combination closes a window", "what combination opens a new
document", "what happens when I double right-click click the titlebar", that
sort of thing.

II) GUI design: the *graphical* part of the story. This answers questions
like "what should the close window button look like", "what shade of yellow
must the tabs be", etc.

However, not every question perfectly fits into either category. Consider
the following question: "should menuitems, when clicked, blink [1] as a
confirmation?" This question fits into BOTH categories, and in act, there
are lots of these ambiguous questions when it comes to (G)UI design.

In short, I do not agree with your statement that "UI design has almost
nothing to do with graphical design". They are completely dependant on one
another. A decision in GUI design can NOT be taken without considering its
implications on the UI design side, and vice versa.


Thom Holwerda
---
Managing editor at http://www.osnews.com





I completely agree with points I) and II) that Thom has made.
However, to extend this philosophy into reality, Haiku would require an extra team. This team would consist of people specifically devoted to the graphical aspects of the UI yet work very closely with the team responsible for the behavioural aspects of the UI.
Behavioural aspects of the UI should (quite rightly IMO) be the domain of the current team.
I would hazard a guess and say that there are sufficient people floating around on this list who have the neccessary skills to create aesthetically pleasing interfaces yet may 'miss' fundamental, behavioural aspects of UI design. Similarly, the reverse may also be true. We have all seen some butt-ugly applications that perform extremely well indeed. Its all about design sensibility though.
just my 2

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