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Subject:RE: Need help creating a GUI Standards guide From:"Higgins, Lisa" <LHiggins -at- carrieraccess -dot- com> To:mhbartel -at- ThoughtWorks -dot- com, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 16 May 2000 13:49:02 -0600
mhbartel -at- ThoughtWorks -dot- com:
> My project team is thinking of creating a GUI Standards guide for the
> project, i.e., the standards will apply only to this project.
> Aside from looking at other GUI Standards guides, does anyone have any
> suggestions for _how_ to write such a guide? Also, do you recommend any
> particularly good GUI Standards guides whose formats/organizations we
could > mimic?
My first suggestion would be to figure out what GUI your users are most
familiar with, and start from there. That way, you can avoid unduly
confusing your users, and you won't need to document quite as much. You can
then go from there and standardize more specifically for your application.
I've used this approach before, basing my GUI on Motif and OpenLook
standards, neither of which I can recall too clearly now. (That's a good
thing, as I tend to be a very bitter, angry person, and as such, would very
likely not only remember but embellish any negative experiences I may have
had.)
My other suggestion would be to get a copy of Alan Cooper's GUI book, the
title of which escapes me.