Xref: utzoo comp.cog-eng:637 comp.software-eng:819
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!sgi!daisy!klee
From: klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: OPEN LOOK
Message-ID: <1634@daisy.UUCP>
Date: 16 Sep 88 22:21:46 GMT
Reply-To: klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee)
Organization: Daisy Systems Corp., Mountain View, Ca.
Lines: 29

If you don't like OPEN LOOK, don't use it.  It's not the law, it's just
someone's (AT&T's and Sun's) suggestions.  On the other hand, most of
the Macintosh's success is based on its "user friendliness".  Most of
this ease of use comes from the consistent user interface defined in the
Macintosh user interface guidelines.

I wouldn't worry too much about OPEN LOOK infringing on your (user
interface designer) style.  It generally specifies only the most simple
parts of the user interface, such as scroll bars, push buttons, popup
menus.  These all have fairly standard semantics in current user
interfaces, so standardizing the syntax isn't too bad.  More complex
user interface issues, where the "art" comes in, are left to the
designer.

OPEN LOOK perhaps goes much to far in the window manager/top-level
window area, as this is still a hot topic in the client/server window
system world and still very implementation dependent in the kernel
window system world.  Window managers are generally separate from
applications, so this still isn't too bad.

Application user interface designers can count on being employed a
little longer.

Ken Lee
Daisy Systems Corp., Interactive Graphics Tools Dept.
-- 
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I'm not a tourist, I was born in California.