Settings dialogs

Jasper Huijsmans jasper at moongroup.com
Mon Feb 24 10:30:47 CET 2003


Hi all,

As it is now, there are two schools of dialog design that are being used
for our mcs plugins:

1) Sections are grouped by using frames with a normal header

2) Sections have a bold header and are separated by space or if deemed
   necessary by a simple separator. There's no separator between dialog
   and button area.

I have used the second type for te panel, and the xfdesktop dialogs,
while Olivier used the first type for all others. Edscott copied the
panel dialog design for xffm.

I think we should at least try to have a common look for the dialogs.
Obviously I would prefer the second style, but I can live with using
frames if everyone feels that is better.

I got my ideas for the dialog from the GNOME HIG. There are also some
differences: 

o They also indent the options in a section by two spaces. This feels
rather unnecessary to me.

o They use much more space between and around the widgets. Their default
spacing is 12, whereas I use 6. I use 6 mainly because this seems to be
the default border in gtk dialogs. This way the widgets line up nicely
with the dialog buttons.

I am volunteering to change all dialogs to use 'my' dialog style if you
are happy to let me have my way :) I am also prepared to change my
dialogs the other way around, although with pain in my heart ...

So, I'd say my preference is clear, what is your opinion?

	Jasper



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