unity-design team mailing list archive

["frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx" <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 13:20, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

>
> Arian van Gend wrote on 09/11/10 12:16:
> >
>  > Besides, the File menu has been overloaded with actions that have
> > nothing to do with files anyway, and should therefore at least be
> > cleaned up.
>
> As a menu title, "File" is not a noun. It's a verb, just like "Edit",
> "View", "Go", "Insert", and "Format" are.
>

I agree.
At least that's what makes sense. Unfortunately the capitalization doesn't
support this interpretation in the mist of ambiguity..
Not only translators but also users ( English, French, German, Lithuanian,
Russian) and most programmers i ever spoke to (in German) misinterpret the
word for naturally being meant as a noun.

(to) file makes more sense in interpretation, then again i don't see how
this menu deserves to have this sort of a pole position in many non-office
apps, while the more important features of these respective apps are hidden
in a fourth, fifth or even sixth menu, way behind File, Edit, View.

I think consistency is important in the first menu, the second, third and
fourth menu should be context driven / per app. Some apps e.g. don't need an
Edit menu, some don't need a View menu, most don't need a "Go" menu etc..
only browsers and document readers need a "Bookmarks" menu.

I have a lot of stuff to say about the Edit and View menus, but i think its
better to focus the File menu as well as possible in here. Cracking that nut
will solve a lot of design problems to me.

(to) file something makes sense for editable office documents, rather less
for movies, single audiofiles etc.
In case of non editable none office documents (perhaps someone can correct
me a little here), "file" would suffice as a button which offers only "save
as". For an editable document:
*save
*save as
*close (i.e. close application)
*open (recent, [Pinned Item1, Pinned Item2])
*print

even if so, i would still prefer calling the menu by what it actually
encompasses:
either "Document" or [document type], i.e. "Song", "Movie", "Image",
"Animation" or "Design".. File or (to) file wouldn't be so helpful titles
here imo, especially considering the "fileless" paradigm we are trying to
introduce into userland.

The great thing i like most about testing Indicator Appmenu is that
sometimes all i get for a menu is "File", nothing more. This gives me a
glimpse at how lean and simple application menus could become one day, of
course with a more meaningful title then! Best example remains Calculator,
with its "Calculator" menu instead of "File".
This is a noun and it makes sense.