On Wed, 29 Jun 2005, bulia byak wrote:
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 05:16:27 -0300 From: bulia byak <buliabyak@...400...> To: inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Cc: Ted Gould <ted@...11...> Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] terminology proposal
I haven't followed this discussion, but one thing that bugs me is that the menu is called Effects, even though it provides access to what we call Extensions, and even though SVG has "effects" of its own. Do you think we should rename the menu to Extensions?
No.
I'm not sure exactly what the exact reasoning is for naming top level menus but the word "Extensions" doesn't fit the pattern. (Extras might be an adequate choice.)
In the end it is the users that matter and the inconsistent technical meanings are largely irrelevant. It is harsh but exposing the users to the underlying implementation details is a really bad idea and it had to be said.
From the point of view of users familiar with other graphics applications
the only two most obvious and familiar choices for this menu are Filters and Effects. Filters has certain photography related connotations and as it is more specific it seems more incongruous in a Drawing Application.
Usability has a fancy name for taking a look at what everyone else does, so here's the competative analysis:
Xara X uses Extras. Adobe Illustrator uses both Filters and Effects. Macromedia uses/used the pretentiously mispelled Xtras. Corel Draw uses Effects and Extras.
(Your Milemage May Vary. This "research" was conducted quickly and with the help of Google Image Search [1].)
Extras is awfully vague and wouldn't be my first choice but if that is was people decided was best I wouldn't bother arguing over it. (The GIMP is reorganising and reconsidering their menu layout and naming scheme and may well have an Extras menu instead of Xtns by the time the next version arrives.)
There is also the possibility of adding a Tools menu. (I specifically do not mean a redundant Tools menu like that found in the GIMP and several of its imitators). I mean a Tools menu like the stucture used by Office programs, Mozilla and metric tonne of other applications and I would suggest using it in addition to whatever else you decide. Having a tools menu of this variety will give you a place for the kinds of plugins which are simply too odd to be in a Filters/Effects menu.
(Spent way too much time on this already, gotta go.)
Sincerely
Alan Horkan
Inkscape http://inkscape.org Dia http://gnome.org/projects/dia/ Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org
Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/
[1] This comparsion of drawing applications provided screenshots of iGrafx, Illustrator, and Corel Draw but I haven't read it yet: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/misc/software_test.htm