Finish the old HIG [was Re: [kde-guidelines] This & That]

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Monday 13 December 2004 08:42, Frans Englich wrote:
> Well, Aaron "objected" that it counter acted what would happen at aKademy,
> and I, Waldo, and others, stated the content was not changed but was a
> conversion to Docbook to precisely make it easier for future work -- Aaron
> didn't object to those replies.

i actually discussed it in person with Waldo who wasn't aware of all the 
factors involved, and i got tired of dealing with you w/regards to that topic 
and so stopped doing so. the fact of the matter is that there *were* changes 
to content, but even that wasn't the issue at the time.

the issue was that we had a plan to coordinate with developers and usability 
professionals that were in attendance on how to go forward from the existing 
UIG to a new set of guidelines that covered accessibility, usability and 
branding. there was a fairly clear statement of intent and that clarity was 
important since there was a low level of trust and respect amongst the 
developers due to a perceived lack of being on track when it came to 
usability efforts.

your out of the blue "i'm moving the UIG, calling it the HIG and making 
changes to it" did not help at all with that impression. in fact, it deepened 
it. it was yet another example of why usability efforts in KDE were not 
deserving of much confidence, since we couldn't even keep our own 
coordination in line.

> That Thomas then re-added the old-old HIG, and redirected the links, and
> that you then backed him up "to 100%" with "it's confusing with two HIGs"
> was rather amusing, because 1) the old-old was removed so the problem of
> two HIGs that you say only started to exist /after/ Thomas did it; 2) the
> new HIG/location was announced on several mailinglists; and 3) all links
> pointed to the new location. (just so that it's clear)

it was confusing because it was out of step with what else was going on. it 
had nothing to do with you announcing it in enough places or revising enough 
web pages. it had to do with coordination with the project as a whole. this 
project does not work because individuals randomly do things that they want 
to do when they want to do them how they want to do them; it works because 
people do what they want, when they want and how they want within the 
cooperative understanding and coordination of the project.

the HIG is not just another app in KDE's CVS. it is something that has an 
effect on the entire code base and impacts the whole project. therefore it 
must be done in a manner that is not mavrick in nature. it isn't something 
that one or even two people can just decide to change because they wish to 
and have good results.

> > I don't see any reason to commit that to a version
> > without mandate and with objectors.
>
> 1) What do you imply? That you can only commit? That I would commit without
> consensus?

one of the things we discussed as a large group of people, predominately made 
up of developers from the project, was who was going to take on the role of 
maintainership. this was, and remains, critical to getting the HIG accepted 
outside of the usability project in such a way that when we make a push for 
HIG compliance in KDE4 across the code base the cannon of the HIG is not 
questioned.

a HIG is only worth while is people accept it as valid. this means ensuring a 
process from which there is buy in. the usability project has no means to 
dictate to everyone in the project what to do, therefore we have to work with 
the project to gain consensus on accepting the guidelines.

> Clime down from your throne. 

Frans, this tone does not help anything. arguing with insults is not helpful. 
please keep it out of this discussion, ok?

> 2) You're confused: it's already in CVS. We're not talking about what to
> develop from(that Ellen reuse parts is great, that's why I did the work. I
> would have gone further than that but who cares), it's about which one to
> use during the years we develop the new guidelines.

and this has already been settled. 

unfortunately i continue to get questions as to "which is the current 
HIG?" ... not 5 minutes ago on irc someone asked me about this pointing to 
the two urls. this is a sad state of affairs, and one that's perpetuated 
largely to be nice to you and out of respect for your efforts. in some ways 
it would have been better to simply rip down everything you've done off of 
the web because it would've maintained clarity for those looking for "the 
guidelines."

> As a side note: no "pseudo" objectors from now on, because it's not that
> clear. If anyone objects, such as Ellen, Jan, or anyone else, they can
> speak for themselves and mention specifically what they object to.
>
> Much of this has already been discussed in the "Re: Fwd: Re:
> www/areas/usability/hig" thread on kde-usability, and the same claims and
> questions I pose in this mail are in that thread, but _without_ replies
> stating in what way I am wrong.

ok, you keep saying this over and over and it simply isn't true. it is correct 
that i didn't keep going back and forth with you, because i'd already 
answered all your questions and really don't have the energy to run around in 
circles with you. your questions were answered, your objections replied to. 
whether or not you excercise your abilities to understand and accept that, or 
whether you continue to decide to ignore what you don't like to hear as 
simply never having been said is up to you, of course. but there were most 
certainly replied stating in what ways your actions were, and are, not in 
line with the generally accepted goals and plans here.

in fact, i took a step back during the 3.4 cycle from dealing with usability 
issues because i'm a bit burnt out with dealing with this issue. so kicker 
got some much needed loving. =) my hopes is that post-3.4 with the new HIG 
starting to take visible shape i'll get involved with its authorship more 
agina.

but please, leading up KDE4, let this discussion go. discussing it for the 
next 3 years will simply drive people away and not make anything better. 
decisions have been made which are accepted as the desired conclusions by 
everyone save yourself. i don't know how to fix that, but i do know that 
continued whinging about it is counterproductive.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
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