[kde-guidelines] KStyleguide

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Sunday 26 May 2013 01:55:31 Heiko Tietze wrote:
> Am Sonntag, 26. Mai 2013, 00:17:18 schrieb Thomas Pfeiffer:
> > On Friday 24 May 2013 00:17:08 Thomas Pfeiffer wrote:
> > I've now inserted links to existing HIGs in the new structure...
> 
> Wow. Looks like a real styleguide now.
 
:)

> |Do not add controls to notification. Thomas: I would remove this. Adding
> 
> action buttons is allowed in the API and has reasonable use cases, other
> controls simply cannot be added technically)
> We talked about this recently. David: "As the developer of the app, you
> can't add controls to the notification system." but the last ticket
> contains some strange buttons. Do we talk about the same issue?

A notification can have simple buttons, but no other controls. I have seen 
several reasonable uses for these buttons (like "View" in an incoming message 
or "Open" in a finished download, or "Accept" and "Reject" for an incoming 
instant messaging contact request), and any other controls are simply not part 
of the API, so unless that changes, we're safe.

> |Do not override system settings. (remark: more specific) Thomas: Which
> 
> settings do you mean here?
> First of all, time until the panel fades out, and behaviour on mouse over.
> Depends on what Qt allows. I have only experience with Freepascal and you
> can influence a lot there. Maybe I should to learn Qt now.

I'd rather say "Depends on what the notification API allows". David, can you 
point us to an API reference for notifications? I tried to find something on 
Techbase, but no luck :( If I understood David correctly, it is not possible 
to change a notification in any other way than those explicitly offered in the 
API.
So I think we should have a look at what's possible before speculating. And if 
we decide that something which the API currently allows to change should not 
be changed, we should try to convince the developers to change the API (which 
iirc won't happen for the 4.x series anymore, though, because kdelibs is 
frozen until the KDE Frameworks 5 release) instead of discouraging it in the 
HIG, because offering something in an API but then telling developers "Please 
don't use it" won't have a great chance for success I guess.

> -------------------------------
> 
> Am Donnerstag, 23. Mai 2013, 15:33:51 schrieb David Edmundson:
> > I assume by KCM you mean the KCM at System Settings -> Application and
> > System Notifications -> Manage Notifications
> > 
> > If so, yes they are. Though it also possible to configure
> > notifications in other places _as well_ but they will still always
> > appear here.
> 
> In all cases when developers can decide between alternatives we should
> provide a reference. IMHO the dos and don'ts of notifications are not
> really stunning yet, and barely helpful in difficult situaltions.On the
> other hand, if just the text can be specified, we remove the unusual points
> and go ahead.

We really need to see that API so we know what's actually possible.
 
> I would recommend to apply the structure with purpose, examples, guidelines,
> and code for all pages.

Yes indeed. It will take quite some effort to update all the existing HIGs, 
though.