UI Revision

Updated HIG Guidelines Proposals

HIG (Human Interface Guidelines)

In order for all graphical user interface elements to appear consistant and to
all the user to instinctively use dialogs, it is important that the following
guidelines are followed in layout and design of GUIs.

  • Group related elements using group boxes:
    Try to identify elements that can be grouped together and then use group boxes with a label to identify the topic of that group. Avoid using group boxes with only a single widget / item inside.
  • Capitalise first letter only in labels:
    Labels (and group box labels) should be written as a phrase with leading capital letter, and all remaing words written with lower case first letters
  • Do not end labels for widgets or group boxes with a colon:
    Adding a colon causes visual noise and does not impart additional meaning, so dont use them. An exception to this rule is when you have two labels next to each other e.g.: Label1 [Plugin Path:] Label2 [/path/to/plugins]
  • Keep harmful actions away from harmless ones:
    If you have actions for 'delete', 'remove' etc, try to impose adequate space between the harmful action and innocuous actions so that the users is less likely to inadvertantly click on the harmful action.
  • Always use a QButtonBox for 'OK', 'Cancel' etc buttons:
    Using a button box will ensure that the order of 'OK' and 'Cancel' etc, buttons is consistent with the operating system / locale / desktop environment that the user is using.

Pass 1

  • Plugins - Anita
  • QgsAbout to QgsComposition - Tim
  • QgsCompositionWidget to QgsMeasureBase - Milena
  • QgsMergeAttributesDialog to QgsWmsSelectSourceBase - Werner