El proyecto de usabilidad de GNOME
2002-2011 Calum Benson, Adam Elman, Seth Nickell, Colin Z Robertson
2011 Daniel Mustieles (daniel.mustieles@gmail.com)
2011 Benjamín Valero Espinosa (benjavalero@gmail.com)
2009 Jorge González (jorgegonz@svn.gnome.org)
2011-03-21
2.2.2

Este documento le dice cómo crear aplicaciones que parezcan correctas, se comporten de forma apropiada y que se ajusten a la interfaz de usuario de GNOME como un todo. Está escrito para diseñadores de interfaces, artistas gráficos y desarrolladores de software que crearán software para el entorno GNOME. Se cubren consejos específicos tanto acerca del uso efectivo de los elementos de la interfaz como de los principios de filosofía y diseño generales detrás de la interfaz de GNOME.

Se otorga permiso para copiar, distribuir y/o modificar este documento bajo los términos de la Licencia de Documentación Libre de GNU, Versión 1.1 o cualquier otra versión posterior publicada por la Free Software Foundation; sin Secciones Invariantes ni Textos de Cubierta Delantera ni Textos de Cubierta Trasera. Puede encontrar una copia de la licencia Licencia de Documentación Libre de GNU de la Free Software Foundation visitando su página web o escribiendo a: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, EE. UU.

Muchos de los nombres usados por compañías para distinguir sus productos y servicios se mencionan como marcas comerciales. Donde aparezcan dichos nombres en cualquier documentación GNOME, y para que los miembros del proyecto de documentación las reconozcan dichas marcas comerciales, dichos nombres se imprimen en mayúsculas o iniciales mayúsculas.

# Guías de la interfaz humana de GNOME 2.2.2

## ¿Qué hay nuevo?

Esta sección resalta los cambios recientes en el HIG que pueden afectar a su aplicación.

Se realizaron los siguientes cambios en las GIH v2.2.2:

- Adición de respecto a la relevancia de la guía en GNOME 3.

Se realizaron los siguientes cambios en las GIH v2.2.1:

- Mencionar en la que se prefieren los indicadores de progreso en lugar de las ventanas de diálogo de progreso.

- Cambie la orientación en la acerca de las ventanas de progreso que tienen el título igual que su texto primario, conducen a una redundancia innecesaria. El consejo ahora es que el título de la ventana de progreso debe resumir el funcionamiento general.

Se añadieron las siguientes secciones en las GIH v2.0:

Se añadieron o revisaron nuevas guías en las GIH v2.0 a las siguientes secciones:

Se introdujeron los siguientes cambios de terminología en las GIH v2.0:

- Ahora los «Menús de opciones» se llaman «Listas desplegables»

- Ahora a las «Cajas de combinación» se las llama «Cajas de combinación desplegables»

## Introducción

Este documento le dice cómo crear aplicaciones que parezcan correctas, se comporten de forma apropiada y que se ajusten a la interfaz de usuario de GNOME como un todo. Está escrito para diseñadores de interfaces, artistas gráficos y desarrolladores de software que crearán software para el entorno GNOME. Se cubren consejos específicos tanto acerca del uso efectivo de los elementos de la interfaz como de los principios de filosofía y diseño generales detrás de la interfaz de GNOME.

Estas guías están pensadas para ayudarle a diseñar y escribir aplicaciones fáciles de usar y consistentes con el Escritorio GNOME. Seguir las guías proporciona muchos beneficios:

- Los usuarios aprenderán a usar su programa más rápidamente porque los elementos de la interfaz parecerán y se comportarán de la forma a la que están acostumbrados.

- Tanto los usuarios nuevos y avanzados serán capaces de completar tareas rápida y fácilmente porque la interfaz no les confundirá ni pondrá las cosas difíciles.

- Su aplicación tendrá un aspecto atractivo que encaja con el resto del escritorio.

- Su aplicación continuará siendo atractiva cuando los usuarios cambien los temas, tipografías y colores del escritorio.

- Su aplicación sera accesible para todos los usuarios, incluyendo aquellos con discapacidades o necesidades especiales.

Para ayudarle a lograr esos objetivos, estas guías cubren elementos de interfaz básicos, cómo usarlos y conjuntarlos de forma efectiva y cómo hacer que su aplicación se integre bien con el escritorio.

Las recomendaciones aquí construidas son acerca de aspectos de diseño que funcionan bien en otros sistemas operativos, incluyendo Mac OS, Windows, Java y KDE. Al mismo tiempo contienen un sabor único para GNOME.

Recuerde...

Seguir las guías hará su trabajo más fácil, no más difícil

## Aplicabilidad en GNOME 3

Esta versión de la Guía de la interfaz humana la escribieron diseñadores y desarrolladores de las aplicaciones de GNOME 2. Está enfocada en reflejar los consejos ofrecidos y en las ilustraciones que los acompañan.

Ya que muchas se aplican igual para GNOME 3, puede y debe continuar seguir la mayoría de estos principios y guías de accesibilidad para GNOME 3.

Se publicará un documento enfocado en la Guía de la interfaz humana para GNOME 3. Mientras tanto, puede encontrar algunas guías específicas en la página wiki Guía para GNOME Shell.

El proyecto de usabilidad de GNOME, marzo de 2011

## Principios de usabilidad

Esta sección explica algunos de los principios básicos detrás de las guías técnicas más específicas recomendadas en este documento. Creemos que esos principios son importantes para todo desarrollo de aplicación.

### Diseñe para personas

Recuerde que el propósito de cualquier aplicación de software es permitir a un grupo de personas llevar a cabo un conjunto de tareas específicas. De tal forma que lo primero que establecer al diseñar una aplicación es:

1. quiénes son sus usuarios

2. lo que quiere permitirles hacer

Por ejemplo, puede que esté diseñando una aplicación que permita a los ingenieros (de software, electricidad o mecánica) crear diagramas. Puede que esté diseñando una aplicación que permita a los administradores de sistemas configurar y monitorizar un servidor web. Puede que esté diseñando una aplicación que ayude a estudiantes de primaria a aprender matemáticas.

Lo importante es que conozca a su audiencia y que comprenda tanto sus metas como las tareas necesarias para conseguir estas metas. Hay una gran cantidad de diseñadores de interacción profesionales que escriben libros e imparten cursos sobre métodos de diseño que pueden ayudar en este proceso, muchos de los cuales son increíblemente útiles: vea la para una selección. Sin embargo, la mayoría de estos métodos se reducen a especificar maneras de entender a sus usuarios, entender las tareas que quiere ayudarles a realizar y encontrar maneras para soportar esas tareas en su aplicación.

### No limite su base de usuarios

Si está diseñando una aplicación para que la usen ingenieros, niños o administradores de sistemas, asegúrese de crear una aplicación que puedan usar todos los ingenieros, niños o administradores de sistemas, incluidos los discapacitados o aquellos con una lengua madre distinta a la suya. Sea consciente de los problemas de accesibilidad, internacionalización y localización, la mayoría de los cuales son tratados en las guías de este documento.

#### Accesibilidad

Accesibilidad (a veces llamada a11y) significa posibilitar la participación de las personas con algún tipo de discapacidad en las actividades de la vida diaria: en este caso, especialmente usar su software. Por ejemplo:

- Puede que los usuarios daltónicos no sean capaces de usar su aplicación si confía en el coloreado de datos para distinguir distintos tipos de información

- Puede que los usuarios con discapacidades auditivas no sean capaces de usar su aplicación si confía en los sonidos para indicar información crítica

- Los usuarios con movilidad limitada pueden no ser capaces de usar su aplicación si no proporciona equivalentes de teclado para los comandos

Su software debería poder utilizarse también con interfaces de voz, lectores de pantalla como Gnopernicus, dispositivos de entrada alternativos y otras tecnologías de asistencia. Las bibliotecas estándar de GNOME hacen la mayoría de este trabajo por usted, pero con un poco más de esfuerzo puede hacer que su aplicación igual de útil para los usuarios que confían en esas tecnologías como en los que no.

GNOME tiene un excelente soporte integrado para la accesibilidad gracias a las bibliotecas ATK y GAIL, que en muchos de los casos pueden hacer la mayor parte del trabajo por usted. Puede encontrar más información sobre accesibilidad en GNOME en el Proyecto de accesibilidad de GNOME.

#### Internacionalización y localización

La internacionalización significa diseñar software de manera que pueda funcionar en diferentes entornos lingüísticos. La localización es el proceso de traducir realmente mensajes, etiquetas y otros elementos de la interfaz de una aplicación a otro idioma.

GNOME tiene un soporte excelente tanto para la internacionalización (también mencionada como i18n) como para la localización (también mencionada como l10n). En la mayoría de los casos, el simple uso de las API estándares de GNOME para mostrar texto y mensajes le permitirá (y también a otros) localizar su aplicación para otros idiomas. Para más información sobre cómo hacer su aplicación localizable, consulte la página del proyecto Pango (Pango es la biblioteca GNOME para mostrar texto internacionalizado), la página de traducciones de GNOME y la página del proyecto de traducción de GNOME.

Es importante considerar la sensibilidad sobre cuestiones culturales y políticas. Diseñar iconos y sonidos, e incluso elegir colores requiere comprender algunas de las connotaciones que pueden tener en un usuario de una parte diferente del mundo.

Ejemplos de lo que es mejor evitar por estas razones incluyen:

- Imágenes de banderas o dinero

- Mapas mostrando límites políticos o nombres de ubicaciones polémicas

- Lista de países o ciudades en orden no alfabético (a no ser que se solicite o requiera por el contexto)

- Iconos que representen animales

- Iconos que representen solamente pies o manos

### Crear una coincidencia entre su aplicación y el mundo real

Use siempre palabras, frases y conceptos que sean familiares para el usuario en lugar de términos del sistema subyacente. Use términos relacionados con el conocimiento del usuario sobre las tareas que soporta su aplicación. Por ejemplo, en medicina, a la carpeta que contiene toda la información sobre un paciente específico se le llama «historial». Por tanto, una aplicación médica podría referirse al registro de un paciente que contiene la misma información que un historial como «historial del paciente» en lugar de «registro del paciente de la base de datos».

A menudo puede aprovecharse del conocimiento de sus usuarios del mundo real usando metáforas (esto es, un concepto familiar del mundo exterior) para representar elementos dentro de su aplicación. Por ejemplo:

- una imagen de un archivo de carpeta sugiere un contenedor donde se pueden introducir documentos

- una papelera de reciclaje sugiere un contenedor donde se pueden ubicar elementos cuando no se necesitan

Sin embargo, al usar metáforas, es importante no tomar las metáforas demasiado literalmente ni extender la metáfora más allá de su uso razonable. Por ejemplo, la capacidad de una carpeta de archivos no debería estar limitada a la capacidad de una carpeta de archivos física, que en principio puede contener solo unos pocos documentos antes de hacerse inmanejable. Por otra parte, una papelera no debería usarse para otra cosa que no sea contener archivos descartados. No debería usarse por ejemplo para sacar un disco extraíble como un disquete o un CD.

### Haga que su aplicación sea consistente

Haga su aplicación consistente con ella misma y con otras aplicaciones, tanto en su apariencia como en su comportamiento. Este es uno de los principios de diseño más importantes, y probablemente el más famoso, pero también es frecuentemente olvidado. Aunque este documento sirve como base para la consistencia entre las aplicaciones de GNOME, le animamos para que busque y siga las convenciones de otras aplicaciones donde este documento no proporcione guías.

La consistencia permite a los usuarios aplicar su conocimiento existente sobre su entorno informático y otras aplicaciones para entender una nueva aplicación. Esto no solo permite que los usuarios se familiaricen con las nuevas aplicaciones más rápidamente, sino que también ayuda a crear una sensación de comodidad y confianza en el entorno general. La mayoría de las recomendaciones en las guías HI de GNOME están diseñadas para ayudarle a crear aplicaciones que sean consistentes con el entorno GNOME y otras aplicaciones GNOME.

Un toque de atención: una consistencia incorrecta o incompleta a menudo es peor que la inconsistencia. Si su aplicación incluye un elemento de menú Deshacer por consistencia, pero está siempre desactivado porque su aplicación no soporta realmente deshacer, esto reducirá la confianza del usuario en la disponibilidad de la acción deshacer en otras aplicaciones de su escritorio. Haga que su aplicación soporte deshacer, o bien elimine el elemento de menú Deshacer.

### Mantener informado al usuario

Permita siempre al usuario saber qué está pasando en su aplicación, proporcionando contexto adecuado en el momento adecuado. El usuario no debería tener que adivinar el estado del sistema o de su aplicación. Cuando el usuario realiza una acción, proporcione información para indicar que el sistema ha recibido la entrada y está trabajando en ella. La información puede ser visual, sonora o ambas. Si el sistema tarda mucho en procesar la solicitud, proporcione toda la información que sea posible sobre la duración que tendrá la operación. Los tipos de retroalimentación adecuados incluyen (pero no se limitan a): cambios en el cursor, imágenes animadas, indicadores de progreso, información sonora como un pitido y mensajes de error. Los mensajes de error deberían usar un lenguaje simple, aclarando el estado del problema y proporcionando soluciones para indicar al usuario cómo resolver la situación actual, si es posible.

Es crítico que la respuesta sea clara y precisa. Si muestra algún indicador de progreso para mostrar el estado de finalización de una tarea y es impreciso, el usuario perderá confianza en los indicadores de progreso y verá el entorno menos útil. Si muestra algún mensaje de error genérico que indica que hay un problema pero falla al proporcionar suficiente información para diagnosticarlo o resolverlo, los usuarios no podrán continuar con su tarea.

Para obtener más información acerca de los comentarios consulte la y la .

### Mantenerlo simple y bonito

Su aplicación debe permitir al usuario concentrarse en su tarea actual. Por lo tanto, diseñe su aplicación para que solo muestre información y elementos de interfaz útiles y relevantes. Cada pieza extra de información o control en la interfaz compite con los verdaderos elementos de información y distrae al usuario de la información importante. Por tanto, no desordene su interfaz y no sobrecargue al usuario con botones, menús de opciones, iconos u otra información irrelevante. En su lugar, use la muestra progresiva y otras técnicas para limitar lo que el usuario ve en cada momento.

Finalmente, presente su información y los elementos de la interfaz de una manera estéticamanete placentera. Una interfaz desordenada, desorganizada, con pocos elementos puede distraer tanto como una interfaz organizada con demasiada información. Asegúrese que los elementos de diálogo estén alineados y no abuse o use indebidamente gráficos o colores. Si conoce un diseñador gráfico, pídale consejo si puede; las guías en este documento le ayudarán con lo básico pero nada sustituye al ojo entrenado.

Para obtener más información acerca del diseño visual y la apariencia de su aplicación consulte la y la .

### Dé el control al usuario

Recuerde que las máquinas existen para servir a las personas. Un usuario debería sentir siempre que tiene el control y que es capaz de hacer lo que quiere cuando quiere. Esto significa que, generalmente, debería evitar los modos; los usuarios deberían poder cambiar entre diferentes tareas (y específicamente, entre diferentes ventanas) en cualquier comento. Para obtener más información sobre los modos, consulte la .

El usuario debe poder adecuar aspectos de su entorno a sus preferencias personales. No obstante es muy importante evitar la trampa de permitir demasiadas opciones de configuración, o permitir la configuración de parámetros que la mayoría de los usuarios no entiendan o cuya modificación sea inútil. Siempre que sea posible herede parámetros visuales y de comportamiento de las preferencias y configuraciones globales, como las del tema GTK+ actual.

### Perdonar al usuario

Todo el mundo comete errores. Aunque esté explorando y aprendiendo cómo utilizar el sistema, o sea un experto que simplemente pulsó tecla equivocada, errar es humano. Su aplicación debe, por lo tanto, permitir al usuario deshacer rápidamente los resultados de sus acciones.

Si una acción es muy peligrosa, y no hay forma de deshacer el resultado, advierta al usuario y solicite confirmación. Hágalo solo en casos extremos; si el usuario se enfrenta muy frecuentemente con esos mensajes de confirmación, tiende a ignorarlos, haciendo que sean más que inútiles.

En todos los casos, el trabajo del usuario es sagrado. Nada que haga su aplicación debe destruir o perder el trabajo del usuario sin acción explícita del mismo. Entre otras técnicas, esto puede lograrse con guardado el automático de copias de respaldo de los documentos y permitiendo deshacer en múltiples niveles.

### Proporcionar manipulación directa

Siempre que sea posible, permita al usuario actuar sobre datos y objetos directamente en vez de mediante diálogos o comandos explícitos. Por ejemplo, es más intuitivo arrastrar un círculo por un diagrama que seleccionar el comando «Mover» de un menú mientras el círculo está marcado. De la misma manera, en una aplicación de correo, permita al usuario adjuntar archivos arrastrándolos desde el administrador de archivos y soltándolos en la ventana de edición del mensaje si lo desea.

Para obtener más información acerca de la manipulación directa consulte la .

## Integración en el escritorio

Hay dos elementos básicos de integración con el entorno de usuario del escritorio GNOME.

1. Ponga una entrada para su aplicación en el menú Aplicaciones. Este es el primer mecanismo por el cual los usuarios descubren y ejecutan aplicaciones.

2. Si su aplicación puede abrir y guardar archivos, ubique entradas para esos tipos de archivo en la base de datos de la aplicación y en la base de datos de tipo de documento (MIME). Esto permite al administrador de archivos y otras aplicaciones lanzar automáticamente su aplicación cuando encuentren archivos que ésta pueda manipular.

No agregue lanzadores ni otros iconos al escritorio cuando se instala su aplicación. El escritorio es el espacio del usuario y está reservado para iconos que él mismo agregue o requiera explícitamente.

### Poner entradas en el menú de Aplicaciones

El menú de Aplicaciones

Captura de pantalla del menú Aplicaciones en el panel del menú de GNOME

El menú Aplicaciones, que aparece en el panel en la parte superior de la pantalla de manera predeterminada, es el mecanismo principal mediante el que los usuarios descubren y ejecutan aplicaciones. Puede agregar entradas a éste menú instalando un archivo `.desktop` adecuado.

El menú se dispone en un conjunto de categorías, tales como Accesorios y Juegos. Las aplicaciones se ubican en categorías particulares por conjuntos de palabras clave que incluyen en su archivo `.desktop`.

Guías

- Asigne su aplicación a la única categoría en el menú Aplicaciones

- Para conjuntos de aplicaciones que contienen pequeñas sub-aplicaciones en una sola ventana, como Evolution u OpenOffice.org, agregue una entrada de menú para cada sub-aplicación. Por ejemplo, el correo, calendario y lista de tareas de Evolution deberían tener cada una su entrada individual en el menú.

Se pueden encontrar detalles técnicos en freedesktop.org, las especificaciones de menú y entradas de escritorio.

#### Nombres de elementos del menú

##### Incluir una descripción funcional en el nombre del menú

En la entrada de menú incluya una descripción de funcionalidad, así como el nombre apropiado para la aplicación. Esto es especialmente útil para usuarios novatos y para usuarios de sistemas donde hay instaladas numerosas aplicaciones de manera predeterminada. Los usuarios encontrarán su aplicación más fácil si el nombre que aparece en el menú contiene una descripción de su función.

Por ejemplo, las pruebas de usuario sobre el sistema Athena del MIT revelaron que los usuarios tenían dificultades para encontrar el gestor de archivos porque no estaban familiarizados con el nombre «Nautilus». Dado que los usuarios no asocian la palabra «Nautilus» con el concepto «gestor de archivos» el elemento del menú no les ayuda. Este es un ejemplo para no usar el lenguaje de usuario. Consulte la para obtener más información sobre este tema.

Incluir una descripción funcional en el nombre del menú

Elemento original del menú | Elemento revisado del menú
--- | ---
Epiphany | Navegador web Epiphany

##### Ponga exclusivamente información útil en el nombre del menú

No incluya palabras como «GNOME», «Sistema de ventanas X», «GTK+» ni cualquier otro detalle de la plataforma en los nombres del menú Aplicaciones. Probablemente, el usuario ya sabe qué plataforma está usando, y si no es así, los nombres de las aplicaciones no son el sitio correcto para indicarlo.

Quitar información no esencial de los nombres del menú

Elemento original del menú | Elemento revisado del menú
--- | ---
Visor de imágenes de GNOME | Visor de imágenes
Editor de blog GTK | Editor de blog

No incluya detalles técnicos cuando el usuario no necesita saberlos o pueden inferirles del contexto. Evite jerga técnica a no ser que la aplicación solo tenga un público objetivo técnico.

Por ejemplo, cuando tanto un cliente como un servidor de algún servicio están listados en los menús, quite la plabara «Cliente» del nombre del menú para el cliente.

Quitar jerga técnica de los nombres de menú

Elemento original del menú | Elemento revisado del menú
--- | ---
Cliente de Batalla naval de GNOME | Batalla Naval
Servidor de Batalla naval de GNOME | Servidor multijugador de Batalla naval
Cliente VideoLAN de GNOME | Reproductor de vídeo VideoLAN

Proporcionar la información correcta

Trate de imaginar qué palabras buscarán los usuarios cuando seleccionen su aplicación en el menú Aplicaciones. Esta es la información que debería aparecer en el nombre del menú. Por ejemplo, un usuario que quiere reproducir una película, probablemente no buscará la palabra «Cliente». Por otro lado, un usuario que quiere enviar películas desde su equipo, sí puede buscar la palabra «Servidor». Evite pensar en el menú de aplicaciones como una ontología.

##### Formatos de nombres de menú

1. Si el nombre adecuado de su aplicación ya es descriptivo de su funcionalidad y no solo sugestivo, use el formato: Nombre de la aplicación

   Usar el nombre de la aplicación como nombre en el menú

   Nombre de la aplicación | Nombre del menú
   --- | ---
   Diccionario | Diccionario
   Herramienta de búsqueda | Herramienta de búsqueda

2. Si existe una descripción funcional sucinta de su aplicación, use el formato: NombreDeLaAplicación DescripciónFuncional

   Usar descripciones funcionales en los nombres del menú

   Nombre de la aplicación | Nombre del elemento del menú
   --- | ---
   El GIMP | Editor de imágenes GIMP
   Subaplicación de correo Evolution | Correo-e (Evolution)
   AbiWord | Procesador de textos AbiWord
   Galeon | Navegador Web Galeon
   Gramps | Genealogía Gramps
   AisleRiot | Solitario AisleRiot

3. Unas pocas aplicaciones, particularmente los juegos, no tienen descripciones funcionales apropiadas (pero note que muchos juegos sí la tienen). En este caso use el Nombre de la aplicación como el nombre de menú.

   Usar el nombre de la aplicación como el nombre de menú cuando no existe una descripción funcionar

   Nombre de la aplicación | Nombre del elemento del menú
   --- | ---
   Laberinto del bombardero | Laberinto del bombardero

#### Consejos de elementos de menú

Los consejos de ayuda proporcionan a los usuarios suficiente información para ejecutar la aplicación correcta. Muchos usuarios usan los consejos para explorar un entorno nuevo.

Proporcione un consejo para cada elemento del menú Aplicación que añada, siguiendo esta guía:

Guías

- Comience el consejo con un verbo en imperativo, por ejemplo «diseñe», «escriba» o «compruebe».

- Describa las tareas más importantes que los usuarios pueden realizar con su aplicación.

- Aunque los consejos nunca deben ser detallados, deben ser más largos y descriptivos que el nombre del elemento.

Ejemplos de consejos para aplicaciones GNOME

Aplicación | Consejo de elemento de menú
--- | ---
Mapa de caracteres | Inserte caracteres especiales en los documentos
Memprof | Compruebe si sus aplicaciones tienen pérdidas de memoria
Same Gnome | Coloque cadenas de bolas del mismo color juntas para eliminarlas
Cliente de Batalla naval de GNOME | Busque y hunda barcos enemigos en esta versión en red de Hundir la flota

### Claves de GConf

Las claves de GConf son necesarias para tener descripciones largas y cortas para cada clave. Muchas claves no tienen interfaz a través de la aplicación, por lo que para que alguien administre los valores de la clave desde otra aplicación, cada campo de descripción será la única interfaz disponible.

Guías

- La «descripción corta» debe ser corta, menos de 8 palabras, y debe describir el propósito de la clave.

- La «descripción larga» debe describir de manera completa los valores posibles de la clave y los efectos que estos valores tienen en la aplicación.

Ejemplos de descripciones para claves de GConf de gnome-terminal

Clave | Descripción corta | Descripción larga
--- | --- | ---
background_type | Tipo de fondo | El tipo de fondo del terminal. Puede ser «solid» para un color sólido, «image» para una imagen o «transparent» para una pseudo-transparencia.
eliminar_vinculación | Efecto de la tecla «Suprimir» (Delete) | Determina qué código genera la tecla Suprimir (Delete). Los valores posibles son «ascii-del» para el carácter ASCII para Supr., «control-h» para Control-H (también conocido como el carácter ASCII BS), «escape-sequence» para la secuencia de escape que típicamente está asociada con retroceso (backspace) o suprimir (delete). «escape-sequence» se considera normalmente como la configuración correcta para la tecla Suprimir (Delete).

### Mapear tipos de documentos a aplicaciones

La base de datos de tipos de documentos (MIME) permite a los usuarios especificar sus aplicaciones preferidas para abrir diferentes tipos de documentos. Este es el mecanismo mediante el que Nautilus, Evolution y otras aplicaciones deciden qué aplicación ejecutar cuando encuentran un documento que no pueden abrir ellos mismos.

Es importante que los usuarios puedan hacer doble pulsación sobre los documentos que ven en el escritorio, tales como archivos y mensajes de correo electrónico, y abrirlos con su aplicación favorita. Por lo tanto, la aplicación de GNOME debe asociarse en el momento de la instalación con todos los tipos de documentos que puede manejar. Los detalles técnicos sobre cómo hacer esto se pueden encontrar en la Especificación de información MIME compartida de Freedesktop y en la Especificación de entradas de escritorio.

### Usar el área de notificación de estado

Usando el área de notificación de estado de aplicaciones, puede notificar al usuario sobre eventos no críticos (por ejemplo la llegada de un correo nuevo o la entrada de un amigo en una charla) y exponer el estado de los procesos del sistema (por ejemplo la impresión de un documento o la carga de la batería del portátil).

Seguir las guías de esta sección le ayudará a aclarar la diferencia en la mente del usuario entre la información presentada en el área de notificación y los controles y la información que se presentan en otras partes del panel.

La utilidad del área de notificación disminuye rápidamente cuando existen más de cuatro iconos siempre presentes. Por esta razón se prefieren los iconos que aparecen solo de forma temporal, en respuesta de eventos.

#### ¿Área de notificación o miniaplicación del panel?

Probablemente debería escribir una miniaplicación en lugar de usar el área de notificación si:

- pulsar en el icono de su área de notificación no hace otra cosa que abrir una ventana directamente asociada con el icono (por ejemplo, una ventana de la carpeta de correo para un icono de correo nuevo o una ventana de la cola de impresión para el icono de notificación de impresora), o

- existen opciones específicas de icono en su menú contextual para hacer cualquier otra cosa

- su aplicación podría necesitar mostrar más de un icono de notificación al mismo tiempo

#### Apariencia de los iconos

Guías

- Use perspectivas de tabla para iconos que representen dispositivos físicos, con la fuente de luz encima y a la izquierda del objeto representado. Por ejemplo, un icono de impresora durante la impresión. Para obtener más información acerca la perspectiva de tabla consulte la .

- Use perspectiva de estantería, con sobrecarga ligera, para el resto de iconos. Por ejemplo, un sobre mostrado cuando llega correo nuevo. Para obtener más detalles acerca de la perspectiva de estantería, consulte .

- Para monitores o barras de progreso que cambian con el tiempo, tales como el monitor de carga de la batería, delimitar limpiamente el borde del área.

Guías

- Solo los programas del núcleo de GNOME pueden mostrar siempre un icono en el área de estado.

- Los programas que no sean parte del núcleo, para los que un icono perpetuo pueda ser útil, deben no mostrar el icono de forma predeterminada. Los usuarios pueden seleccionar activar el icono perpetuo como una opción. Una forma estándar de presentar esta opción estaría muy bien.

#### Animación

Guías

- Generalmente, los iconos no deben aparecer animados. Pueden cambiar para indicar un cambio de estado, pero no deben hacerlo si el cambio se produce con regularidad rápidamente. Un indicador de estado de la batería por lo general cambia lentamente, por lo tanto un icono es lo apropiado. Por el contrario, un medidor de carga siempre está cambiando, por lo tanto, debe utilizar una imagen plana.

- Cualquier icono puede parpadear para indicar un error en deferencia a mostrar una alerta. Por ejemplo, un icono de impresora en progreso puede parpadear cuando hay papel atascado, pero no cuando la impresora está quemándose (ya que en su lugar debería mostrar una alerta).

- No dependa en destellos o animaciones como medio para alertar al usuario de cualqueir evento en particular.

#### Interacción

Los iconos deben responder a estas acciones de usuario. (Por supuesto, las pulsaciones de telcas sólo se aplican cuando el icono tiene el foco.)

Guías

- Las teclas de pulsación doble o el Espacio deberían realizar la acción predeterminada del icono. Generalmente suele abrir una ventana con datos relevantes, por ejemplo:

  - la cola de impresión para un icono de progreso de impresión.

  - la bandeja de entrada para un icono de correo electrónico entrante

  - el mensaje para un mensaje entrante

- Pulsar con el botón derecho del ratón o Mayús F10 debería mostrar un menú que al menos contenga la acción predeterminada del icono.

- Si se pueden alterar las propiedades del icono, debería tener un elemento de menú Propiedades en su menú, y mostrar su propiedad en respuesta a Alt+Intro.

- Los iconos deben obedecer las convenciones normales para las sugerencias o consejos.

## Ventanas

### Partes de las ventanas y del sistema de interacción

#### Títulos

Dé un título a cada ventana (a excepción de las alertas y cajas de herramientas). Un buen título de ventana contiene información relevante para el usuario y distingue una ventana en particular del resto de ventanas abiertas. Omita información que no ayuda en esta selección, por ejemplo el número de versión de la aplicación o el nombre del fabricante.

Ejemplo de título de una ventana

Captura de pantalla mostrando una barra de título de ventana con el título «Partes de la interacción de las ventanas y el sistema - Mozilla Firefox»

Consulte la descripción de cada tipo de ventana en particular para los formatos de títulos.

#### Comandos de bordes y ventanas

La mayoría de las ventanas tiene bordes, excepto cierto tipo de ventanas con formas y algunas ventanas «arrancadas». No intente dibujar sus propias ventanas sin bordes, en su lugar proporcione sugerencias al gestor de ventanas para el tipo de borde que quiere.

Diferentes tipos de comandos son apropiados para diferentes tipos de ventana. Consulte la descripción para cada tipo de ventana en particular para obtener una lista de comandos de ventana apropiados. Están disponibles los siguientes comandos de ventana:

- Cerrar

  Cierra la ventana. Dibuje siempre esto como un botón en el borde de la ventana cuando sea relevante al tipo de ventana.

- Maximizar

  Hace que la ventana ocupe todo el espacio sin usar de la pantalla

- Minimizar

  Hace que la ventana se oculte temporalmente. Seguirá apareciendo en la lista de ventanas del escritorio.

- Enrollar/desenrollar

  Solo muestra el título de la barra de la ventana, como si se hubiese «enrollado».

#### Modalidad

A non-modal window does not restrict the user's interaction with other open windows on the desktop in any way. Using non-modal windows gives the user maximum flexibility to perform tasks within your application in any order and by whichever means they choose.

La ventana de una aplicación modal, mientras está abierta, evita que el usuario interaccione con otras ventanas de la misma aplicación.

Una ventana modal del sistema, mientras está abierta, evita que el usuario interaccione con cualquier otra ventana o aplicación, incluyendo el propio escritorio.

Guías

- Use an application modal window only if allowing interaction with other parts of the application while the window is open could cause data loss or some other serious problem. Provide a clear way of leaving the modal window, such as a Cancel button in an alert.

- No usar las ventanas modales del sistema.

#### Foco

Focus is the means by which the user designates which window should receive data from the keyboard, mouse or other input device. If using a screen reader or similar assistive technology, focus may also designate the window that the user wants to receive information about. The focused window is considered the window the user is currently "working with".

Asegúrese de que su aplicación funciona correctamente con los tres mecanismos diferentes con los que las ventanas pueden recibir el foco en GNOME:

- Pulsar para dar el foco

  Una ventana obtiene el foco al pulsar en ella.

- Apuntar para dar el foco

  Una ventana obtiene el foco moviendo el puntero sobre ella. A veces se llama a esto «foco descuidado».

- Foco del teclado

  Se da el foco a una ventana usando un atajo de teclado tal como Alt Tab.

Restricciones especiales para «apuntar para dar el foco»

Note that point-to-focus places a number of restrictions on GNOME applications that are not present in environments such as MacOS or Windows. For example, utility windows shared between multiple document windows, like the toolbox in the GIMP Image Editor, cannot be context-sensitive— that is, they cannot initiate an action such as Save on the current document. This is because while moving the mouse from the current document to the utility window, the user could inadvertantly pass the pointer over a different document window, thus changing the focus and possibly saving the wrong document.

#### Mostrar y ocultar ventanas

La forma en la que su aplicación muestra y oculta ventanas puede afectar mucho a la percepción de su aplicación por parte del usuario, particularmente su rendimiento.

Guías

- Muestre siempre una ventana tan pronto como le sea posible, pero asegúrese de que su ventana tiene el tamaño correcto antes de mostrarla. Redimensionar una ventana después de que sea visible desorienta y da una impresión de de una aplicación sin finalizar.

- If a window contains information that takes a few seconds to compute or display, it is often better not to fill it in completely before displaying the window. For example, a window containing a large text area can be shown quickly, and then the text can be filled in afterwards (provided this does not result in the window resizing). This will make your application feel more responsive than if you had not shown the window until its content was complete.

- Hide a window as soon as possible after it is closed. Unless an alert might be shown, immediately hide a window that the user has closed by clicking the Close button in the window border-- your application can still perform any internal clean-up operations afterwards. Besides making the system appear slow, not doing this can cause the window manager to think the application is not responding, and display an unnecessary alert to the user.

### Ventanas primarias

Una ventana primaria generalmente presenta una vista de los datos del usuario, como un documento de texto en una aplicación de procesado de textos, una imagen en un programa de dibujo o cálculos en una calculadora o en una hoja de cálculo. También puede ser la vista de algo más abstracto, como un juego. Una única instancia de una aplicación puede tener más de una ventana primaria y más de un tipo de ventana primaria.

Una ventana primaria siempre se muestra en la lista de ventanas del panel.

Una típica ventana primaria (gedit)

Una típica ventana primaria: la vista de documento de gedit

Generalmente la ventana de una aplicación primaria tiene un borde, una barra de menú y una barra de estado, y también puede contener una o más barras de herramientas.

#### Título

El elemento más importante del título de ventana de una aplicación basada en un documento, es el nombre del documento abierto. Para otras aplicaciones, generalmente se usa el nombre de la aplicación.

Guías

- Use el Nombre de archivo como el título de la ventana para aplicaciones basadas en documentos. No use la ruta completa, ya que el nombre de archivo es más fácil para distinguir entre otros títulos de ventanas abiertas, por ejemplo en la lista de ventanas.

  Usar los nombres de documentos como títulos de ventanas

  Aplicación | Ejemplo de título de ventana
  --- | ---
  AbiWord | Mi reporte.abw
  Evolution | Bandeja de entrada
  Reproductor de música | U2 - Better Than the Real Thing

  Si la ruta es importante, por ejemplo, el usuario ha abierto dos documentos con el mismo nombre de carpetas diferentes en la misma aplicación, muestre la ruta completa en la barra de estado.

- Before a new document has been saved for the first time, set the window title to Unsaved <document type>. For example, Unsaved Drawing, Unsaved Spreadsheet, or the more generic Unsaved Document.

- Cuando un documento tiene cambios pendientes, introduzca un asterisco (*) al comienzo del título de la ventana. Por ejemplo, *Dibujo sin guardar, *InformeAnual.

- Para aplicaciones no basadas en documentos use Nombre de la aplicación como título de la ventana.

  Usar nombres de aplicaciones como títulos de ventanas

  Aplicación | Título de la ventana
  --- | ---
  Diccionario | Diccionario
  Calculadora | Calculadora

- Do not place version numbers, company names, or other information that is of no immediate use to the user in the window title. These consume space, making titles in limited spaces such as the system window list less useful, and add more text the user has to scan to find useful information. In a "beta" product, where version numbers are critical for bug information, placing version numbers can be useful, but remove them from stable releases. Place version information in the about box instead.

While document names are most pertinent to users, we understand that application developers may want to increase recognition of their application. If you plan to include your application's name in the title of a primary window, use the following format: Document Name - Application Name. This will ensure that the document name appears in limited space situations such as the system window list.

No se recomienda incluir el nombre de la aplicación en el título de una aplicación basada en documentos.

Think about naming windows in the context of the panel window list. On a typical screen with a relatively small number of windows open, a window will have 20-30 characters of text and an icon. Consider which text will provide the most immediately obvious clues to a user looking for a particular window.

#### Comandos de ventana

Cerrar, maximizar/restaurar, minimizar, enrollar/desenrrollar

#### Relación entre documentos y ventanas

##### Interfaz simple de documentos (ISD, «SDI»)

A single document interface places each document in its own primary window. Toolboxes and other utility windows may be shared between multiple SDI documents, but closing them should have no effect on the document windows. Use SDI for your GNOME application unless there is a compelling reason not to.

Una aplicación SDI típica (Eye of GNOME)

Un ejemplo típico de aplicación ISD: Eye of GNOME usada para inspeccionar un icono

##### Interfaz de múltiples documentos (IMD, «MDI»)

Una interfaz de múltiples documentos presenta dos documentos en dos paneles o pestañas, en una sola ventana.

Una típica aplicación IMD (gedit) mostrando tres documentos abiertos en páginas en pestañas

Una típica aplicación IMD: gedit con tres documentos abiertos en la misma ventana

MDI has several inherent usability problems, so its use is discouraged in applications. It is better to open each document in a new primary window, with its own menubar, toolbars and statusbar, or allow multiple instances of your application to be run simultaneously. In either case, this leaves it for the window manager (acting on the user's preferences) rather than your application to decide how to group and present document windows from the same application.

##### Interfaz controlada de un solo documento (ICSD, «CSDI»)

In a typical SDI application, document windows are treated as primary. For example, when all document windows have been closed, the application (including utility windows) exits as well. In CSDI a utility window is treated as the primary window. For example, closing this utility window will close all document windows and exit the application.

No se recomienda usar ICSD

CSDI is sometimes used because document windows might be too small to have menu bars. Typically this is not the normal use case for the application, but does represent a significant minority use case. For example, an image editor being used to edit small web page elements will often result in very small document windows that cannot accomodate a title bar.

NO TRADUCIR

A better way to address this problem is to allow menu bars to "collapse" into an overflow button, in much the same way toolbars operate when the window shrinks to below the toolbar width. This allows for small windows, but also provides an opportunity for people to figure out where their menus have gone.

Note that if very small documents are the primary use case for your application, you should consider finding a means to avoid windows altogether. Windows are not an effective interface for dealing with large numbers of small items. Consider looking for a fixed/automated layout system for presenting the "documents". Also consider if the "documents" will be primarily used in a higher level grouping, in which case that grouping could become the document instead.

### Ventanas de utilidad

Las ventanas de utilidad, como las paletas y las cajas de herramientas, normalmente tienen bordes. No contienen una barra de menú, una barra de herramientas o una barra de estado.

A utility window should not appear in the panel window list unless it is, or may be, the only window shown by an application. Otherwise, the utility window should be raised above the application when the application window itself is selected from the window list.

#### Ventanas de aplicación instantánea

For windows that allow the user to change values or settings, such as property and preference windows, update those values or settings immediately to reflect the changes made in the window. This is known as "instant apply". Do not make the user press an OK or Apply button to make the changes happen, unless either:

- el cambio llevará más de un segundo en aplicarse, en cuyo caso aplicar el cambio inmediatamente podría hacer que el sistema parezca lento o que no esté respondiendo, o

- se deben aplicar los cambios en la ventana de forma simultánea para prevenir que el sistema entre potencialmente en un estado inestable. Por ejemplo, los cambios de servidor y proxy en una ventana de propiedades de red.

If either these conditions affect only a few of the controls in your window, arrange those controls together into one or more groups, each with its own Apply button. Leave the rest of the controls as instant apply.

NO TRADUCIR

Guías

- Do not attempt to validate or apply changes caused by editing a text field control until the user has moved focus to a different control in the window, or the window is closed. Validating after each keypress is usually annoying and unnecessary. Exception: if the field accepts only a fixed number of characters, such as a hexadecimal color code, validate and apply the change as soon as that number of characters have been entered.

- When the user moves focus to a different control, do not indicate an invalid entry by displaying an alert or undoing the change the user made. Both of these methods are particularly disruptive for focus-follows-mouse users, for whom focus may leave the control more often than it does for a click-to-focus user.

NO TRADUCIR

#### Ventanas de aplicación explíticas

If most of the controls in your window are not suitable for instant apply, consider making the whole window "explicit apply". An explicit apply window has these three buttons in its button box, plus an optional Help button:

- Aplicar

  Aplica todos los ajuestes en la ventana, pero no cierra la ventana en caso de que el usuario quiera cambiar su opinión.

- Cancelar

  Resets all settings in the window to those that were in force when the window was opened. Note: this must undo the effects of all applications of the Apply since the window was opened, not just the most recent one.

- Aceptar

  Aplica todos los ajustes en la ventana y cierra la ventana.

Botones en una ventana explícita de aplicar

Captura de pantalla mostrando la posición correcta para los botones Ayuda, Aplicar, Cancelar y Aceptar en un diálogo
NO TRADUCIR

#### Botones predeterminados

When designing a dialog or utility window, you can assign the Return key to activate a particular button in the window. GNOME indicates this button to the user by drawing a different border around it. For example, the OK button in .

Choose the default button to be the most likely action, such as a confirmation action or an action that applies changes in a utility window. Do not make a button the default if its action is irreversible, destructive or otherwise inconvenient to the user. If there is no appropriate button in your window, to designate as the default button, do not set one.

En particular, no se recomienda que el botón Cerrar sea el predeterminado en una ventana de aplicar de forma instantánea, ya que esto puede llevar a que los usuarios cierren la ventana accidentalmente antes de que hayan terminado de usarla.

#### Ventanas de propiedades

Las ventanas de propiedades permiten al usuario ver y cambiar las características de un objeto tal como un documento, archivo, dibujo o lanzador de aplicaciones.

Ejemplo de una ventana de propiedades

Captura de pantalla mostrando la ventana «propiedades del archivo» en Nautilus

Formato del título:

Propiedades de Nombre de objeto

Comandos de ventana:

Cerrar, minimizar, enrollar/desenrollar

Botones:

Ubique un botón Cerrar en la esquina inferior derecha. Se puede ubicar un botón Ayuda en la esquina inferior izquierda.

#### Ventanas de preferencias

Ventanas de preferencias que permiten al usuario cambiar la forma en que se comporta o se muestra una aplicación

NO TRADUCIR

Ejemplo de una ventana de preferencias

Captura de pantalla mostrando la ventana de preferencias de Gnibbles

Formato del título:

Nombre de la aplicación Preferencias

Comandos de ventana:

Cerrar, minimizar, enrollar/desenrollar

Botones:

Ubique un botón Cerrar en la esquina inferior derecha. Se puede ubicar un botón Ayuda en la esquina inferior izquierda.

##### Personalizar tipografías y colores

Si su ventana de preferencias permite al usuario personalizar las tipografías o los colores, utilice la siguiente redacción y el siguiente diseño como una guía para estos controles:

Texto recomendado para sobreescribir los elementos del tema; reemplazar con una captura de pantalla.

    	(o) Usar tipografía del tema
    	(o) Usar esta tipografía: [ Selector de tipografías ]

    	(o) Usar los colores del tema
    	(o) Usar estos colores:
    		Fondo: [ selector de color ]
    		Primer plano: [ selector de color ]

The wording of the radio buttons may be more specific where required, for example, "Use monospace font from theme", or "Use background color from theme".

#### Cajas de herramientas

A toolbox provides convenient access to a set of actions and toggles through a set of small toolbar-like buttons. Toolboxes can be used to provide a specialized group of tools to augment a toolbar containing more universal items such as Save and open. A single toolbox can be shared between multiple documents to save screen space.

Ejemplo de caja de herramientas

Una captura de pantalla mostrando una barra de herramientas con ocho botones dispuestos en dos filas.

Formato del título:

Las cajas de herramientas no tienen título

NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR

Comandos de ventana:

Cerrar, enrollar/desenrollar

Botones:

Las cajas de herramientas no tienen botones

Redimensionar:

Make toolboxes resizable, but only resize by discrete toolbox item widths. In other words, the user can resize the toolbox to be one item wide, two items wide, three items wide, etc. but not one and a half items wide.

Guías

- Coloque botones en una caja de herramientas solo si no abren otra ventana.

- Toolboxes are best used for modal toggle buttons that affect the operation of the mouse on the document, such as a set of buttons for choosing between paintbrush, eraser, and fill modes in a drawing application. Buttons that initiate actions upon clicking (such as a save button) are better placed in toolbars.

- Asegúrese de que cerrar una barra de herramientas no cierra o altera cualquier otra ventana primaria con la que está asociada.

- No ubique cajas de herramientas en la lista de ventanas del sistema. Las cajas de herramientas siembre deben estar por encima de todos los botones primarios con los que están asociadas.

- Si todas las ventanas primarias asociadas con una caja de herramientas están cerradas o minimizadas, oculte también la caja de herramientas. Muestre la caja de herramientas de nuevo cuando una de las ventanas primarias se abre o restaura.

- Make a toolbox two items wide by default, unless it is broken into categories. Make categorized toolboxes four items wide by default.

##### Categorías de cajas de herramientas

While categories may not be as visually appealing as a toolbox homogenously filled with beautiful icons, they make an unwieldy large toolbox more managable. Picking a small icon from more than fifteen other items is a difficult task. Additionally, categories allow users to hide sets of tool items that are not relevant to their current task.

Una caja de herramientas grande dividida en categorías

Guías

- Divida las cajas de herramientas con más de dieciséis elementos en categorías. El tamaño óptimo para una categoría está entre cuatro y diez elementos.

- Dé a cada categoría una etiqueta (con el título en mayúscula) y una flecha para contraerla. Pulsar en la etiqueta o en la flecha cambia la categoría entre contraída y expandida.

### Alertas

An alert provides information about the state of the application system, or asks for essential information about how to proceed with a particular task. It is distinct from other types of window in that it is not directly requested by the user, and usually contains a message or a question rather than editable controls. Since alerts are an unwelcome intrusion into the user's work, do not use them except where necessary to avoid potential data loss or other serious problems.

Una alerta tiene un borde similar a la de un diálogo y es un objeto modal.

An alert should not appear in the panel window list unless it is, or may be, the only window shown by an application. For example, an appointment reminder alert may be shown after the main calendar application window has been closed.

De otro modo, una alerta se debe mostrar sobre la aplicación cuando la ventana de la aplicación en sí está seleccionada desde la lista de ventanas.

Ejemplo de alerta

Ejemplo de una alerta, mostrando el texot «Tiene una cita con Jorge Castro en 15 minutos», y con un botón «Aceptar» para descartar la ventana.

Formato del título

Alert windows have no titles, as the title would usually unnecessarily duplicate the alert's primary text. This way, users can read and respond to alerts more quickly as there is less visual noise and confounding text.

NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR NO TRADUCIR

Redimensionando

Las ventanas de alerta no son redimensionables. Si el usuario necesita redimensionar su alerta, entonces probablemente el texto no es suficientemente conciso.

Comandos de ventana:

Ninguno

Las alertas deben mostrarse por encima de sus padres

Alerts do not appear in the system window list. Consequently, take care to ensure that alerts stay above their parent window. Otherwise, users will be likely to lose the alert and find your application unresponsive for no apparent reason. Modal windows should always stay above the window(s) they block.

#### Texto de alerta

Una alerta puede contener texto primario y secundario. El texto primario describe brevemente la situación. El texto secundario proporciona información adicional.

Haga que tanto el texto primario como el secundario sean seleccionables. Esto hace que sea más fácil para el usuario copiar y pegar el texto en otra ventana, tal como un correo electrónico.

Ubicación de texto primario y secundario

Captura de pantalla de una alerta mostrando un ejemplo de texto primario en negrita y texto secundario en una tipografía más pequeña, debajo.

Texto primario

The primary text provides the user with a one sentence summary of the information or suggested action. This summary should concisely contain the essential details of the problem or suggestion. Every alert has primary text, displayed in a bold font slightly larger than the default. The primary text is punctuated in 'newspaper headline' style, that is, it has no terminating period, but it may have a terminating question mark.

Note el texto primario con el marcado pango:

    <span weight="bold"
          size="larger">Texto primario</span>

Texto secundario

Secondary text provides a more in-depth description of the problem and suggested action, including possible side effects. Secondary text can also provide information that may be helpful in allowing the user to make an informed decision. In most situations the user should only need the primary text to make a quick decision, but they may read the secondary text if they are unsure of the proper course of action, or require extra details. Secondary text is optional, but if used, place it one text line height beneath the primary text using the default font size and weight.

#### Botones de alerta

Give all alerts an affirmative button that dismisses the alert and performs the action suggested in the primary text. Provide a Cancel button for all alerts displayed in response to a user actions, such as Quit. If the alert warns of a technical problem or other situation that could result in data loss, provide a Help button that provides more information on the particular situation and explains the user's options. You may also provide buttons to perform alternate actions that provide another possible solution, fix potential problems, or launch related dialogs or programs.

Ordenación de botones y ubicación de alertas

Captura de pantalla mostrando ordenación y ubicación de los botones de alerta: botón de ayuda en la parte inferior izquierda, y botones de cambio, cancelación y aprobación en la parte inferior derecha.

Texto en los botones

Write button labels as imperative verbs, for example Save, Print. This allows users to select an action with less hesitation. An active phrase also fits best with the button's role in initiating actions, as contrasted with a more passive phrase. For example Find and Log In are better buttons than than Yes and OK.

- Botón afirmativo

  Place the affirmative button in the lower right corner of the alert. The affirmative button accepts the action proposed by the alert, or simply dismisses the alert if no action is suggested (as is the case with an information alert).

- Botón Cancelar

  If the alert was produced in response to a user action, place a Cancel button immediately to the left of the affirmative button. This provides an escape route for users to stop an action in response to new information, or just if they clicked accidentally. Clicking the Cancel button reverts the application to its state prior to the user action.

- Botón Ayuda

  A Help button may be used to clarify alerts that present potentially destructive options. Place the Help button in the lower left corner of the alert. When clicked, launch a help window clarifying the situation, detailing the actions performed by the other buttons, and explaining any side-effects that each action may have.

- Botones de cambio

  Extra buttons may be used to provide alternates to the primary action proposed by the alert text. Place these buttons to the left of the Cancel button, or the affirmative button if Cancel is not present. An example of a common alternate action would be a Quit without Saving button in a save confirmation alert. This is an alternative to the primary suggested action Save and the Cancel button.

#### Espaciado y posicionamiento dentro de las alertas

Usar espaciado limpio y consistente en las alertas hace que el mensaje sea más fácil de leer y entender así como más obvias las reacciones.

Espaciado dentro de una alerta

Diagramas mostrando el espaciado correcto que usar entre controles y botones en una ventana de alerta. Está detallado en las guías de debajo.

Guías

- El borde alrededor de todos los bordes de la alerta y de su espaciado entre el icono y el texto es de 12 píxeles.

- El espaciado horizontal entre los botones es de 6 píxeles.

- Añada un salto de línea del tamaño estándar de tipografía debajo de los textos primario y secundario, o 24 píxeles si está usando Glade.

- Alinee la parte superior del icono con la parte superior del texto primario.

- Alinee a la izquierda el mensaje de texto para configuraciones regionales occidentales.

Detalles técnicos para una disposición adecuada

Create a new GtkDialog window specifying the number of buttons you wish the alert to contain (and a help button if appropriate). The GtkDialog will contain a GtkVBox with an empty upper row, and a lower row containing a GtkButtonBox with buttons in it. In the empty upper row, place a new GtkHBox. In the left column of the GtkHBox place a GtkImage. In the right column of the GtkHBox place a GtkLabel. Inside the GtkLabel place Primary Text first (using the appropriate Pango markup, see ), then put two linebreaks (return), then place Secondary Text. Now change the properties for each control according to these tables:

Propiedades para el GtkDialog

Propiedad | Valor
--- | ---
Título | (ninguna)
Anchura del borde | 6
Tipo | Nivel superior
Redimensionable | No
Tiene separador | No

Propiedades para la GtkVBox (incluidas en el diálogo de manera predeterminada)

Propiedad | Valor
--- | ---
Espaciado | 12

Propiedades para GtkHBox

Propiedad | Valor
--- | ---
Espaciado | 12
Anchura del borde | 6

Propiedades para GtkImage

Propiedad | Valor
--- | ---
Alineación Y | 0.00
Tamaño de icono | Diálogo

Propiedades para GtkLabel

Propiedad | Valor
--- | ---
Usar marcado | Sí
Ajustar texto | Sí
Alineación Y | 0.00

#### Alertas de información

Use an information alert when the user must know the information presented before continuing, or has specifically requested the information. Present less important information by other means such as a statusbar message.

Una alerta de información

Una alerta de información...

- usa el icono de información del almacén.

- presents a selectable message and an OK button. The button is placed in the bottom right corner of the alert. Pressing Enter or Escape dismisses the alert.

- may present a convenience button to give access to a relevant object. For example, a Details button in an appointment reminder alert that opens the appointment's property window. Place this button to the left of the affirmative button.

Comandos de ventana:

Enrollar/desenrollar, minimizar (si la alerta no tiene ventana padre), cerrar

#### Alertas de error

Display an error alert when a user-requested operation cannot be sucessfully completed. Present errors caused by operations not requested by the user by another means, unless the error could result in data loss or other serious problems. For example, an error encountered during an email check initiated by the user clicking a toolbar button should present an error alert. However, an error encountered in an automated periodic email check would more appropriately report failure with a statusbar message.

Una alerta de error

Una alerta de error...

- usa el icono de error del almacén.

- presenta un mensaje seleccionable con un botón Aceptar. El botón se ubica en la esquina inferior derecha de la alerta. Pulsar Intro puede descartar la alerta de error.

- may present a convenience button to allow immediate handling of the error. For example, a Format... button in a "This disk is not formatted" alert. Place this button to the left of the affirmative button.

Comandos de ventana:

Enrollar/desenrollar

#### Alertas de confirmación

Present a confirmation alert when the user's command may destroy their data, create a security risk, or take more than 30 seconds of user effort to recover from if it was selected in error.

Una alerta de confirmación

Una alerta de confirmación...

- usa el icono de advertencia del almacén.

- presents a selectable message and a button labelled with a verb or verb phrase describing the action to be confirmed, or labelled OK if such a phrase would be longer than three words. This button is placed in the bottom right corner of the alert.

- presents a Cancel button that will prevent execution of the user's command. This button is placed to the immediate left of the OK or equivalent button.

- puede presentar un botón de acción alternativo o un botón de conveniencia. Ubique este botón a la izquierda del botón Cancelar.

Comandos de ventana:

Enrollar/desenrollar

##### Guardar alertas de confirmación

Save confirmation alerts help ensure that users do not lose document changes when they close applications. This makes closing applications a less dangerous operation.

Una alerta de confirmación de guardado

Alerta de confirmación de guardado: "[ Cerrar sin guardar ] [ Cancelar ] [[ Guardar ]] "

Texto primario

¿Quier guardar los cambios en el documento Nombre del documento antes de cerrar?

Puede reemplazar documento con una descripción más adecuada, por ejemplo imagen o diagrama si el documento en cuestión no es principalmente de texto.

Texto secundario

Si cierra sin guardar, se perderán los cambios de los últimos periodo de tiempo

El texto secundario proporciona al usuario cierto contexto acerca del número de cambios sin guardar.

Botones

Cerrar sin guardar, Cancelar, Guardar

When a confirmation alert is needed, present it immediately. If the user confirms closing without saving, hide the alert and the document or application window immediately, before doing any necessary internal clean-up. If the user chooses to save before closing, hide the alert immediately but show the document window until the document is saved, in case an error occurs. Then hide the document window immediately after it has been saved successfuly.

#### Alertas de autenticación

Authentication alerts prompt the user for information necessary to gain access to protected resources, such as their username or password. Authentication alerts are a special kind of alert because they are both routine and largely unavoidable. Every attempt should be made to retain information entered into an authentication alert as long as is possible within security constraints.

Una alerta de autenticación

Guías

- Usar el botón de autenticación del almacén

- Muestre un campo etiquetado para cada elemento de información necesario. Los campos sugeridos son Nombre de usuario y

- If it is secure to retain the username longer than the password, pre-fill the username field and give focus to the password field when the alert is displayed.

- Show a button labelled with a verb or verb phrase describing the authentication action, or OK if there is no appropriate phrase or such a phrase would be longer than three words. Place this button in the bottom right corner of the alert.

- Do not enable the OK or equivalent button until all fields that require input have been attended to by the user. Remember that not all fields may require input however, for example an empty password may be acceptable in some applications.

- Show a Cancel button that will prevent authentication and close the alert. Place this button to the immediate left of the OK or equivalent button.

- Ubique cualquier acción alternativa o botón conveniente a la izquierda del botón Cancelar.

- When the user presses Return in the last field, activate the default button. When the user presses Return in any other field, move focus to the next field.

Comandos de ventana:

Enrollar/desenrollar

### Ventanas de progreso

A progress window can be used to provide feedback during an operation that takes more than a few seconds. See for more details about proper use of progress bars.

A progress window should always appear as an independent window in a window list. If progress of a task makes a window temporarily unusable, do not present a modal dialog-like progress window in front of it. Instead, present progress somewhere in the original window, making all its other elements temporarily insensitive. This helps reduce visual clutter.

Ejemplo de una ventana de progreso

Ejemplo de una ventana de progreso

Formato del título

Progress windows should have a title representing the overall operation: for example Copying Files, Installing, or Calling. As with other window titles, do not end progress window titles with an ellipsis.

Redimensionando

Progress windows should be resizable if they contain non-static information the user may want to copy (for example, the source URL in a download progress window). Otherwise they should not be resizable.

Guías

- It is often better to use the progress bar contained in many primary windows' statusbar rather than a progress window. See for details on choosing between the two.

- Las ventanas de progreso deben usar un texto primario y secundario como una alerta. Consulte la .

- The progress bar text should provide an idea of how much work has been completed. It is better to provide specific information rather than a unitless percentage. For example, "13 of 19 images rotated" or "12.1 of 30 MB downloaded" rather than "13% complete".

- If possible, an estimate of the time left until the operation is complete should also be included in the progress bar text. Indicate that the "time left" is an estimate using the word "about".

- Immediately beneath the progress bar, place italicized text indicating the current sub-operation being performed. This might be a step in a sequence, "Contacting control tower for permission to land", or it could be the current object being operated on in a bulk operation, "Rotating MonaLisa.png", "Rotating StarryNight.png".

- If the operation in progress is potentially hazardous (destructive, costly, etc) or heavily taxes a limited resource for more than ten seconds (network bandwidth, hard disk, CPU, etc), consider placing a Pause toggle button to the right of the Cancel button. When paused, the italicized current sub-operation text should have " (Paused)" appended. This will allow users to perform important tasks requiring that resource, or give them time to think whether they want to procede with a dangerous operation they inadvertantly triggered.

A progress window for a file copy operation

A progress window for a copy operation

#### Ventanas de listas de comprobación

Occasionally a procedure is comprised of a series of user performable actions. In these cases, particularly when it is desirable that the user acquire some familiarity with the actions involved in a procedure, checklist windows may be used.

Asistente de configuración del cortafuegos

A personal firewall setup wizard might install the firewall package, add entries for the firewall to /etc/xinetd.conf, restart the internet super-daemon, and configure the user's web browser to operate through the firewall. It may be desirable that the user is exposed the series of actions involved in setting up the firewall to increase the chances that they will be sucessful in making modifications later, if they so desire.

An example checklist window (Ready to Start)

Una ventana de lista de comprobación

Un ejemplo de ventana de lista de comprobación (en progreso)

Una ventana de lista de comprobación

Un ejemplo de ventana de lista de comprobación (terminada)

Una ventana de lista de comprobación

Guías

- If knowing the series of steps in an operation isn't that useful to the user, just use a regular progress window. Remember that you are probably more interested in the information than most users, many of whom will find the technical steps confusing rather than helpful.

- Unlike regular progress windows, checklist windows should not close automatically when the operation is complete and should require explicit user input before they begin. This is because one of their purposes is to inform the user concerning an operation's contingent steps.

- The progress bar indicates progress in the overall operation, not each step. While this is more difficult to program, it is the information most useful to the user. Just estimate how long each of the steps takes relative to each other and assign each step a fixed ratio of the progress bar's progress accordingly.

- Do not use a checklist window for a series of internal programmatic steps, use a regular progress window. For example "Connect to mail server", "Authenticate with mail server", "Download messages", "Disconnect" would not be an appropriate series of steps for a checklist window, but would be appropriate sub-operation steps for a regular progress window.

### Diálogos

A dialog provides an exchange of information, or dialog, between the user and the application. Use a dialog to obtain additional information from the user that is needed to carry out a particular command or task.

A dialog should not appear in the panel window list. Any open dialogs should be raised above the application when the application window itself is selected from the window list.

Ejemplo de diálogo

Un ejemplo de diálogo en pestañas: el diálogo de impresión de GNOME

Formato del título:

Name of command that opened the dialog (without any trailing ellipsis)

Comandos de ventana:

Minimizar, enrollar/desenrollar

Botones:

Follow the guidelines for Alert buttons, see .

Your dialog may specify a default button, that is activated when the user presses the Return key. See for guidance on choosing an appropriate default button.

#### Botones adicionales

You can include other buttons in a dialog's main button area in addition to the affirmative button and Cancel, but any more than one or two such buttons will make the dialog appear complicated and difficult to use. As with any other button, keep the labels as concise as possible to minimize this effect.

Guías

- Place buttons that apply to the dialog as a whole in the main button area row at the bottom of the dialog, to the left of the Cancel button.

- Place buttons that apply to one or a few controls next to their associated controls. For instance, place a Browse... button at the trailing edge of the text field it fills in.

#### Distribución

A clean, logical dialog layout helps the user to quickly understand what information is required from them.

Guías

- Arrange controls in your dialog in the direction that people read. In western locales, this is generally left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Position the main controls with which the user will interact as close to the upper left corner as possible. Follow similar guidelines for arranging controls within groups in the dialog, and for specifying the order in which controls are traversed using the Tab key.

- When opening a dialog, provide initial keyboard focus to the component that you expect users to operate first. This focus is especially important for users who must use a keyboard to navigate your application.

- Provide and show sensible default values for as many of the controls in your dialog as possible when it is opened, so the user does not have to generate the information from scratch. These defaults may come from system settings (for example, hostname or IP address), or from information that the user has previously entered in this or another application (for example, email address or network proxy).

Consulte la para obtener información más detallada sobre cómo colocar controles en los diálogos.

See for information on using tabbed notebook controls in dialogs.

#### Diálogos comunes

The gtk and GNOME libraries provide standard dialogs for many common tasks, including opening and saving files, choosing fonts and colors, and printing. Always use these when the user is performing one of these tasks. You may modify the dialogs to reflect the needs of your particular application (for example, adding preview Play and Stop buttons to the Open File dialog in an audio application), but do not change or remove features so much as to make them unrecognizable.

### Asistentes

An assistant is a secondary window that guides the user through an operation by breaking it into sequential steps. Assistants are useful for making complex operations less intimidating, as they restrict the information visible to the user at any given moment.

Because assistants provide a relatively small number of controls on the screen at any given time, they have sufficient space for inline documentation. Therefore, do not include a Help button in an assistant window. If you cannot make an operation sufficiently clear in an assistant without resorting to a Help button, you need to simplify it further.

Assistants do have major downsides. After using an assistant it is often hard to figure out where the individual settings aggregated into the assistant are stored. Often people will resort to re-running the assistant, re-entering many settings that they don't want to change. Why do they need to re-enter anything? The assistant should be populated with the exisiting settings whenever it is run.

Assistants are often used in situations where a better solution would be to simplify, or even better automate, the process. Before using an assistant to step people through a complex operation, consider if the operation can be fundamentally simplified so an assistant is unnecessary.

Comandos de ventana:

Cerrar, minimizar/restaurar, enrollar/desenrrollar

#### Página de introducción

The first page provides the user with the "big picture". Place the title of the assistant in the window's title bar and the assistant's title area, along with an optional picture. Beneath this, state the goal of the assistant, and, if it is not obvious, where the user can find the information the assistant will be asking for.

Formato del título:

Título del asistente

Botones:

Cancel, Forward

Ejemplo de la primera página de un asistente

Screenshot showing the first page of an assistant for creating a new email account

#### Páginas de contenido

Content pages contain the actual settings of the assistant. Summarize the type of setting present on each content page in its title area. For example, Mail Server.

Formato del título:

Assistant Title - (Current Page of Total Pages)

Botones:

Cancelar, Atrás, Adelante

#### Última página

The last page should summarize the settings that will be changed by the assistant, and how the user can modify them later.

Formato del título:

Finish Assistant Title

Botones:

Cancel, Back, Finish

## Menús

Tear| off menus? (These are controlled by gconf in 2.0, so nothing app developer needs to do?) Posición de la barra de menú Menu bar hiding

Menus present the whole range of an application's commands to the user, and often a subset of its preferences. When designing a new application, place common menu items in the same locations as they appear in other applications, as this makes it much easier for the user to learn.

In most applications, only primary windows should have a menubar. Utility windows and dialogs should be simple enough that their functions can be provided by controls such as buttons placed within the window.

Occasionally, however, a utility window or dialog is so complex that there would be too many such controls. In this case, you may use a menubar provided that:

- the menus follow the same standard layout as described in

- the window does not include a dialog button area or any buttons that dismiss it, such as OK, Close or Cancel. Place these commands on the File menu or equivalent instead.

Guías

- Label menu items with verbs for commands and adjectives for settings, according to the rules in .

- Make a menu item insensitive when its command is unavailable. For example, the Edit Copy item, which issues the command to copy selected data to the clipboard, should not be active when there is no data selected.

- Provide an access key for every menu item. You may use the same access key on different menus in your application, but avoid duplicating access keys on the same menu. Note that unlike other controls, once a menu is displayed, its access keys may be used by just typing the letter; it is not necessary to press the Alt key at the same time.

- Design your menu structure to avoid more than one level of submenus. Deep menu hierarchies are harder to memorize and physically difficult to navigate.

- Do not have menus with less than three items on them (except the standard Help menu, which has only two items by default). If you have a submenu with fewer than three items on it, move them into their parent menu. If you have a top-level menu with fewer than three items on it, find another suitable menu to add them to, or find suitable items from other menus to add to it.

### La barra de menú

Una barra de menú típica

Una barra de menú típica con los menús Archivo, Editar, Ver, Insertar, Formato, Ir, Marcadores. Herramientas, Ventanas y Ayuda

The menubar provides a number of drop-down menus. Only the menu titles are displayed, until the user clicks on one of them.

The menubar is normally visible at all times and is always accessible from the keyboard, so make all the commands available in your application available on the menubar.

Modo a pantalla completa

When your application is running in full screen mode, hide the menubar by default. However, make its menus and items accessible from the keyboard as usual. Pressing ESC should cause the application to leave full screen mode. A Leave Fullscreen button should be placed in the upper right hand corner of the window. The button should disappear after the mouse is unused for 5 seconds, and should appear again when the moused is moved. Alternately, in applications where the mouse is used frequently in full screen mode, all but a two pixel row of the button may be slid off the top of the screen. The button should slide back on the screen when the mouse moves near it.

Guías

- Provide a menubar in each primary application window, containing at least a File and a Help menu.

- Organize menu titles in the standard order— see

- Do not disable menu titles. Allow the user to explore the menu, even though there might be no available items on it at that time.

- Menu titles on a menubar are single words with their first letter capitalized. Do not use spaces in menu titles, as this makes them easily-mistaken for two separate menu titles. Do not use compound words (such as WindowOptions) or hyphens (such as Window-Options) to circumvent this guideline.

- Do not provide a mechanism for hiding the menubar, as this may be activated accidentally. Some users will not be able to figure out how to get the menu bar back in this case.

### Tipos de menús

#### Menús desplegables

A typical drop-down menu

Screenshot of a typical drop-down menu

A drop-down menu appears when the user clicks on its title in a menubar, or focuses the title and presses Return.

CB-Ed/Fig: Define "post," as no-brainer-ish as it may seem, and also add a figure to show what it means. A simple menu being shown at the user clicking on a menu title on a menubar, or "posted," makes sense. CFB: I've just reworded everything to avoid the use of "post"

Guías

- Only place items on a menu that relate to that menu's title.

- Organize menu items in the standard order— see . For application-specific items where there is no standard order, arrange in numerical or other logical order (for example, 50%, 100%, 200%), task order (for example, Compile followed by Debug) or by expected frequency of use.

- Limit top-level menus to a maximum of about 15 items. If you have any more items than this, consider moving a functionally-related subset of the items into a submenu or a new top-level menu.

- Do not add or remove individual menu items while the application is running, make them insensitive instead. Entire menus may be added or removed from the menubar at runtime, however, for example in component-based applications.

- Immediately update menu items that are edited directly or indirectly by the user, such as those on the Open Recent submenu and the Bookmarks menu.

CB-Ed: As in JLFDG AT p. 33, perhaps provide a table of common access keys, or "mnemonics." CFB: the keyboard navigation chapter already does so

#### Submenús

Un menú desplegable con un submenú

Screenshot of a drop-down menu with a submenu

A submenu appears when the user clicks its title, which is indicated by a small arrow symbol beside its label. You can save space on long menus by grouping related commands onto a single submenu.

Guías

- Use submenus sparingly, as they are physically difficult to navigate and make it harder to find and reach the items they contain.

- Do not create submenus with fewer than three items, unless the items are added dynamically (for example the File New Tab submenu in gnome-terminal).

- Do not nest submenus within submenus. More than two levels of hierarchy are difficult to memorize and navigate.

CB-Ed/Fig: In JLFDG AT, p. 41, the Most Recently Used (MRU) list is recommended to contain no more than 10 items. Add a figure here, with callouts to point out this rule, among others, if any are developed.

#### Menús emergentes

Un menú emergente para una carpeta de correo

Screenshot of a popup menu for a mail folder, listing the actions that can be performed on that folder

Popup menus provide shortcuts to those menu items that are applicable only to the currently selected object. As such, they are sometimes known as "context menus" or "shortcut menus". A popup menu is shown when the user right-clicks on an object, or selects the object and presses Shift F10.

Be aware that popup menus are used primarily by intermediate and advanced users. Even some users who have used graphical desktops for many years do not know about popup menus until somebody shows them.

Guías

- Provide a popup menu for every object, selectable part, and text input target such as entry fields.

- Provide an access key for each item. However, to enhance their spatial efficiency and readability, do not show keyboard shortcuts in popup menus.

- Since the user may not be aware of their presence, do not provide functions that are only accessible from popup menus unless you are confident that your target users will know how to use popup menus.

  Pero consulte http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34357

- Order items on a popup menu as follows:

  - the double-click action for object, when it exists

  - other commands and settings in expected frequency-of-use order

  - transfer commands such as `Cut`, `Copy`, and `Paste`

  - Input Methods, where applicable. Input Methods is provided by GTK+ for supporting alternatives to the keyboard for input (such as used for Japanese, Chinese, and some accessibility technologies).

- Popup menus need to be as simple as possible to maximize their efficiency. Do not place more than about ten items on a popup menu, and do avoid submenus.

CB-Ed: In the previous note, define the Input Methods menu and why it is an exception, for scalability reasons (other items may fall into the same category). It also sounds like a pretty low-level command; should this be exposed to the user? SN-Ed: No, it should not be exposed to the user. I'm not really sure what possessed the GTK guys to put this in every right click menu for text boxes. I suppose in this case having it be a submenu is good (if they insist on it existing) because it makes it maximally invisible GJM: To make this worse, they've added "Insert Unicode control character".

### Diseñar un menú

#### Agrupar elementos de menú

Elementos agrupados en un menú con separadores

Screenshot of a menu divided into five logical groups with menu separators

Menu separators are the horizontal dividing lines that visually separate groups of related items on a drop-down menu, submenu, or popup menu. For example, the separators in divide the menu into five functionally-related groups. Good use of separators helps to "chunk" the information on a menu and make it easier to scan and memorize.

Guías

- The best size for a group is around 2-5 items. Single-item groups are best placed at the top or bottom of a menu, otherwise try to group them with other single items of the same type on the same menu.

- Order items within a group logically, numerically, in task order or by expected frequency of use, as appropriate.

- Only place one type of menu item in each group— command, mutable, check box or radio button. For example, do not place commands (such as View Reload) and settings (such as. View Toolbar) in the same group.

#### Tipos de elementos de menú

##### Elementos de comando

Un grupo de elementos de comando en un menú

Screenshot of a group on a menu containing only command items: Save, Save As, and Revert

Command items are menu items that initiate a command or perform an action, such as Save, Print or Quit. They may act on the currently active document in a document based application, or on the application itself.

Guías

- Provide a keyboard shortcut for standard or frequently used command items. See for more information on choosing shortcut keys.

- Do not remove command items from the menu when they are unavailable, make them insensitive instead. This allows the user to infer what functionality the application provides even if it is not currently available, and keeping the menu structure static makes it easier to memorize.

- Label the menu item with a trailing ellipsis ("...") only if the command requires further input from the user before it can be performed. Do not add an ellipsis to items that only present a confirmation dialog (such as Delete), or that do not require further input (such as Properties, Preferences or About).

Should we reserve Alt as a modifier for window manager operations? Should we state this here? CB-Ed/Fig: Figure would be nice here.

##### Mutable Command Items

A mutable command item changes its label when selected. For example, View Reload in a browser may change to Stop to allow the user to interrupt the operation if it is taking a long time.

Note that mutable menu items can be problematic because the user never sees the menu item changing, so it is not obvious that a different function has become available.

Guías

- If your mutable menu items are command items, and you have sufficient space on your menu, consider providing two adjacent menu items for the commands instead. Then make the items sensitive or insensitive as the situation demands. This also makes it easier for the user to tell when different shortcuts are available for each of the commands, for example Ctrl R for Reload, and Esc for Stop.

- Do not use mutable menu items to toggle a two-state setting (for example, Show Toolbar and Hide Toolbar). Present such items as a single check box item instead.

##### Checkbox Items

A group of check box items on a menu

Screenshot of group on a View menu containing four check box items: Main Toolbar, Side Pane, Location Bar and Status Bar

A check box menu item shows the current state of a two-state setting, and allows the user to toggle it by selecting the menu item.

Guías

- Use a check box menu item only when it is obvious from the label what the set and unset states mean. This usually means that the two states are logical or natural opposites, such as "on" and "off". If this is not the case, use two radio button items instead.

- Never change the label of a check box menu item in response to the user selecting the item.

##### Radio Button Items

A group of radiobutton items on a menu

Screenshot of group on a menu containing three radiobutton items: view as icons, view as list and view details

Radio button menu items show which of two or more mutually-exclusive settings are currently selected, and allow the user to choose a different setting by selecting its menu item.

- If you need to offer a choice of two mutually-exclusive settings to the user, use a group of two radio button items instead of a single check box menu item if the settings are not clearly opposites. For example, represent View as Icons and View as List as two radio button items.

- Never change the label of a radio button menu item in response to the user selecting or deselecting the item.

Adam notes that this whole section can be a significant source of nastiness in a UI. We need explicit recommendations here on how to represent different states of a toggled menu item via icons in the UI. We also need to make recommendations to avoid some common mistakes, including: * Confusing menu items acting as radio buttons in a group with menu items acting as check boxes. * Ambiguous names for check box/toggle menu items which make it difficult to establish the current system state by looking at the menu.

### Menús estándar

Most applications have many functions in common, such as Cut, Copy, Paste and Quit. To aid learning and memorability, these menu items, and the menus on which they appear, must appear with the same labels and in the same order in every application. The same commands must also behave the same way in different applications, to avoid surprising the user.

This section details the most common menus, menu items and their behaviors. You will not need all of these menus or menu items in every application you write, but do preserve the order of the menu titles and of the menu items that you do use.

Guías

- Place application-specific menus after the Format menu and before the Go menu

- Place application-specific menu items towards the middle of a standard menu, unless they logically fit with one of the standard groups already on the menu.

What is the best way to present menus given the known variants? Multiple shots? Segments?

A menubar showing all the standard menu titles in their correct order

- File
- Edit
- View
- Insert
- Format
- Go
- Bookmarks
- Windows
- Help

#### Archivo

The File menu contains commands that operate on the current document. It is the left-most item in the menubar because of its importance and frequency of use, and because it is a relevant menu in many applications. Historically, because most applications already had this menu, and because the distinction between closing documents and closing windows became blurred over time, the File menu has also become the standard location for Quit.

The items on the File menu are generally ordered by locality, closest first. That is, items to save or load from file, followed by printing, followed by sending to a remote user. Try to maintain this ordering if you have to add new items to the menu.

If your application does not operate on documents, name this item for the type of object it displays. For example, many games should have a Game instead of a File menu. However, place the Quit menu item last on this menu nonetheless.

GJM: Quit should be deprecated. Close is often sufficient; especially when the application saves state as it should.

Un menú «Archivo» genérico

    Archivo
    New                  Ctrl+N
    Open...              Ctrl+O

    ---
    Save                 Ctrl+S
    Save As...     Shift+Ctrl+S
    Save a Copy...
    Revert
    ---
    Page Setup
    Print Preview  Shift+Ctrl+P
    Print...             Ctrl+P
    Send To...              Ctrl+M
    ---
    Properties
    ---
    1. Recent Document
    2. Recent Document
    3. Recent Document
    4. Recent Document
    ---
    Close               Ctrl+W
    Quit                 Ctrl+Q

##### Creation and Opening Operations

Adam noted in the last review that we don't make any suggestions for applications that do not edit document/files. In an OOUI, the Game menu would have items such as (modulo phraeseology) Open New Game, Open Game Settings, High Scores. >For non-game UI there would be at the very least, Open as ... and Open Settings.

Creation and Opening operation menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
New | Ctrl N | Creates a new document. Open a new primary window, with the title Nombre del documento, containing a blank document. How this window is displayed, e.g. as a tab or a separate window, is up to the window manager. If your application can create a number of different types of document, you can make the New item a submenu, containing a menu item for each type. Label these items New document type, make the first entry in the submenu the most commonly used document type, and give it the Ctrl N shortcut. Note: A blank document will not necessarily be completely blank. For example, a document created from a template may already contain some data.
Open... | Ctrl O | Opens an existing document in a new window. Present the user with a standard Open File dialog from which they can choose an existing file. If the chosen file is already open in the application, raise that window instead of opening a new one. If your application provides more than two ways to open an object, place all the Open ... items in a submenu, including Recent Files. This keeps the menu less cluttered and in some ways presents a better inteface as the list of recent files is presented in the same menu, and near, the regular open commands. Users hate having to go to the bottom of the file menu to open recent files; the cause of this is that, in the workplace, it is far more common to sort out other peoples already written and saved crap than it is to have to write your own. Most of the users of office application, surveyed in both card sorts and online presentations of speculative menus, do not want or do not even notice when the New... items are absent. >Problem to be solved. It may be desirable to open a second read-only view of the same document. How should this be provided? Non-OOUI are particularly nasty in this regard, as in many others. A "Clone Window" command seems quite nasty. >As I noted in the first review, the blank window should be kept available; in an OOUI this is a more obvious a way of working.

##### Saved State Operations

This section needs a review with an eye to what can actually be done programmatically.

Saved State Operation menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Save | Ctrl S | Saves the document with its current filename. If the document already has a filename associated with it, save the document immediately without any further interaction from the user. If there are any additional options involved in saving a file (eg. DOS or UNIX-style line endings in a text file), prompt for these first time the document is saved, but subsequently use the same values each time until the user changes them. If the document has no current filename or is read-only, selecting this item should be the same as selecting Save As.
Save As... | Mayús Ctrl S | Saves the document with a new filename. Present the user with the standard Save As dialog, and save the file with the chosen file name.
Save a Copy... | Ninguno | Prompts the user to enter a filename, with which a copy of the document is then saved. Do not alter either the view or the filename of the original document. All subsequent changes are still made to the original document until the user specifies otherwise, for example by choosing the Guardar como command. Like the Save As dialog, the Save a Copy dialog may present different ways to save the data. For example, an image may be saved in a native format or as a PNG.
Revert | Ninguno | Reverts the document to the last saved state. Present the user with a warning that all changes will be lost, and offer the option of cancelling before reloading the file.
Save Version... | Ninguno | An alternative to the Guardar una copia command. Only use this item in conjunction with the Restaurar versión. Unless we can describe exactly what this ought to do, should we remove it for now?command.
Restore Version... | Ninguno | Prompts the user for a version of the current document to be restored. Present the user with with a warning that all changes will be lost, and offer the option of cancelling before restoring the version. Only use this item in conjunction with the Guardar versión command.
Versions... | Ninguno | An alternative to the Guardar versión and Restaurar versión commands. Use this when more utilities, such as a diff, are available.

##### Exportar operaciones

Export Operation menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Page Setup | Ninguno | Allows the user to control print-related settings. Present the user with a dialog allowing the user to set such options as portrait or landscape format, margins, and so on. We should have a standard dialog for this.
Print Preview | Mayús Ctrl P | Shows the user what the printed document will look like. Present a new window containing an accruate represenation of the appearance of the document as it would be printed. The libgnomeprintui library provides a standard Print Preview window that you should use if possible.
Print... | Ctrl P | Prints the current document. Present the user with a dialog allowing them to set options like the page range to be printed, the printer to be used, and so on. The dialog must contain a button labelled Imprimir that starts printing and closes the dialog. The `libgnomeprintui` library provides a standard Print dialog that you should use if possible.
Send To... | Ctrl M | Provides the user a means to attach or send the current document as an email or email attachment, depending on its format. You may provide more than one Send item depending on which options are available. If there are more than two such items, move them into a submenu. For example, if only Send by Email and Send by Fax are available, leave them on the top-level menu If there is a third option, such as Send by FTP, place all the options in a Send submenu.

##### Propiedades del archivo

Elementos del menú de propiedades

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Properties | Alt Intro | Opens the document's Propiedades window. This may contain editable information, such as the document author's name, or read-only information, such as the number of words in the document, or a combination of both. The Alt Intro shortcut should not be provided where Intro is most frequently used to insert a new line.

##### Operaciones de cierre

Elementos del menú de operaciones de cierre

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Close | Ctrl W | Closes the current document. If it has unsaved changes, present the user with a alerta de confirmación giving the option to save changes, discard them, or cancel the action without closing or saving the document. If the window you are closing is the last open document in the application, the correct action depends on your application type: Single document interface: close the application Controlled single document interface: leave only the control window open Multiple document interface: close the current document and create a new blank document As mentioned on the usability list, Control+W is an Emacs shortcut for Cut. This has already proven deleterious for some users so we should consider dropping the shortcut. But see also http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=76761
Quit | Ctrl Q | Closes the application. If there are unsaved changes in any open documents, present the user with a confirmation alert for each affected document, giving the option to save the changes, discard them, or cancel. If there are no unsaved changes, close the application immediately without presenting any further messages or dialogs. In particular, non-document based applications, for example a game or a calculator, should save their state and exit immediately. This state should be restored the next time the application is started. Kathy had suggested not providing a shortcut key to Quit. I can find no discussion of this. (And I think it should go away.)

#### Editar

The Edit menu contains items relating to editing both the document (clipboard handling, search and replace, and inserting special objects) and the user's preferences. Preferences are edited here rather than on a Settings menu, because:

- most applications' preferences windows are accessed via a single menu item, and single-item menus offer poor usability

- most applications already contain a suitable Edit menu.

NO TRADUCIR

Un menú «Editar» genérico

    Edit
    Undo                 Ctrl+Z
    Redo           Shift+Ctrl+Z
    -
    Cut                  Ctrl+X
    Copy                 Ctrl+C
    Paste                Ctrl+V
    Paste Special...                Shift+Ctrl+V
    Delete               Del
    Select All           Ctrl+A
    Duplicate           Ctrl+U
    Deselect All   Shift+Ctrl+A
    -
    Find...              Ctrl+F
    Find Next            Ctrl+G
    Find Previous  Shift+Ctrl+G
    Replace...              Ctrl+R
    -
    Insert...
    -
    Preferences

##### Modification History

Document-based applications should maintain a history of modifications to a document and the state of the document between each action. The Undo and Redo commands move backwards and forwards through this history.

We'd like to see the action name included on the Undo/Redo menu items, but this is currently not easy to do in gtk.

Modification History menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Undo acción | Ctrl Z | Undoes the effect of the previous action in the undo history list. Revert the document to its state before the previous action was performed. If your application supports undo, and the user undoes all changes since it was last saved, treat the document as unmodified. Note: provide a separate Undo and Redo menu item even if your application only supports one level of undo.
Redo acción | Mayús Ctrl Z | Performs the next action in the undo history list, after the user has moved backwards through the list with the Deshacer command. Move the user one step forwards again, restoring the document to the state it was in after that action was originally performed. Note: provide a separate Undo and Redo menu item even if your application only supports one level of undo.

##### Manipular datos seleccionados

Selected Data Manipulation menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Cut | Ctrl X | Removes the selected content and places it onto the clipboard. Visually, remove the content from the document in the same manner as Delete.
Copy | Ctrl C | Copies the selected content onto the clipboard.
Paste | Ctrl V | Inserts the contents of the clipboard into the document. If there is no current selection, use the caret as the insertion point. If there is a current selection, replace it with the clipboard contents.
Paste Special... | Mayús Ctrl V | Inserts a non-default representation of the clipboard contents into the document. Open a dialog presenting a list of the available formats from which the user can select. For example, if the clipboard contains a PNG file copied from a file manager, the image may be embedded in the document, or a link to the file inserted so that changes to the image on disk are always reflected in the document.
Duplicate | Ctrl U | Creates a duplicate copy of the selected object. Do not prompt for a name for the duplicate object, but give it a sensible default (for example, `Copy of ShoppingList.abw`) and allow the user to change it later. Place the duplicate copy as near the original as possible without overlapping it, even if this means breaking the current sort order within the container, so the user sees it immediately.
Delete | Eliminar | Removes the selected content without placing it on the clipboard. Should Delete be provided on a menu? The command is as obvious as using the arrow keys to move about.
Select All | Ctrl A | Selecciona todo el contenido del documento actual.
Deselect All | Mayús Ctrl A | Deselects all content in the current document. Only provide this item in situations when no other method of undoing selection is possible or apparent to the user. For example, in complex graphics applications where selection and deselection is not usually possible simply by using the cursor keys. Note: Do not provide Deselect All in text entry fields, as Shift Ctrl hex digit is used to enter unicode characters so its shortcut will not work.

##### Buscar y reemplazar

Search and Replace menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Buscar… | Ctrl F | Opens a window or dialog allowing the user to search for specific content in the current document. Highlight each match in-place. If the command allows the user to search for content in places other than the current document, for example other open documents, other documents on disk, or a remote network location, label this item Search instead of Find.
Find Next | Ctrl G | Selects the next instance of the last Find term in the current document. What to do if there is no next instance? Disable the menu item, which could be confusing, or pop up an annoying alert saying 'no matches found'?
Find Previous | Mayús Ctrl G | Selects the previous instance of the last Find term in the current document.
Replace... | Ctrl H | Opens a window or dialog allowing the user to search for specific content in the current document, and replace each occurrence with new content. Replace is not always descriptive of what the user may do with the utility window. Formatting a section is also a possibility. Ideally, these would all be merged into a simple utility window

##### Insertar objetos especiales

Where applicable, provide items on the Edit menu that insert special objects such as images, links, GUI controls or the current date and time.

If you have up to three types of object that can be inserted, add them as individual items to this menu, for example Insert Image, or Insert External Link. If you have between three and six types, place them on an Edit Insert submenu. If you have more than six, add a separate Insert menu to the menubar.

##### Preferencias del usuario

Elementos del menú de preferencias del usuario

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Preferences | Ninguno | Opens a ventana de preferencias allowing the user to change preferences for the whole application. Changes will apply to all running and subsequent instances of the application.

#### Ver

The View menu contains only items that affect the user's view of the current document. Do not place any items on the View menu that affect the the content of the current document. (Exception: View Reload may change the current contents if, for example, the document is a webpage that has been recently updated on the server).

Un menú «Ver» genérico

    View
    Toolbar
    Statusbar
    ---
    Icons
    Lista
    Details
    ---
    Sort By...
    Filter...
    ---
    Zoom in       Ctrl++
    Zoom Out  Ctrl+-
    Normal Size   Ctrl+=
    Best Fit
    ---
    Refresh     Ctrl+R

##### Barra de herramientas y barra de estado

Toolbar and Statusbar menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Toolbar | Ninguno | Shows or hides the application's toolbar. This is a check box menu item. Include this item in every application that has a single toolbar. See for information on how to deal with multiple toolbars.

##### Content Presentation

Content Presentation menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Icons | Ninguno | Shows the contents of the selected container as rows and columns of large icons, each with its name underneath. This is a radio button menu item.
Lista | Ninguno | Shows the contents of the selected container as a list of small icons, possibly in multiple columns, each with its name on its right-hand side. This is a radio button menu item.
Details | Ninguno | Shows the contents of the selected container as single column of small icons, each with its name on its right-hand side. Additional columns give extra information about the object each icon represents, for example the size and modification date of files in a file manager. This is a radio button menu item. If your application has no need for both List and Details modes, use the List item for whichever of the two modes you support.
Sort By... | Ninguno | Sorts the contents of an container by user-specified criteria. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose from pre-defined sort keys (for example, Name, Size, or Modification Date in a file manager), or to specify their own if applicable.
Filter... | Ninguno | Hides objects that are not of interest to the user. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose from a list of types of object they want to display, or to enter their own criteria (for example, a regular expression matched against a particular property of the objects).
Zoom In | Ctrl+ | Zooms into the document. Make the center of the new view the same as the center of the previous view. Should probably encourage apps to support Ctrl+= as well.
Zoom Out | Ctrl- | Zooms out of the document. Make the center of the new view the same as the center of the previous view.
Normal Size | Ctrl 0 | Resets the zoom level back to the default value, normally 100%. Make the center of the new view the same as the center of the previous view.
Best Fit | Ninguno | Makes the document fill the window. Show the document, or the current page of the document, at as high a zoom level as will fit in the window whilst allowing the whole document or page to be visible without scrolling.
Refresh | Ctrl R | Redraws the current view of the document from local storage. For example, in a web browser application, this would redraw the page from the browser page cache.
Reload | Ctrl R | Redraws the current view of the document, checking the data source for changes first. For example, checks the web server for updates to the page before redrawing it. If your application requires both Reload and Refresh, use Shift Ctrl R as the shortcut for Reload.

#### Insertar

The Insert menu lists the type of special objects that can be inserted into the document at the current caret position, for example images, links, page breaks or GUI objects. Only provide this menu if you have more than about six types of object that can be inserted, otherwise place individual items for each type on the Edit menu.

Un menú «Insertar» genérico

    Page Break
    Date and Time...
    Symbol...
    ---
    Sheet...
    Rows...
    Columns...
    ---
    Image...
    Graph...
    ---
    From File...
    External Link...

The types of object will vary between applications, but the table below shows some common types that may be applicable.

Insertar elementos de menú

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Page Break | Ninguno | Inserts a page break at the caret position. Show the page break visually, for example as a dotted line across the page, unless the user has specifically requested not to see them.
Date and Time... | Ninguno | Inserts the current date and/or time at the caret position. Open a dialog giving a choice of date and time formats. If applicable, also offer the choice to insert either as plain text, so the specified date and time will always appear in the document, or as a special field that will updated every time the document is opened, refreshed or printed.
Symbol... | Ninguno | Inserts a special symbol, such as a mathematical symbol or foreign character, at the caret position. Open a dialog showing all the available symbols as a table, from which the user can choose. The user must be able to add multiple symbols to the document at one time without having to close and re-open the dialog.
Sheet... | Ninguno | Adds a new sheet to the current workbook. Do not prompt for a name, but choose a sensible default (such as Sheet-2) and allow the user to change it later.
Rows... | Ninguno | Adds new rows to a table in which one or more rows or cells are currently selected. Open a dialog asking whether to insert rows above or below the current selection, and for any other required information. Copy the row format from the last or first row of the current selection respectively, unless the user specifies otherwise.
Columns... | Ninguno | Adds new columns to a table in which one or more columns or cells are currently selected. Open a dialog asking whether to insert columns to the left or right of the current selection, and for any other required information. Copy the column format from the right- or left-most column of the current selection respectively, unless the user specifies otherwise.
Image... | Ninguno | Inserts an image into the document from a file. Present a standard Open File dialog filtered on acceptable file types, from which the user can choose an image file to insert.
Graph... | Ninguno | Inserts a graph into the document. Open a dialog or assistant that allows the user to build (or open from a file) a graph of their choice, using the current selection as an indication of which values, axis labels and data labels to use.
From FIle... | Ninguno | Inserts an object from any acceptable file type, for example plain text, formatted text, or an image. Present a standard Open File dialog filtered on acceptable file types, from which the user can choose a file to insert.
External Link... | Ninguno | Inserts a link to an object stored in a different file, or on a remote system. The object is not embedded in or saved with the document, only a link to it. Open a dialog in which the user can type or choose the name of the object, for example a filename or a webpage URL. Show the link in the document in as informative way as possible. For example, show a link to an image as a thumbnail of that image, unless the user specifies otherwise.

#### Formato

A Format menu contains commands to change the visual appearance of the document. For example, changing the font, color, or line spacing of a text selection.

The difference between these commands and those on the View menu is that changes made with Format commands are persistent and saved as part of the document, for example as HTML or RTF tags.

Un menú «Formato» genérico

    Style...
    ---
    Font...
    Paragraph...
    ---
    Bold	Ctrl+B
    Italic	Ctrl+I
    Underline	Ctrl+U
    ---
    Cells...
    List...
    ---
    Layer...
    Page...

Items found on the Format will be very application-specific, but some common items are listed in the table below.

Format menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Style... | Ninguno | Sets the style attributes of the selected text or objects either individually or to a named, predefined style. Open a dialog allowing the user to set attributes such as bold, italic, size and spacing individually, and to create their own named styles where applicable.
Font... | Ninguno | Sets the font properties of the selected text or objects. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose font, size, style, color, or whatever other attributes are applicable.
Paragraph... | Ninguno | Sets the properties of the selected paragraph. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose style, line spacing, tabulation, or whatever other attributes are applicable.
Bold | Ctrl B | Toggles the boldness of the current text selection on or off. If some of the selection is currently bold and some is not, this command should bolden the selected text.
Italic | Ctrl I | Toggles the italicisation of the current text selection on or off. If some of the selection is currently italicised and some is not, this command should italicise the selected text.
Underline | Ctrl U | Toggles underlining of the current text selection. If some of the selection is currently underlined and some is not, this command should underline the selected text.
Cells... | Ninguno | Sets the properties of the selected table cells. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose alignment, borders, shading, text style, number format, or whatever other attributes are applicable.
List... | Ninguno | Sets the properties of the selected list, or turns the selected paragraphs into a list if they are not already formatted as such. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose number or bullet style, spacing, tabulation, or whatever other attributes are applicable.
Layer... | Ninguno | Sets the properties of all or selected layers of a multi-layered document. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose name, size, visibility, opacity, z-ordering, or whatever other attributes are applicable.
Page... | Ninguno | Sets the properties of all or selected pages of the document. Open a dialog allowing the user to choose paper size, orientation, columns, margins, or whatever other attributes are applicable.

#### Marcadores

Provide a Bookmarks menu in any application that allows the user to browse files and folders, help documents, web pages or any other large information space.

Iconos

Show icons for bookmark entries on the Bookmarks menu that indicate the type of the bookmark, even if the user has globally turned off icons for other menu items on the desktop.

A generic Bookmarks menu

    Bookmarks
    Add Bookmark   CtrlD
    Edit Bookmarks CtrlB

Bookmark menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Add Bookmark | Ctrl D | Adds a bookmark for the current document to the default bookmark list. Do not pop up a dialog asking for a title or location for the bookmark, instead choose sensible defaults (such as the document's title or filename as the bookmark name) and allow the user to change them later using the Editar marcadores feature.
Edit Bookmarks | Ctrl B | Allows the user to edit the application's bookmark list. Open a window in which the user can arrange bookmarks into a hierarchy, move, copy, and delete bookmarks, and change their properties.
Bookmark List | Ninguno | The user's current list of bookmarks for the application.

#### Ir

A Go menu provides commands for quickly navigating around a document or collection of documents, or an information space such as a directory structure or the web.

The contents of the menu will vary depending on the type of application. Different standard menus are presented here for browser-based and document-based applications , but your application may require a combination of both.

A generic Go menu for a browser application

    Go
    Back       Alt+Left
    Forward	Alt+Right
    Up		Alt+Up
    ---
    Home	Alt+Home
    Location...  Ctrl+L

Go menu items for a browser application

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Back | Alt Izquierda | Navigates to the previous document in the browser's history list.
Forward | Alt Derecha | Navigates to the next document in the browser's history list.
Up | Alt Arriba | Navigates to the current document's (or folder's) parent document (or folder). For a document browser, such as an online help viewer, this usually means navigating to the enclosing sub-section, section, chapter or contents page.
Home | Alt Inicio | Navigates to a starting page defined by the user or the application.
Location... | Ctrl L | Navigates to a user-specified URI. Open a dialog into which the user can type a suitable URI, or select one from a list where applicable (for example, a file selection dialog for applications that can handle file:// URIs).

A generic Go menu for document-based applications

    Go
    Previous Page 	PgUp
    Next Page      		PgDn
    Go to Page...
    -
    First Page    		Ctrl+Home
    Last Page		Ctrl+End

Go menu items for a document-based application

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Previous Page | RePág | Navigates to the previous page in the document.
Next Page | AvPág | Navigates to the next page in the document.
Go to Page... | Ninguno | Navigates to a user-specified page number. Open a dialog into which the user can type a page number. Text-based applications may also include a Go to Line... menu item, which allows the user to jump to a specified line number.
First Page | Ctrl Inicio | Navega hasta la primera página del documento.
Last Page | Ctrl Fin | Navega hasta la última página del documento.

#### Ventanas

The Windows menu contains commands that apply to all of the application's open windows. Only use a Windows menu in multiple document interface (MDI) applications.

Aplicaciones MDI

The use of MDI is discouraged, as they have a number of inherent usability problems.

You may also label this menu Documents, Buffers, or similar according to the type of document handled by your application.

The last items on this menu are a numbered list of the application's primary windows, for example 1shoppinglist.abw. Selecting one of these items raises the corresponding window.

Un menú «Ventanas» genérico

    Windows
    Save All
    Close All

Windows menu items

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Save All | Ninguno | Saves all open documents. If any documents have no current filename, prompt for a filename for each one in turn using the standard Save dialog.
Close All | Ninguno | Closes all open documents. If there are any unsaved changes in any documents, post a alerta de confirmación for each one in turn.
1. first open window title 2. second open window title etc. | Ninguno | Raises the corresponding window to the top of the window stack.

#### Ayuda

The Help menu provides access to all online documentation for your application. This includes both the user guide, and the About window which includes a brief description of your application's functionality.

Un menú de ayuda genérico

    Help

    Contents      F1
    About

Elementos del menú «Ayuda»

Etiqueta | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Contents | F1 | Opens the default help browser on the contents page for the application.
About | Ninguno | Opens the About dialog for the application. Use the standard dialog provided by the GNOME libraries, which contains the name and version number of the application, a short description of the application's functionality, author contact details, copyright message and a pointer to the licence under which the application is made available.

We originally wanted a Search item on here too, but it's not technically possible to implement it right now.

## Barras de herramientas

A toolbar is a strip of controls that allows convenient access to commonly-used functions. Most toolbars only contain graphical buttons, but in more complex applications, other types of controls such as dropdown lists, can also be useful.

Example toolbar from a simple mail application

Example mail application toolbar

Careful and consistent toolbar design speeds up the user's task by giving direct access to functions that would otherwise be hidden on a menu. Use them only for the most important functions, however. Having too many toolbar controls reduces their efficiency by making them harder to find, and too many rows of toolbars reduces the amount of screen space available to the rest of the application.

### Apariencia y contenido

The effectiveness of toolbars is increased by maintaining a level of consistency between different applications. The toolbar is one of the first parts of your application that a user will see the first time they run it, so by providing a toolbar that looks familiar to them, you can immediately make them feel comfortable about using your application.

As well as following the recommendations and examples given in this section, look at the toolbars in other well-designed GNOME 2.0 applications for guidance when deciding what— and what not— to put on your application's toolbar.

However many toolbars or toolbox windows your application offers, provide one main toolbar by default that contains a representative subset of the application's overall functionality. Many of the buttons on this toolbar will be the same regardless of the type of application.

For example, the main toolbar in an office application will nearly always have New, Open and Save as its first three toolbar buttons. Similarly, the first few buttons in a browser application should always include Back, Forward, Stop and Reload, in that order.

Guías

- Place only the most commonly-used application functions on your toolbars. Don't just add buttons for every menu item.

- By default, have your toolbars appear directly below the main menu bar.

- Allow toolbars to be turned on and off in your application's Preferences dialog and by using the View Toolbar menu item. If there is more than one toolbar, they are turned on and off by individual entries in the View Toolbar submenu.

- All functions that appear on your toolbars must also accessible via the main menu bar, either directly (i.e. an equivalent menu item) or indirectly (e.g. in the Options Settings dialog).

- Arrange toolbar buttons in the same order and groupings as their equivalents on the main menu bar. In particular, always group sets of mutually-exclusive toolbar buttons.

- Don't add buttons for Help, Close or Quit to your toolbar by default, as these are rarely used and the space is better used for more useful controls. Similarly, only provide buttons for Undo, Redo and the standard clipboard functions if there is space on the toolbar to do so without sacrificing more useful, application-specific controls.

- Provide options to show toolbar buttons as text, graphics or both— see for the menus to use for controlling toolbar display. Also provide an option to return all toolbars in your application to the control center default for this setting.

- Allow users to configure toolbars to contain their own selection of commands, in whatever order they choose. Provide an option in the configuration dialog to return the toolbars to their default configuration.

- Save your application's toolbar position and contents as part of the application configuration, and restore them when the application is restarted.

#### Barras de herramientas verticales

In general, don't use vertical toolbars. The eye does not scan vertically as well as it does horizontally, groups of mutually exclusive buttons are less obvious when arranged vertically, and showing button labels is more awkard and less space-efficient. Also, some toolbar controls just cannot be used vertically, such as dropdown lists.

Only consider using a vertical toolbar if:

- the configuration of the application window means there would be a lot of wasted space if a horizontal toolbar was used instead, or

- your application would otherwise require three or more rows of toolbars to appear below the main menu bar by default. Note however that in this situation, the better alternative is usually to display fewer toolbars by default.

If you must use a vertical toolbar, ensure the user can configure it to appear horizontally if they prefer.

#### Barras de herramientas del reproductor multimedia

Many applications are able to play sound or video clips. For consistency, always present the buttons that control playback in the same order and with the same stock icons.

Guías

- Show separate Stop and Pause buttons. Do not change Play to Pause while the clip is playing.

Suggested order: prev,rew,rec,play,stop,pause,fwd,next,eject.

gtk still doesn't have stock media icons, but CD player, sound recorder etc. all register icons with media-* IDs, should mention that here.

Should maybe also suggest here how to show volume and timeline controls.

### Controlling Display and Appearance

For each toolbar in your application, the user should be able to choose whether or not to show that toolbar, and whether to show its contents as icons only, text only or both.

Guías

- Allow the user to override the control center toolbar defaults for your particular application in the application's Preferences dialog. In particular, ensure that the user can:

  - separately choose to show each toolbar in your application as icons only, text only, or both

  - return the icon/text/both status for all toolbars in your applicaton to the system default

  - choose to show text labels either to the side of some or below all toolbar icons, and to return this setting to the system default

  - return the layout and ordering of all toolbars in your application to the application default

- If your application has a single toolbar, allow the user to turn it on or off with a View Toolbar check box menu item.

- If your application has two or three toolbars, allow the user to turn them on or off individually by placing a menu item for each one on the application's View menu. For example, Main Toolbar, Drawing Toolbar, Formatting Toolbar. Place the items together in a single group on the menu, with Main Toolbar first (if your application has one), followed by the others in alphabetical order.

- If your application has more than three toolbars, allow the user to turn them on or off individually by placing a menu item for each one in a Toolbars sub-menu on the application's View menu. Place the Main Toolbar item first (if your application has one), followed by the others in alphabetical order.

  Example View menu fragments for applications with one toolbar (left), two or three toolbars (middle), or four or more toolbars (right)

  Example View menu for application with single toolbar

### Etiquetas y consejos

Most controls that appear on your toolbar will require a text label that appears on, below or beside it. Keep this description as short as possible, preferably a single verb. For example, Open or Undo.

Every control that appears on your toolbar should have a tooltip, whether or not that control has an associated text label. The tooltip should be a concise description of the control, but should provide more information than its text label where possible. For example, Open an existing document, or Undo last operation.

Guías

- For buttons that correspond directly to menu items, make the text label the same as the menu item, but without any trailing ellipsis. For example, Open, Save.

- Do not provide access keys for toolbar buttons. Since toolbars are in the same keyboard focus context as the menubar, it would be too difficult to provide unique access keys for every menu title and toolbar control. Toolbars are primarily intended as a shortcut for mouse users, although they are keyboard-navigable for accessibility reasons.

- If your toolbar is configured to show labels below button icons, show a label for every control on the toolbar. For example:

  Toolbar with labels under all buttons

  Toolbar showing labels under all controls

- If your toolbar is configured to show labels beside button icons rather than below them (using the "priority text" setting), do not show labels for every button. Show labels only for the buttons that will be most-frequently used. Choose no more than four such icons on any one toolbar, otherwise the effect will be diluted and the toolbar will become very wide. For example:

  Toolbar with "priority text" labels beside the first few buttons only

  Toolbar with "priority text" labels beside the first few items only

  If you are unsure which buttons will be most frequently used, choose the first few buttons on your toolbar and provide labels for those only.

- Ensure all toolbar controls have tooltips. The tooltip should be more descriptive than the corresponding menu item, if it has one, but still concise. For example, Create new document for the Open toolbar button. Use sentence capitalization for tooltips—see for more information.

## Controles

### Using Controls Effectively

GNOME provides a set of controls, also known as widgets, which allow users to interact with your applications. Using these controls appropriately and not altering their standard behavior is important. This allows users to predict the effects of their actions, and thus learn to use your application more quickly and efficiently. Controls that behave in non-standard ways break the user's mental model of how your application works, and dilute the meaning of the interface's visual language.

### Terminología

Although they are known as "widgets" in the GNOME APIs and developer documentation, do not use this term in your user interface or user documentation. Refer to them by their specific names (for example, "buttons" or "menus"), or by the generic name "controls".

### Sensibilidad

Sometimes it does not make sense to allow the user to interact with a control in the current context, for example, to press a Paste button when the clipboard is empty. At these times, make the control insensitive to minimize the risk of user error. While a control is insensitive, it will appear dimmed and will not be able to receive the focus, although assistive technologies like screenreaders will still be able to detect and report it.

It is usually better to make a control insensitive than to hide it altogether. This way, the user can learn about functionality they may be able to use later, even if it is not available right now.

Two check boxes: sensitive (top) and insensitive (bottom)

Screenshot showing the visual appearance of sensitive and insensitive check box controls

#### Controles bloqueados

In a network-managed environment, like a computer lab, system administrators usually want to "lock down" the values of certain settings, or remove them from the user interface altogether. This makes it easier for them to troubleshoot any problems that their users may encounter. In GNOME, the correct way for the system administrator to do this is by restricting write access to the GConf keys corresponding to those settings.

When you are designing your application, consider which settings a system administrator might want to make unavailable to users. These may typically include:

- Settings that, if set wrongly, could prevent the application from functioning at all. For example, proxy settings in a network application.

- Settings that could refer to networked resources. For example, the Templates directory in an office application, where shared stationery such as fax cover sheets might be stored.

- Settings that customize the user interface, other than those required for accessibility. For example, certain menu, keyboard or toolbar customization options.

Your application needs to decide every time these controls are displayed whether or not they are available for editing, depending on the writeable state of the GConf key that holds its value. In the simplest case, your code for each control could look like that in the example below.

Sample code fragment showing how to make a GConf-locked control insensitive

    if (!gconf_key_is_writable (http_proxy))
            gtk_widget_set_sensitive (http_proxy_field, FALSE);

Include a section for system administrators in your user guide, explaining which settings they can lock, and their corresponding GConf keys.

Explain to the user why these controls cannot be edited at this time. You can do this with static text, tooltips or online help, depending on the situation. For example:

Example of a dialog with locked controls

Screenshot showing disabled proxy controls in a web browser's property dialog, under the caption "Only the system administrator can change these settings"

Note that although they cannot be edited, the settings are still visible and selectable, and may be copied to the clipboard.

### Campos de entrada de texto

Text entry fields are used for entering one or more lines of plain text. In GTK 2, the GtkEntry control is used for single-line text entry, and GtkTextView for multiple-line text entry.

Single and multi-line entry fields

Screenshot of part of a dialog, containing both single and multi-line entry fields

Guías

- Label the entry field with a text label above it or to its left, using sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the entry field.

- Right-justify the contents of entry fields that are used only for numeric entry, unless the convention in the user's locale demands otherwise. This is useful in windows where the user might want to compare two numerical values in the same column of controls. In this case, ensure the right edges of the relevant controls are also aligned.

- When the user gives focus to an entry field using the keyboard, place the text cursor at the end of the existing text and highlight its contents (but don't overwrite the existing PRIMARY clipboard selection). This makes it easy to immediately overtype or append new text, the two most common operations performed on entry fields.

- Size text entry fields according to the likely size of the input. This gives a useful visual cue to the amount of input expected, and breaks up the dialog making it easier to scan. Don't make all the fields in the dialog the same width just to make everything line up nicely.

- In an instant-apply property or preference window, validate the contents of the entry field when it loses focus or when the window is closed, not after each keypress. Exception: if the field accepts only a fixed number of characters, such as a hexadecimal color code, validate and apply the change as soon as that number of characters have been entered.

- Provide a static text prompt for text boxes that require input in a particular format or in a particular unit of measurement. For example:

  Text entry field with static text prompt

  A text entry field in which the user must input a time, with the label "hh:mm" beside it to indicate the required format

- Where possible, provide an additional or alternative control that limits the required input to the valid range. For example, provide a spinbox or slider if the required input is one of a fixed range of integers, or provide access to a GtkCalendar control if the user has to enter a valid date:

  Text entry field requiring a date as input, with a button beside it to pop up a GtkCalendar control to simplify the task

  A text entry field in which the user must input a date, with a button labelled "Choose" beside it that opens a GtkCalendar control to simplify the task

  This is less error-prone than expecting the user to format their text input in some arbitrary format. You may still want to provide the entry field control as well, however, for expert users who are familiar with the required format.

- If you implement an entry field that accepts only keystrokes valid in the task context, such as digits, play the system warning beep when the user tries to type an invalid character. If the user types three invalid characters in a row, display an alert that explains the valid inputs for that textfield.

- The cursor blink rate is globally defined by the XSettings "gtk-cursor-blink" and "gtk-cursor-blink-time". Standard toolkit controls use these and they must not be altered in applications by any means. New controls with text cursors must respect these global values.

#### Comportamiento de la tecla «Intro»

Normally, pressing Return in a dialog should activate the dialog's default button, unless the focused control uses Return for its own purposes. You should therefore set the `activates-default` property of most entry fields to TRUE. (Note that GtkTextView does not have such a setting— pressing Return always inserts a new line.).

However, if your dialog contains several entry fields that are usually filled out in order, for example Name, Address and Telephone Number, consider setting the `activates-default` property on those entry fields to FALSE. Pressing Return should then move focus on to the next control instead. Doing this will help prevent the user from accidentally closing the window before they have entered all the information they wanted to.

As a further safeguard, remember not to set the default button in a dialog until the minimum amount of required information has been entered, for example, both a username and a password in a login dialog. Again, in this case you should move focus to the next control when the user presses Return, rather than just ignoring the keypress.

If you need to provide a keyboard shortcut that activates the default button while a GtkTextView control has focus, use Ctrl Return.

Nota

Gtk does not currently move focus to the next control when Return is pressed and either `activates-default=FALSE`, or there is no default button in the window. For now, Return does nothing in these situations, so remember to implement the focus change behavior yourself.

#### Comportamiento de la tecla «Tab»

Normally, pressing Tab in a single-line entry field should move focus to the next control, and in a multi-line entry field it should insert a tab character. Pressing Ctrl Tab in a multi-line entry field should move focus to the next control.

If you need to provide a keyboard shortcut that inserts a tab character into a single line entry field, use Ctrl Tab. You are unlikely to find many situations where this is useful, however.

There is a patch in bugzilla (bugid=53763) that adds an `allow_tab_characters` function to GtkEntry controls. This allows you to specify on a per-control basis whether Tabulador should insert a tab character or not. It is currently not known whether this patch is likely to make it into a future version of gtk.

### Spin Boxes

A spin box is a text box that accepts a range of values. It incorporates two arrow buttons that allow the user to increase or decrease the current value by a fixed amount.

Example of a spin box

A simple spin box used to specify the spacing between applets on a panel

Guías

- Use spin boxes for numerical input only. Use a list or option menu when you need the user to select from fixed data sets of other types.

- Use a spin box if the numerical value is meaningful or useful for the user to know, and the valid input range is unlimited or fixed at one end only. For example, a control for specifying the number of iterations of some action, or a timeout value. If the range is fixed at both ends, or the numerical values are arbitrary (for example, a volume control), use a slider control instead.

- Label the spin box with a text label above it or to its left, using sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the spin box.

- Right-justify the contents of spin boxes, unless the convention in the user's locale demands otherwise. This is useful in windows where the user might want to compare two numerical values in the same column of controls. In this case, ensure the right edges of the relevant controls are also aligned.

### Deslizadores

A slider allows the user to quickly select a value from a fixed, ordered range, or to increase or decrease the current value. The control looks like the type of slider that you might find on an audio mixing desk or a hi-fi's graphic equalizer. In gtk, you implement a slider using the GtkHScale or GtkVScale controls, for horizontal or vertical sliders respectively.

A simple slider control

A slider control used to change the stereo audio balance between left and right speakers

Guías

- Use a slider when:

  - adjusting the value relative to its current value is more important than choosing an absolute value. For example, a volume control: the average user will usually think about turning the volume up or down to make a sound louder or quieter, rather than setting the peak output to a specific decibel value.

  - it is useful for the user to control the rate of change of the value in real time. For example, to monitor the effects of a color change in a live preview window as they drag the RGB sliders.

- Label the slider with a text label above it or to its left, using sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the slider.

- Mark significant values along the length of the slider with text or tick marks. For example the left, right and center points on an audio balance control in .

- For large ranges of integers (more than about 20), and for ranges of floating point numbers, consider providing a text box or spin box that is linked to the slider's value. This allows the user to quickly set or fine-tune the setting more easily than they could with the slider control alone.

  Slider controls with linked spin boxes

  Three slider controls used to change RGB values, each with a spinbox beside them to facilitate direct numeric entry

### Botones

A button initiates an action when the user clicks it.

Typical buttons in a modal dialog

OK and Cancel buttons as found in a modal dialog

Guías

- Label all buttons with imperative verbs, using header capitalization. For example, Save, Sort or Update Now. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to directly activate the button from the keyboard.

- After pressing a button, the user should expect to see the result of their action within 1 second. For example, closing the window or opening another. See for guidance on what to do if your application cannot respond this quickly.

- Use an ellipsis (...) at the end of the label if the action requires further input from the user before it can be carried out. For example, Save As... or Find.... Do not add an ellipsis to commands like Properties, Preferences, or Settings, as these open windows that do not require further input.

- Once a dialog is displayed, do not change its default button from one button to another. You may add or remove default status from the same button if it helps prevent user error, however. Changing the default from one button to another can be confusing and inefficent, especially for users relying on assistive technologies.

- If your button can display text, an icon, or both, choose which label to display at runtime according to the user's preference in the GNOME Menus and Toolbars Preferences dialog. However, you may over-ride this preference when there is no suitable icon to describe the button's action graphically, for example.

- Do not use more than one or two different widths of button in the same window, and make all of them the same height. This will help give a pleasing uniform visual appearance to your window that makes it easier to use.

- Do not assign actions to double-clicking or right-clicking a button. Users are unlikely to discover these actions, and if they do, it will distort their expectations of other buttons on the desktop.

- Make invalid buttons insensitive, rather than popping up an error message when the user clicks them.

In a dialog, one button may be made the default button, which is shown with a different border and is activated by pressing Return. Often this will be the OK or equivalent button. However, if pressing this button by mistake could cause a loss of data, do not set a default button for the window. Do not make Cancel the default button instead. See for more information.

If it does not make sense to have a default button until several fields in the dialog have been correctly completed—for example, both the Username and Password fields in a login dialog—do not set the default button until they have both been completed.

### Check Boxes

Check boxes are used to show or change a setting. Its two states, set and unset, are shown by the presence or absence of a checkmark in the labelled box.

A typical group of check boxes

A typical group of five check boxes in a dialog

Guías

- Do not initiate an action when the user clicks a check box. However, if used in an instant-apply property or preference window, update the setting represented by the check box immediately.

- Clicking a check box should not affect the values of any other controls. It may sensitize, insensitize, hide or show other controls, however.

- If toggling a check box affects the sensitivity of other controls, place the check box immediately above or to the left of the controls that it affects. This helps to indicate that the controls are dependent on the state of the check box.

- Use sentence capitalization for check box labels, for example Use custom font.

- Label check boxes to clearly indicate the effects of both their checked and unchecked states, for example, Show icons in menus. Where this proves difficult, consider using two radio buttons instead so both states can be given labels. For example:

  Ambiguous check box (top), radio buttons work better in this case (bottom)

  Two images: one showing a single check box ambiguously labelled "Progress bar in left of statusbar", the other making the choice explicit with radio buttons labelled "Left" and "Right" under the heading "Status bar progress indicator position:"

  The single check box in this example is ambiguous, as it is not clear where the "progress indicator" will go if the box is unchecked. Two radio buttons are better in this case, as they make the options clear.

- Provide an access key in all check box labels that allows the user to set or unset the check box directly from the keyboard.

- If the check box represents a setting in a multiple selection that is set for some objects in the selection and unset for others, show the check box in its mixed state. For example:

  Check boxes (right) showing properties for a multiple selection of files in Nautilus (left)

  Check boxes showing the Hidden, Readable and Writeable states of two selected files in Nautilus. Both files are hidden, neither are writeable, but one is readable. The Readable check box is therefore shown in its mixed state.

  In this example, both selected files are hidden (since their filenames start with "."), and the emblems on their icons show that neither file is writeable, but one is readable. The Readable check box is therefore shown in its mixed state. At time of writing, the exact visual appearance of a mixed state check box in gtk was undecided.

  When a check box is in its mixed state:

  - clicking the box once should check the box, applying that setting (when confirmed) to all the selected objects

  - clicking the box a second time should uncheck the box, removing that setting (when confirmed) to all the selected objects

  - clicking the box a third time should return the box to its mixed state, restoring each selected object's original value for that setting (when confirmed)

- Label a group of check boxes with a descriptive heading above or to the left of the group.

- Use a frame around the group if necessary, but remember that blank space often works just as well and results in a less visually-cluttered dialog.

- Do not place more than about eight check boxes under the same group heading. If you need more than eight, try to use blank space, heading labels or frames to divide them into smaller groups. Otherwise, consider using a check box list instead— but you probably also need to think about how to simplify your user interface.

- Try to align groups of check boxes vertically rather than horizontally, as this makes them easier to scan visually. Use horizontal or rectangular alignments only if they greatly improve the layout of the window.

### Radio Buttons

Radio buttons are used in groups to select from a mutually exclusive set of options. Only one radio button within a group may be set at any one time. As with check boxes, do not use radio buttons to initiate actions.

Un grupo típico de botones de radio

A typical group of three radio buttons in a dialog

Guías

- Only use radio buttons in groups of at least two, never use a single radio button on its own. To represent a single setting, use a check box or two radio buttons, one for each state.

- Exactly one radio button should be set in the group at all times. The only exception is when the group is showing the properties of a multiple selection, when one or more of the buttons may be in their mixed state.

- Do not initiate an action when the user clicks a radio button. However, if used in an instant-apply property or preference window, update the setting represented by the radio button immediately.

- Clicking a radio button should not affect the values of any other controls. It may sensitize, insensitize, hide or show other controls, however.

- If toggling a radio button affects the sensitivity of other controls, place the radio button immediately to the left of the controls that it affects. This helps to indicate that the controls are dependent on the state of the radio button.

- Use sentence capitalization for radio button labels, for example Switched movement. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to set the radio button directly from the keyboard.

- If the radio button represents a setting in a multiple selection that is set for some objects in the selection and unset for others, show the radio button in its mixed state. For example:

  Radio buttons (right) showing properties for a multiple selection of shapes in a drawing application (left)

  Radio buttons showing the Thick, Thin and Dashed drawing styles of two selected shapes in a drawing application. One shape is drawn in the thick style, the other in the dashed style. The Thick and Dashed radio buttons are therefore shown in their mixed state, and the Thin radio button is unset.

  At time of writing, the exact visual appearance of a mixed state radio button in gtk was undecided. In this situation, clicking any radio button in the group should set the clicked button, and unset all the others. Thereafter, the group should behave like a normal radio button group— there is no way to reset a radio button to its mixed state by clicking on it. Provide a Reset button or equivalent in the window that allows the previous mixed settings to be restored without closing the window or cancelling the dialog.

- Label a group of radio buttons with a descriptive heading above or to the left of the group.

- Use a frame around the group if necessary, but remember that blank space often works just as well and results in a less visually-cluttered dialog.

- Do not place more than about eight radio buttons under the same group heading. If you need more than eight, consider using a single-selection list instead— but you probably also need to think about how to simplify your user interface.

- Try to align groups of radio buttons vertically rather than horizontally, as this makes them easier to scan visually. Use horizontal or rectangular alignments only if they greatly improve the layout of the window.

### Botones conmutadores

Toggle buttons look similar to regular Buttons, but are used to show or change a state rather than initiate an action. A toggle button's two states, set and unset, are shown by its appearing "pushed in" or "popped out" respectively.

Un típico grupo de botones conmutadores

A group of four toggle buttons representing a choice of measurement units: inches, centimeters, feet and meters

Guías

- Do not use groups of toggle buttons in dialogs unless space constraints force you to do so, or you need to provide consistency with a toolbar in your application. Check boxes or radio buttons are usually preferable, as they allow more descriptive labels and are less easily-confused with other types of control.

- Only use toggle buttons in groups, so they are not mistaken for regular buttons. Make the group behave like either a group of check boxes or a group of radio buttons, as required.

- Provide an access key in the label of all toggle buttons that allows the user to set or unset the button directly from the keyboard.

- Label a group of toggle buttons with a descriptive heading above or to the left of the group, as you would with a group of check boxes or radio buttons.

- Use a frame around the group of buttons if necessary, but remember that blank space often works just as well and results in a less visually-cluttered dialog.

- Try to align groups of toggle buttons horizontally rather than vertically. This is how toggle buttons normally appear on a toolbar, so the user will be more familiar with this arrangement.

- Do not leave any space between toggle buttons in a group, otherwise they may look unrelated or may be mistaken for regular buttons.

- Use header capitalization for toggle button labels, for example No Wallpaper, Embossed Logo.

- If your toggle button can display text, an icon, or both, choose which to display at runtime according to the user's setting in the GNOME Menus and Toolbars preference dialog.

- Use the same text or graphical label for a toggle button whether it is set or unset.

- If the toggle button represents a setting in a multiple selection that is set for some objects in the selection and unset for others, show the button in its mixed state. For example:

  Toggle buttons (right) showing properties for a multiple selection of shapes in a drawing application (left)

  Toggle buttons showing the Thick, Thin and Dashed drawing styles of two selected shapes in a drawing application. One shape is drawn in the thick style, the other in the dashed style. The Thick and Dashed toggle buttons are therefore shown in their mixed state, and the Thin toggle button is unset.
  At time of writing, the exact visual appearance of mixed state toggle buttons was undecided. A mixed state toggle button should behave exactly as a mixed state check box or radio button, depending on whether the toggle button choices are independent or mutually exclusive, respectively.

### Listas desplegables

Drop-down lists are used to select from a mutually exclusive set of options. They can be useful when there is insufficient space in a window to use a group of radio buttons or a single-selection list, with which they are functionally equivalent.

A drop-down list showing current selection (left) and the list of available choices when clicked on (right)

Two images, one of a drop-down list displaying its current setting, and the other showing its popup menu of available choices when clicked on

Recomendaciones:

- Do not use drop-down lists with fewer than three items, or more than about ten. To offer a choice of two options, use radio buttons or toggle buttons. To offer a choice of more than ten options, use a list.

- Do not initiate an action when the user selects an item from an drop-down list. However, if used in an instant-apply property or preference window, update the setting that the menu represents immediately.

- Selecting an item from a drop-down list should not affect the values of any other controls. It may sensitize, insensitize, hide or show other controls, however.

- Label the drop-down list with a text label above it or to its left, using sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the drop-down list.

- Use sentence capitalization for drop-down list items, for example Switched movement

- Assign an access key to every drop-down list item. Ensure each access key is unique within the enclosing window or dialog, not just within the menu.

- Do not assign shortcut keys to drop-down list items by default. The user may assign their own shortcut keys in the usual way if they wish, however.

- Do not use a drop-down list in a situation where it may have to show a property of a multiple selection, as drop-down lists have no concept of mixed state. Use a group of radio or toggle buttons instead, as these can show set, unset or mixed states.

- No use un submenú en una lista desplegable.

You should normally use radio buttons or a list instead of drop-down lists, as those controls present all the available options at once without any further interaction. However, drop-down lists may be preferable in a window where:

- hay poco espacio disponible

- the list of options may change over time

- the contents of the hidden part of the menu are obvious from its label and the one selected item. For example, if you have an option menu labelled "Month:" with the item "January" selected, the user might reasonably infer that the menu contains the 12 months of the year without having to look.

Drop-down lists can also be useful on toolbars, to replace a group of several mutually-exclusive toggle buttons.

### Drop-down Combination Boxes

Drop-down combination boxes combine a text entry field and a dropdown list of pre-defined values. Selecting one of the pre-defined values sets the entry field to that value.

A drop-down combination box before and after its dropdown list is displayed

Two images, one of a drop-down combination box entry field displaying its current selection, and the other showing its dropdown list of available choices when clicked on

Guías

- Only use a drop-down combination box instead of a list, drop-down list or radio button group when it is important that the user be able to enter a new value that is not already amongst the list of pre-defined choices.

- Do not initiate an action when the user selects an item from the list in a drop-down combination box. If used in an instant-apply property or preference window, update the setting represented by the drop-down combination box immediately if possible. If this isn't possible due to the contents of the entry field being invalid while the user is still typing into it, update the related setting when the drop-down combination box loses focus instead.

- If the user types a value into the drop-down combination box that is not already in the drop-down list, add it to the list when the drop-down combination box loses focus so they can select it next time.

- Interpret user input into a drop-down combination box in a case-insensitive way. For example, if the user types `blue`, `Blue` and `BLUE` into the same drop-down combination box on different occasions, only store one of these in the combo's dropdown list, unless your application makes a distinction between the different forms (which is usually a bad idea).

- Label the drop-down combination box with a text label above it or to its left, using sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the drop-down combination box.

- Use sentence capitalization for the dropdown list items, for example Switched movement.

### Barras de desplazamiento

Often an object (such as a document or a list) will not be fit within the confines of its viewer control. In these cases a scrollbar can be affixed to the viewer control. The scrollbar alters which part of the object is currently visible inside the viewer control: it slides the view across the object in one axis (horizontal or vertical).

Guías

- Only display scrollbars when they are required for sliding the view. If an object fits inside the viewer control, don't draw scrollbars. If you are using a GtkScrolledWindow, call `gtk_scrolled_window_set_policy` setting the appropriate axis (or axes) to GTK_POLICY_AUTOMATIC.

- Do not use scrollbars as a replacement for a slider. Scrollbars should only be used affixed to a view that they actively alter, not used as a generic continuous input control.

- Affix scrollbars to the right side of a viewer control (to slide the view vertically), or to the bottom side (to slide the view horizontally). Do not affix scrollbars on the top or left sides of a viewer control.

- Scrollbars should be aligned in both directions with the view they are affixed to on the axis they control. In other words, horizontal scrollbars should span the full length of the viewer control, and vertical scrollbars should span the full height of the viewer control.

- If both horizontal and vertical scrollbars are acting upon a view, alignment will require that small rectangle in the lower right corner where the horizontal and vertical scrollbars meet will be blank. This is OK.

- Scrollbars should affect the view to which they are affixed in realtime: as the user drags or clicks the view should change. Time lag will be disconcerting and negatively impact a users ability to navigate content inside the view.

### Listas

A list control allows the user to inspect, manipulate or select from a list of items. Lists may have one or more columns, and contain text, graphics, simple controls, or a combination of all three.

Una simple lista de dos columnas

Picture of list control containing two unsorted columns of text

Guías

- Always give list controls a label, positioned above or to the left of the list, in sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the list.

- Make the list control large enough that it can show at least four items at a time without scrolling. For lists of ten or more items, increase this minimum size as appropriate.

- If the list appears in a dialog or utility window, consider making the window and the list within it resizable so that the user can choose how many list items are visible at a time without scrolling. Each time the user opens this dialog, set its dimensions to those that the user last resized it to.

- Do not use lists with less than about five items, unless the number of items may increase over time. Use check boxes, radio buttons or an drop-down list if there are fewer items.

- Use cabeceras de columnas solo cuando:

  - la lista tiene más de una columna, o

  - the list has only one column, but the user may wish to re-order the list. (This is rarely useful with single column lists).

  In most other situations, column headers take up unnecessary space, and the extra label adds visual clutter.

- Always label column headers when used. If the column is too narrow for a sensible label, provide a tooltip for the column instead. Apart from its obvious use, this will help ensure that assistive technologies can describe the use of the column to visually impaired users.

- Consider using a check box list for multiple-selection lists, as these make it more obvious that multiple selection is possible:

  A simple check box list

  Picture of list control with two columns. The first column consists of check boxes showing whether or not the corresponding item in the second column is selected for further action.

  If you do this, you should normally set the list control itself to be single-selection, but this depends on the particular task for which it will be used.

- For multiple selection lists, show the number of items currently selected in a static text label below the list, for example, Names selected: 3. Such a label also makes it more obvious that multiple selection is possible.

- Consider providing Select All and Deselect All buttons beside multiple selection lists, if appropriate.

#### Listar ordenables

Users often prefer to sort long lists, either alphabetically or numerically, to make it easier to find items. Allow users to sort long or multi-column lists by clicking on the column header they want to sort.

Guías

- Indicate which column is currently sorted by showing an upward or downward facing arrow in its header:

  Sort Order | Dirección de la flecha | Ejemplo
  --- | --- | ---
  Natural | Abajo | Alphabetical; smallest number first; earliest date first; checked items first
  Invertido | Arriba | Reverse alphabetical; largest number first; most recent date first; unchecked items first)

- Clicking an unsorted column header sorts the column in natural order, indicated by showing a down arrow in its header.

- Clicking a column header sorted in natural order re-sorts it in reverse order, indicated by showing an up arrow in its header.

  Un-sorting lists

  Occasionally, an unsorted state may be useful, for example to show items in the order in which the user added them to the list. In such cases, clicking a column sorted in reverse order should un-sort it, indicated by removing the arrow from the column header.

  Usually, however, this is better achieved by adding an extra column that the user can sort in the usual way, such as a sequence number column in this example.

### Árboles

A tree control allows the user to inspect, manipulate or select from a hierarchichal list of items. Trees may have one or more columns, and contain text, graphics, simple controls, or a combination of all three.

Use los árboles con cuidado.

Because of their complexity compared to other controls, novice and some intermediate users often have problems using and understanding tree controls. If your application is designed for that type of user, you might want to consider alternative ways of presenting the information, such as the Nautilus list or icon view, or the hierarchical browser lists found in GNUstep's File Viewer.

A simple tree control with one level of hierarchy

Picture of tree control showing months of the year as top level nodes, and public holidays in those months as their children

Guías

- Always give tree controls a label, positioned above or to the left of the tree, in sentence capitalization. Provide an access key in the label that allows the user to give focus directly to the tree.

- Use cabeceras de columna cuando:

  - el árbol tiene más de una columna

  - the tree has only one column, but the user may wish to re-order the tree. This should rarely be true of single column trees.

  In most other situations, column headers take up unnecessary space, and the extra label adds visual clutter.

- Always label column headers when used. If the column is too narrow for a sensible label, provide a tooltip for the column instead. Apart from its obvious use, this will help ensure that assistive technologies can describe the use of the column to visually impaired users.

- Consider using a check box tree for multiple-selection trees, as these make it more obvious that multiple selection is possible:

  A simple check box tree

  Picture of tree control with two columns. The first column consists of check boxes showing whether or not the corresponding item in the second column is selected for further action.

  If you do this, you should normally set the tree control itself to be single-selection, but this depends on the particular task for which it will be used.

- For multiple selection trees, show the number of items currently selected in a static text label below the tree, for example, Names selected: 3. Such a label also makes it more obvious that multiple selection is possible.

- Consider providing Select All and Deselect All buttons beside multiple selection trees, if appropriate to the task.

#### Árboles ordenables

As with lists, the user may find it useful to sort long or multi-column trees. See the guidelines in for more information.

### Tabbed Notebooks

A tabbed notebook control is a convenient way of presenting related information in the same window, without having to display it all at the same time. It is analagous to the divider tabs in a ring binder or a file cabinet.

A typical notebook control with three tabs

Picture of notebook control with three tabs

Guías

- Do not put too many pages in the same notebook. If you cannot see all the tabs without scrolling or splitting them into multiple rows, you are probably using too many and should use a list control instead. See the example below.

- Label tabs with header capitalization, and use nouns rather than verbs, for example Font or Alignment. Try to keep all labels in a notebook the same general length.

- Do not assign access keys to tab labels, as this means you cannot use those access keys for any other control on any of the notebook pages without conflict. Even if you are able to assign access keys that would not conflict, it is better not to as it may be impossible to avoid the conflict when your application is translated to other languages. Assign an access key to every other control on each page, however.

- Do not design a notebook such that changing controls on one page affects the controls on any other page. Users are unlikely to discover such dependencies.

- If a control affects only one notebook page, place it on that notebook page. If it affects every page in the notebook, place it outside the notebook control, for example beside the window's OK and Cancel buttons.

- Use tabs that are proportional to the width of their labels. Don't just set all the tabs to the same width, as this makes them harder to scan visually, and limits the number of tabs you can fit into the notebook without scrolling. For example:

  Fixed- and proportional-width tabs (preferred)

  Side-by-side comparison of one notebook whose tabs are all the same width, and one whose tabs are only wide enough to accommodate the tab labels. The latter takes up around 33% less screen space.

- Although the contents of each page in a notebook will take up a different amount of space, do not use larger than normal spacing around the controls in the "emptier" pages, and do not center the controls on the page.

- If your tab labels include icons, choose whether or not to show the icons at runtime based on the user's preference in the GNOME Menus and Toolbars desktop preferences dialog. Always show the text part of the label, however.

If you have more than about six tabs in a notebook, use a list control instead of tabs to switch between the pages of controls. For example:

Use of list control where there would be too many tabs to fit comfortably in a notebook

Part of a window including a list control with 7 items, each item representing a category of settings such as "Appearance" and "Navigation". The controls in the rest of the window change depending on which item is selected in the list.

As in this example, place the list control on the left-hand side of the window, with the dynamic portion of the window immediately to its right. Should this be reversed for right-to-left locales?

#### Indicadores de estado

This section needs more concrete recommendations, it's currently (almost) taken verbatim from Sebastian's patch in bug #72101.

In some tabbed windows, such as preference windows, it might be desirable to indicate the status of a particular tab. This can be used to notify the user that a web page that is still loading or has been loaded, a new message is waiting in a particular instant messasing conversation, or that a document has not been saved. Such a status indicator should be an icon that is placed directly to the left of the tab label. Additionally, the tab label's color might be changed to indicate a certain status. Do not simply rely on a different coloring scheme for status indication.

### Barras de progreso

Progress bars are visual indicators of the progress of a task being carried out by the application, and provide important feedback. For information on using a progress bar within a progress window, see .

You can use two main types of progress bars in your application— measured-progress bars and indeterminate-progress bars (the kind that bounce back and forth). In addition there are are three types of measured progress bars.

Guías

- Always use a measured progress bar when the length of a task can be precisely or approximately predicted. Otherwise, use an indeterminate progress indicator or a checklist window.

- Ensure that a measured-progress bar measures an operation's total time or total work, not just that of a single step. An exception is a progress bar that measures the total time or work of the current step in a progress checklist.

#### Time-remaining Progress Indicator

An animation consisting of a bar whose changing length indicates how much time remains in an operation, and text stating how much time remains before the operation will be complete. Time-remaining bars are the most useful type of progress bar.

A simple 'time remaining' progress bar

A simple time-remaining progress dialog

Use a time-remaining bar if your application will display an initial estimate of an operation's remaining time and then periodically display updated estimates. Each updated estimate should be based on changes that have occurred and that will cause the operation to finish more quickly or more slowly. If the operation will finish more slowly, your application can display an updated estimate that is greater than the estimate previously displayed.

#### Typical-time Progress Indicator

A bar whose changing length indicates how much time remains if an operation takes as long as it typically does. Typical-time bars are the least precise type of measured-progress bar, but they are more useful than indeterminate-progress bars.

A simple 'typical time remaining' progress bar

A simple 'typical time remaining' progress dialog

For some operations, you cannot estimate the time remaining or the proportion of work completed. However, if you can estimate the typical time for that operation, you can provide feedback with a typical-time bar.

If your application overestimates the completed amount of work, the length of the bar can indicate "almost complete" until the operation is complete. If your application underestimates how much work is complete, the application can fill the remaining portion of the bar when the operation is complete.

#### Indeterminate-progress indicator

An animated bar indicating only that an operation is ongoing, not how long it will take. One example is the "throbber" in a web browser. Indeterminate-progress bars are the least precise type of progress bar.

A simple 'indeterminate time' progress bar; the slider moves from left-to-right and back again until the operation is complete

A simple 'indeterminate time' progress dialog, showing a slider moving back and forth until the operation is complete

Use an indeterminate-progress bar to provide feedback only for operations whose duration you cannot estimate at all.

### Barras de estado

A statusbar is an area at the bottom of a window that can be used to display brief information about the status of the application.

Una simple barra de estado

A statusbar at the bottom of a document window, showing current zoom level and a status message indicating that the document has been modified since it was last saved

Guías

- Use statusbars only in application or document windows. Do not use them in dialogs, alerts or other secondary windows.

- Only place a statusbar along the bottom of a window.

- Only use statusbars to display non-critical information. This might include:

  - general information about the document or application. For example, current connection status in a network application, or the size of the current document in a text editor.

  - information about the task the user is currently performing. For example, while using the selection tool in a drawing application, "Hold Shift to extend the selection"

  - progress of a background operation. For example, "Sending to printer", "Printing page 10 of 20", "Printing Complete".

  - a description of the control or area of the window under the mouse pointer. For example, "Drop files here to upload them"

  Remember that statusbars are normally in the user's peripheral vision, and can even be turned off altogether using the application's View Status Bar menu item. The user may therefore never see anything you display there, unless they know when and where to look for it.

- When there is no interesting status to report, leave a status bar panel blank rather than displaying something uninformative like "Ready". This way, when something interesting does appear in the statusbar, the user is more likely to notice it.

- If you want to make all or part of your statusbar interactive, use the following conventions:

  - Inlaid appearance for areas that respond to a double click

  - Apariencia plana para áreas que no son interactivas

  In , the appearance indicates that the left area would respond to a double click (perhaps by saving the document), and the progress indicator on the right is non-interactive.

  Una barra de estado interactiva

  A statusbar with a text panel that responds to a double click, a button that responds to a single click, and a non-interactive progress area

  Ensure that double-clicking in the status area does not provide any functionality that is not also available in the main application menu bar, or by some other accessible means.

- Provide a drag handle in the bottom right corner of the status bar of resizeable windows. Subclasses of GtkStatusbar should use the drag handle provided by that class. A reimplementation of a status bar, which is discouraged, should also reimplement the GtkStatusbar drag handle in both appearance and function.

### Marcos y separadores

A frame is a box with a title that you can draw around controls to organise them into functional groups. A separator is a single horizontal or vertical line that you can use to divide windows into functional groups.

Frames with a border around their perimeter have traditionally been used for denoting groups of related controls. This is advantageous because it physically seperates disimilar controls, and also avoids repitition of the frame's label in individual member control labels. Unfortunately, they add visual noise that can both make a window appear more complex than it really is, and reduce the ability to quickly scan window elements.

Rather than using bordered frames, use frames without borders, bold labels to make the categories stand out, and indented contents. This, combined with good layout and spacing, is usually a better alternative to bordered frames.

Preferred frame style, using bold labels, spacing and indentation

Frame showing the preferred style described above

Traditional frame style, using borders (deprecated)

Frame showing the traditional style described above

Guías

- Before you add a frame with a visible border or separator to any window, consider carefully if you really need it. It is usually better to do without, if the groups can be separated by space alone. Do not use frames and separators to compensate for poor control layout or alignnment.

- Do not mix framed and unframed groups in the same window.

- Do not nest one frame inside another. This results in visual clutter.

- If all the items in a group are disabled, disable the group title too.

## Comentarios

### Characteristics of Responsive Applications

Although highly responsive applications can differ widely from one another, they share the following characteristics:

- They give immediate feedback to users, even when they cannot fulfill their requests immediately.

- They handle queued requests as users would expect, discarding requests that are no longer relevant and reordering requests according to users' probable priorities.

- They let users do other work while long operations proceed to completion— especially operations not requested by users— such as reclaiming unused memory or other "housekeeping" operations.

- They provide enough feedback for users to understand what they are doing, and organize feedback according to users' abilities to comprehend and react to it.

- They let users know when processing is in progress.

- They let users know or estimate how long lengthy operations will take.

- They let users set the pace of work, when possible, and they let users stop requested tasks that have started but not finished.

Highly responsive applications put users in control by quickly acknowledging each user request, by providing continuous feedback about progress toward fulfilling each request, and by letting users complete tasks without unacceptable delays.

Even applications with attractive, intuitive user interfaces can lack responsiveness. Typically, unresponsive applications have at least one of the following problems:

- They provide late feedback— or no feedback— for users' requests, leaving users wondering what the application has done or is doing.

- When performing extended operations, they prevent users from doing other work or cancelling the extended operation.

- They fail to display estimates of how long extended operations will last, forcing users to wait for unpredictable periods.

- They ignore users' requests while doing unrequested "housekeeping", forcing users to wait at unpredictable times— often without feedback.

You can sometimes possible to improve an application's responsiveness without speeding up the application's code. For tips on how to make such improvements, see .

### Tiempos de respuesta aceptables

Some user interface events require shorter response delays than others. For example, an application's response to a user's mouse click or key press needs to be much faster than its response to a request to save a file. The table below shows the maximum acceptable response delay for typical interface events.

Maximum acceptable response times for typical events

Evento de IU | Maximum Acceptable Response Time
--- | ---
Mouse click, pointer movement, window movement or resizing, keypress, button press, drawing gesture, other UI input event involving hand-eye co-ordination | 0.1 segundos
Displaying progress indicators, completing ordinary user commands (e.g. closing a window), completing background tasks (e.g. reformatting a table) | 1.0 segundo
Displaying a graph or anything else a typical user would expect to take time (e.g. displaying a new list of all a company's financial transactions for an accounting period) | 10.0 segundos
Accepting and processing all user input to any task | 10.0 segundos

Make each response delay in your application as short as possible, unless users need time to see the displayed information before it is erased. The acceptable response delay for each event is based on a typical user's sense that the event is a logical point at which to stop or pause. The greater that sense is, the more willingly the user will wait for a response. Verify that your application responds to users' requests within the limits listed in the table above. If your application cannot respond within those limits, it probably has one or more general problems caused by a particular algorithm or module.

Guías

- Verify that your application provides feedback within 100 milliseconds (0.1 second) after each key press, movement of the mouse, or other physical input from the user.

- Verify that your application provides feedback within 100 milliseconds (0.1 second) after each change in the state of controls that react to input from the user— for example, displaying menus or indicating drop targets.

- Verify that your application takes no longer than 1 second to display each progress indicator, complete each ordinary user command, or complete each background task.

- Verify that your application takes no longer than 10 seconds to accept and process all user input to any task—including user input to each step of a multistep task, such as a wizard.

### Respuesta a peticiones de usuario

If your application takes too long to respond, users will become frustrated. Use these techniques to improve the responsiveness of your application.

Guías

- Display feedback as soon as possible.

- If you cannot display all the information that a user has requested, display the most important information first.

- Save time by displaying approximate results while calculating finished results.

- If users are likely to repeat a time-consuming command in rapid succession, save time by faking the command's effects instead of repeatedly processing the command. For example, if a user adds several rows to a table stored in a database, you might display each new row immediately but delay actually creating each new row in the database until the user finished adding all the rows.

- Work ahead. Prepare to perform the command that is most likely to follow the current command. That is, use idle time to anticipate users' probable next requests. For example, as the user of an email application reads the currently displayed new message, the application might prepare to display the next new message.

- Use background processing. Perform less important tasks —such as housekeeping— in the background, enabling users to continue working.

- Delay work that is not urgent. Perform it later, when more time is available.

- Discard unnecessary operations. For example, to move back several pages in a web browser, a user might click the browser's Back button several times in rapid succession. To display the final requested page more quickly, the browser might not display the pages visited between the current page and that final page.

- Use dynamic time management. At run time, change how your application prioritizes user input and other processing, based on the application's current state. For example, if a user is typing text in one word-processing document while printing another, the word-processing application might delay the printing task if the user shifts to an editing task (such as cutting and pasting text) that requires greater resources.

- In your application, display an estimate of how long each lengthy operation will take.

  - If a command might take longer than 5 seconds to complete its work on an object, allow users to interact with any parts of the object and parts of the application that are not directly affected by the command.

  - If a command provides lengthy output, show partial results as they become available. Scroll the results (if necessary) until the user moves input focus to a component (e.g. a scrollbar or text area) involved in the scrolling.

### Types of Visual Feedback

You can use two types of visual feedback for operations in your application— pointer feedback and progress animations.

#### Pointer Feedback

Pointer feedback changes the shape of the pointer. For example, a busy pointer indicates that an operation is in progress and that the user cannot do other tasks. A busy-interactive pointer indicates that an operation is in progress but the window is still interactive.

Busy pointer (left) and Busy-Interactive pointer (right)

Busy pointer (left) and busy-interactive pointer (right)

#### Animaciones de progreso

Progress animations show either how much of an operation is complete, or only that an operation is ongoing. Normally, these take the form of either a progress bar or a progress checklist.

Guías

- When displaying a progress animation, open it as soon as possible after you know it is required, and close it automatically as soon as the associated operation is complete.

- Use a measured-progress bar if your application can estimate either how long the operation will take, or what proportion of the operation is complete.

- If your application can make neither estimate, and the operation only has one step, use an indeterminate-progress bar. For operations with two or more steps, use a progress checklist that dynamically displays a check mark for each completed step.

##### Barras de progreso

For information on different types of progress bars and when to use them see .

###### Progress Windows vs. the Statusbar

In an application where the primary windows contain a status bar (which in turn contains a progress bar), it will often be the case that an operation's feedback could be presented in either the statusbar or a progress window. A rule of thumb is to use the statusbar when an operation is expected to take fewer than ten seconds, otherwise use a progress window. However, do consider the following when choosing between the two:

- Opening a new window, particularly when an operation is short, can needlessly disrupt the user's workflow.

- Progress windows can convey more information.

- Multiple progress windows can be open at once, whereas only a single operation can be presented in a statusbar.

- Progress windows provide a Cancel button.

##### Ventanas de listas de comprobación

A checklist window shows the sequence of stages in an operation. See .

A Checklist Window

A checklist window showing a sequence of steps

### Choosing Appropriate Feedback

To determine which type of visual feedback to provide for a particular operation, consider these factors:

- Whether your application can provide an estimate of the operation's progress.

- Whether the operation blocks the user from issuing further commands in your application.

- Whether your application has a dedicated space, such as a status bar, for indicating the status of operations.

The table below shows which type of feedback to provide for operations that usually take at least 1 second to finish. In the "Appropriate Feedback" column, "Internal progress animations" means progress animations displayed in an application's dedicated status area, and "External progress animations" means progress animations displayed somewhere other than in a dedicated status area— typically, in an alert box.

Visual feedback types for operations that take at least 1 second

Typical Duration > 5 seconds? | User blocked from issuing further commands? | Application has dedicated status area? | Appropriate feedback
--- | --- | --- | ---
Sí | Sí | Sí | Internal animation plus pointer feedback
Sí | Sí | No | Pointer feedback
Sí | No | Sí | Animación interna
No | Sí | Sí | Internal animation plus pointer feedback
No | Sí | No | External animation plus pointer feedback
No | No | Sí | Animación interna
No | No | No | Animación externa

Guías

- Use a busy pointer whenever users are blocked from interaction with your application for 1 second or longer. Display the busy pointer less than 1 second after the operation begins.

- If a command will likely take 10 seconds or longer to finish, provide a Stop or Cancel button, which can also be activated by pressing Esc, that lets users terminate the command's processing even if your application cannot undo the command's effects. See .

- When using an external animation, leave the window containing the animation on-screen for at least 1 second after the operation has completed, with a successful completion message. Change the Stop or Cancel button to an OK button during this period— pressing this button should close the window immediately.

### Permitir interrupciones

Users sometimes need to stop a command— for example, because it is taking too long. Your application should let users stop commands in progress, even if stopping a command cannot undo or "roll back" all the command's effects.

Guías

- Place a Stop or Cancel button, which can also be activated by pressing Esc, near the progress animation for the interruptable command.

- Label the button Cancel if the whole operation can be cleanly abandoned with no side effects, leaving the system in the state it was in prior to the operation beginning. Terminate the command immediately when the user presses this button.

- Label the button Stop if the command can be interrupted, but its effects up to that point cannot (or should not) be reversed. When the user presses this button, open an alert box that warns of the potential side effects of stopping the command. The alert box should have only two buttons: one for continuing the command's processing, and one for immediately terminating it.

Alternatively, you can place the Stop or Cancel button near the control with which the user issued the command that needs to be stopped. Place the button here only if:

- There is no progress animation for the command, or

- The progress animation is in a window's status area or in another location that lacks space for a Stop or Cancel button.

In the alert box that appears after pressing a Stop button, ensure the message and button labels in the alert box are specific and precise. Ambiguous button labels can cause users to terminate or continue a command unintentionally. For example, use:

    Continue deleting files? [Continue Deleting]
        [Stop Deleting]

rather than

    Operation interrupted, continue? [Yes]
        [No]

since in the latter example, it is not clear whether pressing Yes would continue the operation or continue the interruption (i.e. cancel the operation).

## Visual Design

Visual design is not just about making your application look pretty. Good visual design is about communication. A well-designed application will make it easy for the user to understand the information that is being presented, and show them clearly how they can interact with that information. If you can achieve all that, your application will look good to the user, even if it doesn't have any fancy graphics or spinning logos!

### Color

Color is a good tool for communicating information in a user interface. For example, it can be used to:

- strengthen a desktop's look and feel by enhancing a theme

- accent a dynamic alert in a system management application

- emphasize an element in a long list to expedite scanning

- add aesthetically pleasing details to an icon

However, color should always be regarded as a useful addition to your design, not as a necessity. Never depend upon colors alone to display important information, and keep in mind that if colors cannot be perceived correctly (for example, the user has an 8-bit system, or is color-blind), your application should still be usable.

#### Paleta

A 32-color palette has been developed for the GNOME desktop. The palette may be downloaded from http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/images/ximian-palette. To use it in The GIMP, save it to your `~/.gimp_1.2/palettes` folder, and restart The GIMP. A single, consistently-used palette helps give a unified look and feel to the desktop while minimizing visual distractions. If you need a color that is darker or lighter than the colors in this basic palette (e.g., for anti-aliasing), choose a color that is closest to the hue you need, then darken or lighten as required.

The basic GNOME 32-color palette

The basic GNOME 32-color palette

RGB and hexadecimal values for the basic palette

Color | Descripción | RGB | Hex | Color | Descripción | RGB | Hex
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
| Basic 3D Hilight | 234 232 227 | #EAE8E3 |  | Basic 3D Medium | 186 181 171 | #BAB5AB
| Basic 3D Dark | 128 125 116 | #807D74 |  | Sombra 3D | 86 82 72 | #565248
| Green Hilight | 197 210 200 | #C5D2C8 |  | Green Medium | 131 166 127 | #83A67F
| Green Dark | 93 117 85 | #5D7555 |  | Green Shadow | 68 86 50 | #445632
| Red Hilight | 224 182 175 | #E0B6AF |  | Red Medium | 193 102 90 | #C1665A
| Red Dark | 136 70 49 | #884631 |  | Red Shadow | 102 56 34 | #663822
| Purple Hilight | 173 167 200 | #ADA7C8 |  | Purple Medium | 136 127 163 | #887FA3
| Purple Dark | 98 91 129 | #625B81 |  | Purple Shadow | 73 64 102 | #494066
| Blue Hilight | 157 184 210 | #9DB8D2 |  | Blue Medium | 117 144 174 | #7590AE
| Blue Dark | 75 105 131 | #4B6983 |  | Blue Shadow | 49 78 108 | #314E6C
| Face Skin Hilight | 239 224 205 | #EFE0CD |  | Face Skin Medium | 224 195 158 | #E0C39E
| Face Skin Dark | 179 145 105 | #B39169 |  | Face Skin Shadow | 130 102 71 | #826647
| Accent Red | 223 66 30 | #DF421E |  | Accent Red Dark | 153 0 0 | #990000
| Accent Yellow | 238 214 128 | #EED680 |  | Accent Yellow Dark | 209 148 12 | #D1940C
| Accent Green | 70 160 70 | #46A046 |  | Accent Green Dark | 38 199 38 | #267726
| Blanco | 255 255 255 | #ffffff |  | Negro | 0 0 0 | #000000

#### Tono, brillo, contraste

Users with vision disorders, such as color-blindness or low vision, require alternatives to default settings. A good user interface anticipates these needs by providing customizable preferences and support for accessible themes. Even better is an application that is already configured with carefully-chosen color and contrast defaults.

An estimated 11% of the world population has some sort of color-blindness. Those affected typically have trouble distinguishing between certain hues such as red and green (deuteranopia or protanopia), or blue and yellow (tritanopia). Therefore it is necessary to allow the user to customize colors in any part of your application that conveys important information. This means that your application must effectively convey information using just the colors from any theme that the user chooses.

A useful tool for reviewing information about color-blindness and checking legibility of images for color-blind users is Vischeck, an online tool that simulates the way an image or a website might appear to a user who has deuteranopia, protanopia, or tritanopia.

How the earth looks to a user with normal color vision (left), deuteranopia (middle), and tritanopia (right). (Images from http://www.vischeck.com).

Photo of earth as a normally-sighted user would see it | Photo of earth as a user with red-green color-blindness would see it | Photo of earth as a user with blue-yellow color-blindness would see it

Other users have more problems with contrast levels rather than hue on their screen. Some users require a high level of contrast between background and foreground colors, such as black on white, white on black, or some other high-contrast combination. Others can experience discomfort unless they use low-contrast settings, such as gray text on a lighter gray background.

You can meet these needs by ensuring your application supports the accessible GNOME themes (found in the gnome-themes module in cvs), which include high and low contrast themes, and large print themes. This means you must supply default and large sizes of high-, low- and regular-contrast icon sets with your application.

Guías

- Use the GNOME color palette. If you need a darker or lighter shade, start from one of the colors from the palette and darken or lighten as needed.

- Do not use color as the only means to distinguish items of information. All such information should be provided by at least one other method, such as shape, position or textual description.

- Ensure your application is not dependent on a particular theme. Test it with different themes, especially high and low contrast accessibility themes, which use fewer colors, to ensure your application respects the settings. For example, all text should appear in the foreground color against the background color specified in the chosen theme.

- Select colors carefully. When they need to be recognizably different, select the light colors from orange, yellow, green or blue-green, and darker colors from blue, violet, purple or red, as most people affected by color-blindness already see blue, violet, purple and red as darker than normal.

### Disposición de ventana

#### General

El emplazamiento de componentes visuales en una aplicación es importante porque las relaciones entre los elementos se indican por sus posiciones. Esto se llama «disposición» en el diseño de interfaces.

Un diseño limpio es vital para crear un buen flujo visual de la información para el usuario. En esta sección se describe la colocación adecuada de los componentes y el espacio para su uso en aplicaciones GNOME. Los componentes principales que tratar serán las etiquetas, los iconos, botones de radio y casillas de verificación, campos de texto, botones de comandos y los menús desplegables.

#### Diálogos

When a user is scanning a complex preferences dialog consisting of many labels and corresponding check boxes, text fields, and drop-down combination boxes, it is easy to see how she can quickly become hindered by poor layout in the visual design. For information on laying out Alerts, see

Disposición de la ventana mejorada

Initial layout with poor alignment and limited use of white space | Improved layout with fewer alignment points, frames removed to relieve clutter, and clearer grouping with use of white space

In , the dialog on the left presents labels which are not left-aligned. The user's eye is not given a proper anchor to scan the dialog quickly.

As the labels are all similar in length, they should be left-aligned. Now the user has a firm left margin to anchor the eye and scan the list of items vertically more easily. If most of the labels in a group greatly differ in length, right-align them instead, so that the controls do not end up too far away from their corresponding labels.

Using frames with visible borders to separate groups within a window is deprecated. Use spacing and bold headers instead. This is more effective because there are fewer gratuitous lines to distract the user from the main content in the window. See for more details.

Try to keep components consonant with each other in terms of size and alignment. This is particularly important within a group of controls, so that the user's ability to quickly scan information is not sacrificed. Minimize as much as possible the need for the user's eye to jump around when scanning a layout.

Especificaciones de la disposición

Improved layout with fewer alignment points, frames removed to relieve clutter, and clearer grouping with use of white space

Guías

- Leave a 12-pixel border between the edge of the window and the nearest controls.

- Leave a 12-pixel horizontal gap between a control and its label. (The gap may be bigger for other controls in the same group, due to differences in the lengths of the labels.)

- Labels must be concise and make sense when taken out of context. Otherwise, users relying on screenreaders or similar assistive technologies will not always be able to immediately understand the relationship between a control and those surrounding it.

- Assign access keys to all editable controls. Ensure that using the access key focuses its associated control.

#### Espaciado y alineación

Provide adequate space between controls and groups of controls. This white space will make it easier for the user to find the information they need.

Guías

- As a basic rule of thumb, leave space between user interface components in increments of 6 pixels, going up as the relationship between related elements becomes more distant. For example, between icon labels and associated graphics within an icon, 6 pixels are adequate. Between labels and associated components, leave 12 horizontal pixels. For vertical spacing between groups of components, 18 pixels is adequate. A general padding of 12 pixels is recommended between the contents of a dialog window and the window borders.

- Break long lists of choices into smaller groups. For lists of less than about eight items, use radio buttons or check boxes. For longer lists, use a list control or drop-down list.

- Try to keep elements of the same type left-aligned with each other. For instance, in , the group titles (General and Actions) are left-aligned and justified with each other.

- Indent group members 12 pixels to denote hierarchy and association.

- Minimize the number of alignment points in your window. An alignment point is an imaginary vertical or horizontal line through your window that touches the edge of one or more labels or controls in the window.

- Right-justification within groups or the overall window (as indicated by the line labelled "justification" in is pleasing to the eye, but not crucial.

- Lay out components left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Generally, the first element the user is meant to encounter should be in the top-left, and the last in the bottom right. Keep in mind that when localized for non-western locales, interfaces may be reversed so that they read from right to left.

- Using "white" or blank spacing and indentation to delineate groups is cleaner and preferable to using graphical separators such as frames.

- Align controls in your layout exactly. The eye is very sensitive to aligned and unaligned objects. If nothing lines up with anything else in a window, it will be very hard for the user to scan the contents and find the information he wants. Two things that almost line up, but not quite, are equally distracting.

- Be consistent. Use the same spacing, alignment, and component sizes in all dialogs appearing in your application. The OK and Cancel buttons, for example, should all appear exactly 12 vertical and horizontal pixels from the lower right corner of every dialog window.

- Ensure that light and dark areas as well as spacing are equally distributed around the window. Keep in mind that every control or group of controls in your window has a visual "weight," depending on its overall size, color, and how much white space it includes. Darker, larger areas are "heavier," while paler, smaller areas are "lighter."

- Do not design windows that are more than 50% longer in one dimension than in the other. People are more comfortable looking at windows and dialogs whose dimensions stay within the golden ratio (about 1.6 to 1), a ratio that artists and architects have used to create aesthetically-pleasing paintings and buildings for thousands of years.

### Etiquetas de texto

To a user with normal vision, textual output provides the majority of the information and feedback in most applications. To a visually-impaired user who may not be able to see or understand any additional graphical output, clear textual output is critical. You must therefore choose and position text carefully on the screen, and leave the choice of fonts and sizes to the user, to ensure that all users are able to use your application effectively.

#### Espaciado y alineación

Use spacing and alignment of text uniformly throughout your application. A basic rule of thumb is to put space between user interface components in increments of 6 pixels, going up as the relationship between related elements becomes more distant.

ALineación y espaciado para diferentes elementos de texto

Elemento | Posicionamiento | Ejemplo
--- | --- | ---
Iconos grandes (navegador de archivos) | Horizontally centered with and (6 pixels, if specification necessary)below large icon | Large icon with text label centered below
Iconos pequeños (barra de herramientas) | Vertically centered with and (6 pixels, if specification necessary) to the right of small icons | Small icon with text label to the right
List control label | 6 pixels above and horizontally left aligned with list control or 12 pixels to the left of and horizontally top aligned with list control | List control with text label horizontally aligned above
Radio button and check box labels | 6 pixels to the right of and vertically center aligned with radio button | Radio button with text label to its right
Etiquetas de campo de texto | 6 pixels to the left of and vertically center aligned with textfield control | Textbox with text label to its left
Etiquetas de botón | 12 pixels of padding to either side of centered text (and any accompanying graphic). If appearing in a group of buttons, longest button label sets button size, center all other button labels and accompanying graphics in same-sized buttons | Botones con texto centrado
Other component labels (e.g., spin boxes, text fields | 12 pixels between the longest text label and its associated component, all other text labels in component grouping left aligned with the longest label. All labels vertically center aligned with associated components | Drop-down list with label to its left

Guías

- If the label precedes the control it is labelling, end the label with a colon. For example, Email: to label a text field into which the user should type their email address. This helps identify it as a control's label rather than an independent item of text. Some assistive technology screen review utilities may also use the presence of a colon to identify text as a control label.

- Ensure that a label with a mnemonic is associated with the control it labels.

- Left-align components and labels, unless all the labels in a group have very different lengths. If they do, right-align the labels instead, to ensure that no controls end up too far away from their corresponding labels.

- Choose label names carefully. Label objects with names that make sense when taken out of context. Users relying on screenreaders or similar assistive technologies will not always be able to immediately understand the relationship between a control and those surrounding it.

- Be consistent with label usage and semantics. For example, if you use the same label in different windows, it will help if it means the same thing in both windows. Equally, don't use labels that are spelled differently but sound the same, e.g., "Read" and "Red", as this could be confusing for users relying on screenreaders.

- Don't use the same label more than once in the same window. This makes life difficult for users relying on tools like magnifiers or screen readers, which cannot always convey surrounding context to the user.

- Do not hard-code font styles and sizes. The user should be able to adjust all sizes and typefaces.

- Do not use more than two or three different fonts and sizes in your application, and choose visually distinct rather than similar-looking fonts in one window. Too many font sizes and styles will make the interface look cluttered and unprofessional, and be harder to read. In general, always use fonts from the current theme, and specify relative rather than absolute sizes.

- Do not use graphical backdrops or "watermarks" behind text, other than those specified by the user's chosen theme. These interfere with the contrast between the text and its background. This can cause difficulty for users with visual impairments, who will therefore normally choose themes that always use plain backdrops.

#### Capitalization

Two styles of capitalization are used in GNOME user interface elements:

Header capitalization

  Capitalize all words in the element, with the following exceptions:

  - Articles: a, an, the.

  - Conjunctions: and, but, for, not, so, yet ...

  - Prepositions of three or fewer letters: at, for, by, in, to ...

Capitalización de frase

  Capitalize the first letter of the first word, and any other words normally capitalized in sentences, such as application names.

The following table indicates the capitalization style to use for each type of user interface element.

Capitalization Style Guidelines for User Interface Elements

Elemento | Estilo
--- | ---
Check box labels | Frase
Etiquetas de botón de comando | Cabecera
Etiquetas de cabecera de columna | Cabecera
Desktop background object labels | Cabecera
Mensajes de diálogo | Frase
Drop-down combination box labels | Frase
Drop-down list box labels | Frase
Etiquetas de campo | Frase
Nombres de archivo | Frase
Graphic equivalent text: for example, Alt text on web pages | Frase
Group box or frame labels | Cabecera
Items in drop-down combination boxes, drop-down list boxes, and list boxes | Frase
List box labels | Frase
Elementos de menú | Cabecera
Elementos de menú en aplicaciones | Cabecera
Títulos de menú en aplicaciones | Cabecera
Etiquetas de botón de radio | Frase
Slider labels | Frase
Spin box labels | Frase
Tabbed section titles | Cabecera
Text box labels | Frase
Titlebar labels | Cabecera
Etiquetas de los botones de la barra de herramientas | Cabecera
Consejos | Frase
Webpage titles and navigational elements | Cabecera

Capitalization guidelines for other languages

Languages other than English may have different rules about capitalization. For example, Swedish has no concept of Header capitalization. Contact the GNOME Translation Project if you are in doubt about how to capitalize labels in a particular language.

### Tipografías

Only use the fonts that the user has specified in their theme, and in sizes relative to the default size specified in their theme. This will ensure maximum legibility and accessibility for all users.

Do not mix more than two or three font sizes and styles (underlined, bold, italicized) in one window, as this will look unprofessional and distract the user from the information being conveyed.

Provide alternatives to WYSIWYG where applicable. Some users may need to print text in a small font but edit in a larger screen font, for example. Possible alternatives include displaying all text in the same font and size (both of which are chosen by the user); a "wrap-to-window" option that allows you to read all the text in a window without scrolling horizontally; a single column view that shows the window's contents in a single column even if they will be printed in multiple columns; and a text-only view, where graphics are shown as placeholders or text descriptions.

## Iconos

Icons are a graphical metaphor presenting a visual image that the user associates with a particular object, state or operation. When a user sees a good icon they are immediately reminded of the item it represents, whether that be an application in the panel menu or the "right aligned" state in a word processor toolbar.

- Icons can assist the user in rapidly scanning a large number of objects to select the desired item. Particularly after a user is acustomed to an icon's appearance, they can identify it more rapidly than a text label.

- Icons can augment text by providing visual suggestions to accompany the descriptive text. Some things are easier to communicate with a picture, even a very small one.

- Icons can compactly represent a large number of objects when there is insufficient space to display textual descriptions (such as in a toolbar).

### Estilo

GNOME uses a soft, three-dimensional look. This style is achieved by using antialiasing, shading and highlighting techniques. The Gnome Icons tutorial details how one of GNOME's leading artists creates some of these effects.

Components of an icon style can be broken down into several categories such as perspective, dimentionality, lighting effects and palette. These components play an important part in giving a group of icons a collectively distinctive look. For instance, the Java Look and Feel is recognizable by its use of a primary eight-color palette, interior highlighting and diagonal gradients. The Macintosh Aqua style is recognizable by its use of a cool palette based on blue, lighting effects mimicking reflectivity and antialiasing. The GNOME style exhibits a subdued thirty-two color palette, soft drop shadows and a mix between cartoonish and photorealistic graphics.

A globe in different icon styles

Java Metal | MacOS/X Aqua | GNOME
--- | --- | ---
Java globe | Aqua globe | GNOME globe

#### Perspectiva

NO TRADUCIR

Perspectiva de tabla

Presents objects as if they were sitting on a table or desk in front of the user.

Illustration of the table perspective

illustration of the table perspective

Shelf perspective

Presents objects as if they were propped up on a shelf at eye level. Make it look like a police line-up.

Illustration of the shelf perspective

illustration of the shelf perspective

#### Iluminación

NO TRADUCIR

Superior izquierda

Design as if there is lighting coming from the upper left corner, with a soft drop-shadow cast within the icon's 48x48 (original design size) borders (120 degrees, 4 pixel distance, 4 pixel blur).

Overhead

Design as if there is a light source placed above the "camera", casting a shadow down.

#### Paleta

NO TRADUCIR

Icons should use colors based on the basic thirty-two color palette, darkening or lightening the colours to achieve the desired look. See

### Tipos de iconos

Especificaciones para los diferentes tipos de iconos usados en GNOME

Tipo del icono | Tamaños (píxeles) | Perspectiva | Fuente de luz | Ejemplos
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Objetos/iconos de documento | 24x24, 48x48*, 96x96 | Tabla | Superior Izquierda | variety of object icons
Iconos de aplicación | 24x24, 48x48* | Tabla | Superior Izquierda | variety of application icons
Iconos de barra de herramientas | 24x24*, 48x48 | Estantería | Overhead | variety of toolbar icons
Iconos de menú | 16x16 | Estantería | Overhead | variedad de iconos de menú

(* denotes the primary size for this kind of icon)

#### Iconos de documentos

If possible, document icons should convey the type of the file using a physical object. For example a good icon for MPEG video would be a movie reel. Failing the existence of an appropriate object, when a document type corresponds to a specific application, another option is to use a piece of paper with the corresponding application's icon overlayed it as the document icon. This may be appropriate for a document type such as an application's settings files.

- Do not display a piece of paper behind a document icon unless the document type has a use correspondence with physical paper (or a suitable object was not found and you are using the application icon). For example, the final state of most word processing documents is a piece of paper, so it is appropriate to use a piece of paper in the icon. On the other hand, a movie on the computer has little association with a piece of paper, so a piece of paper behind the movie reel primarily introduces visual noise. The use of a piece of paper in most or all document types creates an additional problem: it is harder to scan large numbers of icons because they do not possess distinct outlines. A useful technique for creating a subtle difference between document types with similar roles (for example, between "JPEG", "PNG", "GIF", etc) is to use different colours. Expert users who need to make this distinction frequently will become accustomed to these differences.

- Do not include a file extension in the icon. The document icon's job is not to convey such precise information but to allow for rapid visual distinction between documents. Additionally, this text will not be displayed in the user's preferred font and size. Because many document types are associated with multiple file extensions, a file extension embedded in the icon will also frequently be wrong. In a context where the file extension is actually useful, the application should composite the information onto the icon at runtime (thereby using the correct font and size, as well as getting the extension right).

- Do not customize document icons to a particular Nautilus theme. Document icons are likely to be used in conjunction with a variety of different icon themes, and should work well with all of them.

#### Iconos de aplicación

Application's that handle documents should reflect the kind of document they handle in the icon. If an application's predominant purpose is to edit a particular kind of document, it should use this document's icon as its icon.

#### Iconos de barra de herramientas

The idea of a toolbar as a shelf filled with tools should be reflected in toolbar icons. Toolbar icons should have the perspective of being viewed head on, as if they were actually sitting on a shelf at eye-level. Some design guides refer to this perspective as "flush".

- Ensure that toolbar icons which will be used together are easy to visually distinguish. Try to make the icons' silhouettes distinct from one another.

- While most user's will view toolbar icons at 24x24 pixels, it is important to include a "large print" set of icons at 48x48 pixels for accesibility reasons.

- Often, you will not have to design any toolbar icons yourself as GTK provides a wide variety of stock icons. You should use these whenever representing one of their intended items. This establishes consistent language across applications, and makes it easier for users to search for items on the toolbar. Do not use stock toolbar icons for anything other than their intended purpose, however, as this will make your application inconsistent with others, and could easily confuse your users.

  To browse the available stock icons, install the development packages for GTK version 2.x and run `gtk-demo`. Double click on Stock Item and Icon Browser to activate the stock icon browser. Note that icons vary in available resolution, so the images presented in the icon browser should not be taken as indicative of the maximuum quality of an image. To view the images in PNG format, look in the GTK 2 source code under `gtk/stock-icons`.

#### Iconos de menú

Principles of toolbar icon design should be followed with menu icons, just at a smaller size. Where a corresponding toolbar icon exists, a menu icon should mirror its design.

### Designing Effective Icons

Rule of Thumb for Icon Metaphors

"If you have to think about an icon to 'get it', the metaphor is too complex"

- Design Functionally Suggestive Icons

  Icons should be suggestive of the functionality with which they are associated. The best icon will suggest to the user the primary purpose of the program or operation without having to read accompanying text. Users recognize functionally suggestive icons more rapidly than other forms because they directly associate with a physical object or action.

  A functionally suggestive icon for a word processor

  A document with a pencil writing on it

  A functionally suggestive icon for underline

  An underlined character

- Make Icon Silhouettes Distinct

  It is important to make it easy to visually distinguish icons that will be used together, for example toolbar icons and document icons. The human visual system is excellent at making rapid distinctions between items based on shape, thus a good way to help your users sort through a large number of icons is to use different shapes. You can see the shape of an icon most clearly by turning it into a silhouette: blacken all areas of the icon which are not transparent.

  Distinct silhouettes from the GNOME icon theme

  Silhouettes of various toolbar icons

#### Suggested Design Process For Toolbar and Menu Icons

For accessibility reasons, you should create high and low contrast and large print versions of all icons, in addition to the regular size and contrast icon. A suggested process for conveniently integrating this into your icon design is as follows:

1. Draw the basic outline as close to 48x48 pixels as possible:

2. Fill in with black and white to create detail. Do not add gratuities such as drop shadows or anti-aliasing:

3. Use the finished image as the large print high contrast icon:

4. GNOME will automatically scale it down to create the 24x24 high contrast icon:

5. Or you may hand-create a 24x24 version, which will be superior in contrast and sharpness:

6. Add color and anti-aliasing to the large print high contrast icon:

7. Add gradients for a smooth, realistic effect:

8. Add a drop shadow (120 degree global angle, 4 pixel distance, 4 pixel blur, 40% opacity), and use the finished image as the large print regular contrast icon:

9. Now you should hand-create create a version of this icon at 24x24. Do not simply scale the larger icon, as this icon will be seen by the majority of users and the result of scaling would be less distinct:

10. Create a layer with the large print regular contrast icon's same outline and size then overlay that on the color icon. Give the overlay layer 40% opacity, and use the finished image as the large print low contrast icon:

11. GNOME will automatically scale it down to create the 24x24 low contrast icon:

12. Or you may hand-create a 24x24 version, which will be superior in contrast and sharpness:

#### Problems to Avoid

- Avoid name suggestive icons

  Some icons, such as the original Nautilus file manager icon, do not suggest the program's purpose, but instead suggest the program's name. This is less desirable than a functionally suggestive icon, because an extra layer of abstraction is added (rather than associating file management with an icon representing files, they have to associate file management with nautilus with an image of a nautilus shell). Additionally it makes it difficult for new users who may not know what "Nautilus" is, and hence will not recognize a shell icon as the file manager.

  The original, name suggestive icon for Nautilus

  A picture of a nautilus shell

- Do not include meaningful text in icons

  Icons that contain the text of the program name in the icon. They effectively contain no metaphor or picture for the user to identify with, and are probably harder to read than the accompanying caption. Since icons draw the eyes, an icon that is harder to identify than text is potentially worse than no icon at all. Hence "text icons" should not be used. Moreover, text should be avoided in icons because it makes the icons difficult to translate. If there is text in icons it should not form words in your native language, a good metric for ensuring that the particular text is not lending to the meaning of the icon.

  Text in the original GEdit icon

  The original GEdit icon, a rectangle containing the word "GEdit".

- Do not rely on information your users will not have

  Random icons appear to have no association with the application (except perhaps some odd connection in the mind of the developer). These icons should never be used and will likely serve to confuse the user more than help them. The icon's purpose should not be to "look pretty"; this is merely a very desirable side effect.

  The SodiPodi project logo is a squirrel, which is used as the application icon. However, because the logo has no obvious connection to a user, it is a poor icon. Make sure that you are not relying on information that users won't necessarily possess.

  A seemingly random icon for SodiPodi

  A squirrel

- Do not include extraneous information

  Remember that icons will often be viewed in a smaller form. Too much information may render the icon unintelligible when it is shrunk in size (e.g. to be placed on a panel, or in the tasklist). Too much information also makes it easier for users confuse the purpose of the application. For example, in user testing many users thought an older version of the Evolution icon (below) would launch a word processor. They were misled by the pencil and the paper, which could be seen as extraneous information: it is implicit that the mail program will allow you to write messages as well as receive them. A better icon might have been a simple envelope. Foremost in the icon designer's mind should be a consideration of the minimal visual elements necessary to express the purpose of the program.

  Extraneous information - the Evolution icon

  El icono de Evolution

  This Gnumeric icon (below) is a great icon except for the introduction of extra visual noise. The extra sheet of paper with the 'g' on it behind the spreadsheet and chart adds no significant value to the icon and provides extra visual distraction. In this case the contribution of the extraneous element to the appearance of the icon is negative. Simple, well-balanced icons look more attractive than cluttered icons. An improved icon might contain only the spreadsheet and chart; larger because they can use all of the space in the icon, and hence more visually distinct.

  Extraneous information - the old Gnumeric icon

  El icono de Gnumeric

- Do not include body parts in the icon

  Because GNOME aims to be an international desktop, it needs to avoid imagery that is potentially offensive or crass to other cultures. A prime source of offensive imagery is various body parts in a number of different configurations. Aside from offensive gestures with the hands, arms or fingers; body parts that are considered "clean" in one culture (such as eyes), will be considered tasteless or gross to another (such as a nose). Based on a survey of icons in GNOME, body parts frequently appear in the least communicative icons (often "pointing" at some element in the icon); they are being used as an ineffective crutch for poor metaphor. In these situations body parts should not be used. Even in situations where the metaphor is appropriate (for example an eye representing the sawfish appearance capplet) it is better to avoid using a body part. Often body parts have been used in GNOME to suggest a human "choosing" or "using" something. This is normally an unnecessary point for the icon designer to make. People naturally attempt to understand objects in reference to themselves (show someone a bat and they will think of hitting something with the bat, show someone a tool and they will think of using it, etc). For example, the font selector shows a finger pointing to an "F" suggesting the user choosing between a series of fonts. A better icon would be the text "Aa" presented in an ornate font (calling attention to the font rather than the text). The user doesn't need to be told that they are "choosing" the font, they can infer that easily.

  Using body parts - the font selector icon

  El icono selector de tipografía original

  Un icono mejor para el selector de tipografía

  A simple replacement icon showing an ornate "Aa"

- Do not base icons off word puns

  This should be avoided for a couple reasons, the most obvious of which is that puns do not translate well. For example, representing the "system log monitor" as a log will likely be uncommunicative in languages other than English. Additionally, most users do not comprehend the word play until it is too late for the icon to assist them. Even after being familiar with the "system log monitor" being represented as a log, users do not form the association fast enough for the icon to assist through in scanning through menu entries. A popular instance of this problem was the proliferation of icons representing the "World Wide Web" as a spider web in the mid 1990s. Part of the value of icons is that they bypass linguistic comprehension and hence are complementary to captions, allowing users to utilize more areas of the mind than linguistic recognition (already used in scanning for captions) when they hunt for items.

  Word play - System Log Monitor icon

  A tree log

- Do not employ violent imagery

  Just as words like "kill" and "slay" are inappropriate in interfaces, violent or destructive icons should be avoided. The "shut down" icon uses the image of an explosive detonation switch, presumably trying to convey the idea of ending something abruptly. However, this icon is likely to intimidate some users of the computer who will not want to click on the icon for fear of breaking something.

  Destructive-looking Shutdown icon

  Un botón de detonación explosiva

### Diseñar iconos accesibles

The GNOME desktop includes accessible themes that make the desktop and the applications running on it accessible to users with a range of visual impairments. By default, these are:

- un tema de alto contraste

- un tema de alto contraste invertido

- a large print theme

Los siguientes temas de accesibilidad también están disponibles:

- a high contrast large print theme

- an inverse high contrast large print theme

- un tema de bajo contraste

- a low contrast,large print theme

To be considered fully accessible, all icons in your application must be replaced by a suitable alternative when one of these themes is used.

Iconos de bajo contraste

Low contrast icon themes were deprecated in GNOME 2.22. It is no longer necessary to deliver low contrast icon equivalents.

#### Iconos de alto contraste

High contrast icons are greatly simplified versions of an application's existing regular icons. They are drawn with two colors, black and white, and thicker borders. This style allows high contrast icons to be distinguishable when viewed by a user with a visual impairment. Below is an approximation of what well-designed high contrast icons look like when viewed by someone with a visual impairment.

Simulation of low vision user viewing high contrast icons

Descripción | Icono de alto contraste | Apariencia simulada
--- | --- | ---
Libro | Icono de libro | Blurred Book icon
CD-ROM | Icono CD-ROM | Blurred CD-ROM icon
Copiar | Copiar icono | Blurred Copy icon

If a regular icon uses a simple, straightforward metaphor the corresponding high contrast icon can often use the same metaphor. In many cases the same metaphor will need to be drawn differently to create a simplified high contrast icon.

Simplified representation of metaphors for high contrast icons

Comparison of photorealistic style of regular icons with the simpler, line-art style of high contrast icons

High contrast icons are created in a vector drawing program. Black and white shapes are layered to create a simplified icon. The process feels like layering black and white pieces of construction paper, as if you were assembling a collage.

Layered technique for high contrast icons

Exploded view of layers used in high contrast floppy disk icon

Reuse existing shapes

Often shapes from existing high contrast icons can be resized and reused to more quickly build up a new icon.

No olvide el borde.

It is useful to design high contrast icons over a temporary background color so you don't forget to draw the external white border.

#### Iconos de bajo contraste

Iconos de bajo contraste

Low contrast icon themes were deprecated in GNOME 2.22. It is no longer necessary to deliver low contrast icon equivalents.

The goal of low contrast themes is to eliminate, as much as possible, light values (e.g. a large 'V' value in HSV). To achieve this, the colors in low contrast icons are compressed toward the middle value range, i.e. dark colors are lightened and light colors are darkened.

Low contrast icons are generated from the existing regular icons by adjusting the levels in GIMP. The Input Levels are set to 100, 1.25, 200 and the Output Levels are set to 100, 160, as shown in the Levels dialog below. Large numbers of regular icons can be quickly converted to low contrast by using GIMP's scripting facilities.

Levels dialog in GIMP showing correct levels for generating low contrast icons

Levels dialog in GIMP showing input levels set to 100, 1.25, 200, and output levels set to 100 and 160.

## Entrada del usuario

### Interacción del ratón

#### Botones

A plethora of pointing devices: mouse, trackball, foot-operated mouse, joystick, trackpad, and a finger-mounted pointing device.

Pictures of different types of pointing device, including mouse, trackball, foot-operated mouse and joystick.

For most users, the mouse provides the main way of interacting with graphical user interfaces. The term "mouse" is used in this chapter to include other pointing devices that can be used to move the pointer around the screen, such as trackballs, trackpads, spaceballs, graphics tablets, or assistive technology devices that emulate a mouse.

For right-handed users, the left button on a conventional mouse is used for the majority of mouse actions. We therefore call it the left button here, even though that may not physically be the case. For this reason, you may sometimes see this button referred to in code or documentation as "Button 1" or the "Selection Button".

Similarly for right-handed users, the right button on a conventional mouse is used for operations involving pop-up menus. We therefore call it the right button in this chapter. You may sometimes see this button referred to in code or documentation as "Button 3" or the "Menu Button".

A conventional mouse with three buttons normally has its third button (or a scrollwheel that acts as a button when pushed) between the left and right buttons. We therefore call it the middle button, but you may sometimes see this referred to in code or documentation as "Button 2" or the "Transfer Button".

Guías

- Your application uses left button gestures for selecting, activating components, dragging, and the display of drop-down menus.

- Your application uses right button gestures to display and select actions from a popup menu.

- Your application uses the middle button to paste the current PRIMARY (usually the last-highlighted) selection at the pointer position, as follows:

  Effect of modifier keys on a middle button transfer operation

  Modificador | Función
  --- | ---
  No modificado | Copiar la selección
  Ctrl | Copiar la selección
  Mayús | Mover la selección
  Mayús Ctrl | Crear vínculo, atajo o alias para la selección

  Do not over-ride this functionality in any part of your user interface where the transfer action is likely to be useful. If you do intend to use the middle button for a different purpose somewhere, only do so as a shortcut for experienced users, and only for operations that can also be performed without using the right button or middle button.

- If present on the mouse, the scrollwheel should scroll the window or control under the pointer, if it supports scrolling. Initiating scrolling in this way should not move keyboard focus to the window or control being scrolled. If it supports both horizontal and vertical scrolling, perhaps suggest unmodified scrollwheel should scroll vertically, and Shift scrollwheel should scroll horizontally.

- Ctrl scrollwheel-up should zoom into the window or control under the mouse pointer, and Ctrl scrollwheel-down should zoom out. Zooming in this way should not move keyboard focus to the window or control being zoomed.

- Do not depend on input from the middle or right mouse buttons. As well as being physically more difficult to click, some pointing devices and many assistive technology devices only support or emulate the left mouse button. Some assistive technologies may noteven emulate the mouse at all, but generate keyboard events instead.

- Ensure that every operation in your application that can be done with the mouse can also be done with the keyboard. The only exceptions to this are actions where fine motor control is an essential part of the task. For example, controlling movement in some types of action games, or freehand painting in an image-editing application.

- Do not warp the mouse pointer, or restrict mouse movement to part of the screen. This can interfere with assistive technologies, and is usually confusing even for users who do not rely on assistive technologies.

- Do not require the use of chording (pressing multiple mouse buttons simultaneously) for any operations.

- Do not require the use of multiple (triple- or quadruple-) clicking actions for any operations, unless you also provide an accessible alternative method of performing the same action.

- Allow all mouse operations to be cancelled before their completion. Pressing the Esc key should cancel any mouse operation in progress, such as dragging and dropping a file in a file manager, or drawing a shape in a drawing application.

- Do not assign any actions exclusively to the middle button of a three-button mouse, as not all mice have one.

- Do not hard-code mouse target sizes, or make them too small. Define any mouse targets to be at least as large as the arrow button in a GtkSpinBox in the current gtk theme. Bear in mind that a user with impaired dexterity or vision may be using a theme that results in considerably larger widgets than the default theme.

- Do not refer to particular mouse buttons in your interface unless absolutely necessary. Not everybody will be using a conventional mouse with left, middle and right buttons, so any text or diagrams that refer to those may be confusing.

#### Seleccionar objetos

##### Equivalentes del ratón y el teclado

For controls or windows that contain a number of objects that the user can select, either singly or multiply, ensure the following mechanisms are in place to allow selections to be made using either the mouse or the keyboard.

Standard mouse and keyboard selection mechanisms

| Ratón | Teclado
--- | --- | ---
Seleccionar elemento, quitar la selección de todos los demás | Click | Espacio
Añadir/quitar elemento de la selección | Ctrl click (toggles item's selected state) | Ctrl Espacio (toggles focused item's selected state)
Extender selección | Mayús click | Mayús Espacio, Mayús Inicio, Mayús Fin, Mayús RePág, o Mayús AvPág
Mover el foco | Pulse en el elemento apropiado para seleccionarlo | Cursor keys, Inicio, Fin, RePág, and AvPág move focus and selection simultaneously. Ctrl cursor keys, Ctrl Home,Ctrl End, Ctrl PageUp, and Ctrl PageDown move focus without affecting current selection.
Seleccionar todo | Click first item, then Mayús click last item | Ctrl A
Deseleccionar todas | Click container background | Mayús Ctrl A
Activar selección | Double-click to activate a single selection. Mayús or Ctrl double-clicking extends or adds item to selection first before activating the entire selection. | Intro activates entire selection. If nothing is currently selected, selects currently-focused item first.
Invertir selección | Sin ratón equivalente | Ctrl I

##### Bounding Box Selection

For a container whose objects may be arranged in two dimensions, for example the icon view in a file manager, allow multiple selection by dragging a bounding box (sometimes called a "rubber band") around one or more objects. Shift left button drag should add all the objects within the bounding box to the existing selection. Ctrl left button drag should toggle the selected state of all the objects within the bounding box.

Guías

- This guideline needs to be so much better worded :) Allow a bounding box selection to begin only if the initial mouse button press is made:

  - Within the bounds of the container's background, and

  - outside the bounds of any another object in the same container that can be dragged.

  In a drawing application, for example, this means that a bounding box click and drag could start on a blank area of the canvas, or within a shape that had been locked down to prevent accidental editing, but not in an active shape which would itself be dragged instead.

- Select any objects that lie wholly or partly within the bounding box when the mouse button is released. This is different from 1.0 advice, need to update figure 10.2 accordingly.

- Use dynamic highlighting during the drag to show which objects will be selected. Do not wait until the mouse button is released. This avoids any uncertainty about which objects will be selected by the bounding box.

- When a bounding box is being dragged out within a scrollable window, support automatic scrolling of that window when the box is dragged near the window's edges.

Examples illustrating dynamic selection highlighting during bounding box selection. In the first example, the folder color and label highlighting changes to indicate selection. In the second, selection is indicated by the addition of resizing handles to selected objects.

Example illustrating dynamic selection highlighting during bounding box selection
Example illustrating dynamic selection highlighting during bounding box selection

#### Arrastrar y soltar

Drag and drop is a direct manipulation technique, where you perform actions on selected objects by moving them around the screen with the mouse. You "drag" an object by clicking it, then holding the button while you move the pointer to the object's target location. The object is "dropped" at that location by releasing the mouse button.

Guías

- Use drag and drop only where the user can reasonably guess what the effect might be. The most common uses are:

  - to move or copy objects from one place to another

  - para enlazar un objeto a otro

  - to perform an action on the objects by dropping them onto an icon representing that action, such as a trash can or printer icon.

- Provide visual feedback throughout a drag and drop operation. Highlight valid targets and change the mouse pointer as it passes over them. Use the "no drop" mouse pointer when passing over invalid drop targets. See also .

- Augment the mouse pointer with a representation of the objects being dragged. Keep this representation small or make it translucent, so as not to obscure possible drop targets underneath it. See also .

  Example of copy pointer augmented by an icon representing the file being copied

  Copy pointer superimposed on icon representing a file being copied, to form a "copy file" pointer
  The pointer shapes shown here aren't actually the current GTK defaults, they're the current KDE (and Windows) defaults. Should we try and persuade GTK to change?

- Only allow objects to be copied between applications, not moved. This avoids any confusion about which application's Undo function reverses the operation.

- Allow the user to cancel a drag and drop operation by all of these methods:

  - pressing Esc before releasing the mouse button

  - dropping the object back on its original location

  - performing a query drag and selecting Cancel on the pop-up menu (see )

  - dropping the object on an invalid drop target.

- Allow the user to undo the effects a drag and drop operation by selecting Edit Undo.

- Allow multiple objects to be dragged by Shift or Ctrl selecting them, then dragging any one of the selected objects.

- Ensure that keyboard users can replicate all drag and drop actions using only menu items or keyboard shortcuts, such as Copy (Ctrl C) and Paste (Ctrl V).

- When an item is being dragged within or into a scrollable window, support automatic scrolling of that window when the mouse is moved near its edges.

- Pop up a menu when the user attemps to drop multiple objects on a target that only accepts single objects. On the menu, list all the objects being dragged, and a Cancel item.

##### Overriding drag and drop behavior

###### Modificadores de teclado

Allow the user to force the behavior of a drag and drop operation by holding the Ctrl, Shift or both keys throughout. If the user changes modifier keys after they have started the drag, change the mouse pointer immediately and perform the new action when the mouse button is released.

Effect of modifier keys during a drag and drop operation

Modificador | Función
--- | ---
Ctrl | Copiar
Mayús | Mover
Mayús Ctrl | Crear enlace, atajo o alias

###### Query Drag

Allow the user to drag objects with the middle button , or with Alt left button. Pop up a menu when the mouse button is released, offering the choice of Copy, Move and Link (or whichever subset of those actions is available), and Cancel. Dragging in this way is known as query drag because it prompts the user before changing anything.

##### Mouse Pointers to Use for Drag and Drop

Use the default GTK drag and drop pointers for the standard transfer operations listed below. This consistency helps ensure the user will know exactly what to expect when they release the mouse button. If you have to design a pointer for a non-standard transfer action not listed here, follow the style of the standard pointers.

Mouse Pointers for Drag and Drop

Pointer Shape | Significado
--- | ---
«Mover» puntero | Move selection. The dragged selection will be moved to the drop location, removing it from its previous location.
«Copiar» puntero | Copy selection. The dragged selection will be copied to the drop location, leaving the original intact.
«Enlazar» puntero | Link selection. A link to the selection will be inserted at the drop location. How the link appears will be application-dependent, it may be a hyperlink, an icon, or a duplicate of the orignal selection, for example.
"Query drop" pointer | Middle button or Alt-left button drag. A pop-up menu will be posted at the drop location to ask whether the user wants to Move, Copy, or Link the selection, or Cancel the operation.
"Can't drop here" pointer | Can't drop here. Show this pointer while the mouse is over an area where the selection cannot be dropped.

#### Mouse Interaction with Panel Applications (Applets)

All objects on the desktop must behave consistently. Despite their specialized nature, applets are no exception.

Guías

- The unmodified left mouse button must be sufficient to operate all your applet's controls. Applets are meant to be simple enough that modified clicking, or clicking with other mouse buttons (except to pop up the applet's menu) is never required.

  Suggestion: Clicking and dragging anywhere within the applet window whilst holding down the Ctrl and/or Mayús keys could reposition the applet as if dragging with the middle mouse button (Ctrl izquierda arrastrar=copy, if moving to another panel; Mayús izquierda arrastrar=move, if moving to another panel).

- Clicking the right button anywhere within the applet's enclosing window must display either the popup menu for the whole applet, or the popup menu for the control under the mouse pointer. Do not have "dead areas" in your applet that do not respond to a right click.

- Do not use the middle button for anything except dragging the applet to a new location. Middle-clicking and dragging anywhere within the applet window must move the applet, do not require a drag bar or similar device.

  Ctrl left button drag should copy the applet, if moving to another panel; unmodified drag or Shift left button drag should move the applet, if moving to another panel. If moving within same panel, Ctrl=switched movement, Shift=push movement, Alt=free movement.

### Interacción por teclado

#### Navegación por teclado

A well-designed keyboard user interface plays a key role when you are designing applications. Many power-users prefer to perform most operations with the keyboard rather than the mouse. Visually-impaired users can navigate software more effectively using the keyboard, because using the mouse depends on visual feedback of the mouse pointer location. And mobility impairments can prevent a user from successfully navigating using the mouse, because of the fine motor control skills required.

Make all mouse actions available from the keyboard, and include keyboard access to all toolbars, menus, links and buttons. Every function your application provides must be available using the keyboard alone. Hiding your mouse while you test your application is a great way to test this!

Dialog and menu, with some of their access and shortcut keys indicated

Screenshot of a dialog and a menu with some of their access keys and shortcut keys highlighted

Most functionality is easy to make available from the keyboard, by using access keys and shortcut keys, and the toolkit's built-in keyboard navigation features. All controls with labels should have access keys, and frequently-used menu items should be assigned shortcut keys. However, operations that rely on drag-and-drop, for example, may require more thought to make them keyboard accessible.

Guías

- Provide efficient keyboard access to all application features. In particular, ensure every control on menus and in dialogs are directly focusable using access keys or shortcut keys.

- Use a logical keyboard navigation order. When navigating around a window with the Tab key, keyboard focus should move between controls in a predictable order. In Western locales, this is normally left to right and top to bottom.

- Ensure correct tab order for controls whose enabled state is dependent on check box, radio button or toggle button state. When such a button is selected, all its dependent controls should be enabled, and all the dependent controls of any other button in the group should be disabled. When the user selects a check box, radio button or toggle button that has dependent controls, do not automatically give focus to the first dependent control, but instead leave the focus on the button.

- Do not over-ride existing system-level accessibility features. For example, the MouseKeys feature in the GNOME Keyboard Accessibility preferences dialog allows mouse movement and button clicks to be simulated using the keypad. Therefore you cannot add features to your application that can only be accessed by pressing keys on the keypad, as users relying on the MouseKeys feature will not be able to use them.

- Ensure that any text that can be selected with the mouse can also be selected with the keyboard. This is a convenience for all users, but especially for those for whom fine control of the mouse is difficult.

- Ensure that objects that can be resized or moved by drag and drop can also be resized or moved with the keyboard. For example, icons and windows on the desktop. Where precision sizing and placement is potentially important, e.g. shapes in a diagram, also consider providing a dialog into which you can type co-ordinates, or a means of snapping objects to a user-definable grid.

- Do not use general navigation functions to trigger operations. For example, do not use basic Tab keyboard navigation in a dialog to activate any actions associated with a control.

- Show keyboard-invoked menus, windows and tooltips near the object they relate to, but without hiding or obscuring the object to which the menu or tooltip refers,. In GNOME, popup menus are activated with Shift F10, and tooltips with Ctrl F1.

- Provide more than one method to perform keyboard tasks where possible. Users may find some keys and key combinations easier to use than others.

- Do not assign awkward reaches to frequently performed keyboard operations. Some people may only be able to use one hand on the keyboard, so shortcuts that can be easily used with one hand are preferable for common operations. In any case, having to frequently perform long or difficult reaches on the keyboard can increase muscle strain for all users, increasing the risk of pain or injury.

- Do not require repetitive use of simultaneous keypresses. Some users are only able to press and hold one key at a time. Assistive technologies such as the GNOME Keyboard Accessibility preferences dialog do allow users to press the keys sequentially rather than simultaneously, but this of course means the operation will take longer for them.

The point about not having Tab initiate any actions effectively rules out tab completion in dialogs, should we consider/recommend a "hands-free" auto-completion method instead, as offered by OpenOffice.org, Explorer etc.? What does our new 2.0 file selection dialog do?

#### Choosing Access Keys

Give all labelled components an access key (underlined letter), with the exception of toolbar controls which would use up too many access key combinations.

Choose access keys to be as easy to remember as possible. Normally, this means using the first letter of the label. However, in complex windows, the choice can become more difficult. Here are some simple rules:

1. Assign access keys to the most frequently-used controls first. If it's not clear which controls will be the most frequently used, assign access keys from left to right, top to bottom (for Western locales).

2. Use the first letter of the label, or of one of its other words if it has more than one. If another letter provides a better association (e.g. "x" in Extra Large) however, consider using that letter instead.

3. If the first letter is not available, choose an easy to remember consonant from the label, for example, "p" in Replace.

4. If no such consonants are available, choose any available vowel from the label.

If duplication of access keys in a window is unavoidable, you should still refrain from duplicating the access keys for any of these buttons that appear in the same window: OK, Cancel, Close, Apply or Help.

Also, it is better not to assign access keys to "thin" letters (such as lowercase i or l), or letters with descenders (such as lowercase g or y) unless it is unavoidable. The underline does not show up very well on those characters in some fonts.

Applications using a non-Roman writing system in conjunction with a standard keyboard can have control labels prefixed with Roman characters as access keys.

#### Choosing Shortcut Keys

The tables in summarize the standard shortcut keys to use when your application supports those functions. Your application will not necessarily support all of these functions, see for more information. However, use the recommended shortcut keys for those functions you do support.

You will probably want to add your own shortcut keys for functions specific to your application. If so, as well as following the guidelines below, look at any other existing similar applications to see which shortcut keys they have defined. Your users may already be using those or similar applications, so being consistent where it is possible and sensible to do so will provide a better user experience for them when they begin to use yours.

Guías

- Use Ctrl letter in preference to other combinations when choosing new shortcut keys.

- Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up and Page Down are acceptable shortcut keys for functions that are closely related to those keys' normal system-defined uses. Do not assign them to unrelated functions just because you've run out of other shortcut key combinations, however.

- Only assign shortcut keys to the most commonly-used actions in your application. Do not try to assign a shortcut key to everything.

- Choose new shortcut keys to be as mnemonic as possible, as these will be easier to learn and remember. For example, Ctrl E would be a good shortcut for a menu item called Edit Page.

- Use Shift Ctrl letter for functions that reverse or extend another function. For example, Ctrl Z and Shift Ctrl Z for Undo and Redo.

  Unicode entry shortcuts

  Note that you cannot use Shift Ctrl A-thru-F or Shift Ctrl 0-thru-9 for your own purposes, as these combinations are used to enter unicode characters in text fields.

- Do not use Ctrl number or numbered function keys as shortcut keys, unless the number has some obvious relevance to the action. For example, Ctrl 2 and Ctrl 3 may be acceptable shortcut keys for View 2D View and View 3D View in a 3D modelling application.

- Do not use Alt key combinations for shortcut keys, as these may conflict with window manager or menu access keys.

- Do not use symbols that require Shift or other modifiers as part of a shortcut, for example Ctrl%. Remember that symbols that can be accessed without a modifier key on your keyboard may be more difficult to access on different international keyboards.

- Do not assign shortcut keys to menu items that change over time, for example a list of open windows on the Window menu, or a recently-used file list on the File menu. Do assign access keys to these items, however.

- Do not use any of the standard shortcut keys listed in for your own purposes, even if your application doesn't support those functions. This helps reinforce consistency between all GNOME applications.

#### Standard Application Shortcut Keys

If your application uses any of the standard functions listed in the following tables, use the recommended standard keyboard shortcut for that function.

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - File menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
New | Ctrl N | Crear un documento nuevo
Open | Ctrl O | Abrir un documento
Save | Ctrl S | Guardar el documento actual
Print | Ctrl P | Imprimir el documento actual
Close | Ctrl W | Cerrar el documento actual
Quit | Ctrl Q | Sale de la aplicación

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - Edit menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Undo | Ctrl Z | Deshacer la última operación
Redo | Mayús Ctrl Z | Rehacer la última operación
Cut | Ctrl X | Cut the selected area and store it in the clipboard
Copy | Ctrl C | Copy the selected area into the clipboard
Paste | Ctrl V | Paste contents of clipboard at mouse/cursor position
Duplicate | Ctrl U | Duplicate the currently-selected items and add them to the same window, without affecting the clipboard
Select All | Ctrl A | Select everything in focused control or window
Invert Selection | Ctrl I | Select everything in focused control or window that was previously unselected, and deselect everything that was previously selected
Delete | Supr | Eliminar la selección
Find... | Ctrl F | Find matches in the current document, highlighting them in-place
Search... | Ctrl F (see note below) | Search for matches in multiple documents, files or other external sources
Find Next | Ctrl G | Buscar siguiente coincidencia
Replace... | Ctrl H | Buscar y reemplazar coincidencias
Rename | F2 | Switch the selected item's label into edit mode, allowing user to type in a new name.

Find and Search

If your application requires both Edit Find and Edit Search menu items, use Shift Ctrl F as the shortcut for Search.

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - View menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Zoom In | Ctrl Más | Zoom in on the document Should probably recommend that Ctrl-Equals work too
Zoom Out | Ctrl Menos | Zoom out of the document
Normal Size | Ctrl 0 | Restore to zoom level to normal size (generally 100%)
Refresh | Ctrl R | Redraw current view of document, without checking if content has changed
Reload | Ctrl R (see note below) | Reload the current document, updating content from source if necessary
Properties | Alt Intro | Display the selected object's Properties window. May alternatively appear on the Archivo menu if the document itself is the only object in the application whose properties can be inspected.

Recargar y actualizar

If your application requires both View Reload and View Refresh menu items, use Shift Ctrl R as the shortcut for Reload.

Teclas de acceso rápido y atajos de teclado estándar de GNOME: Menú marcadores

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Añadir marcador B | Ctrl D | Añade un marcador para la ubicación actual
Editar marcadores... E | Ctrl B (see note below) | Abrir una ventana en la que el usuario puede editar y organizar los marcadores guardados

Resaltar y editar marcadores

Si su aplicación requiere los elementos de menú Formatear Resaltar y Marcadores Editar marcadores..., use Mayús Ctrl D como atajo para Editar marcadores.

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - Go menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Back | Alt Izquierda | Ir a la siguiente ubicación en la cadena de navegación
Siguiente x | Alt Derecha | Ir a la siguiente ubicación en la cadena de navegación
Up | Alt Arriba | Go up one level in the navigation hierarchy
Home | Alt Inicio | Go to the starting page defined by the user or application
Location... | Ctrl L | Present or focus an entry field into which the user can type a new address or location to view

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - Format menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Bold | Ctrl B | Cambiar el texto seleccionado actualmente a negrita/normal
Underline | Ctrl U | Underline/remove underline from selected text
Italic | Ctrl I | Cambiar el texto seleccionado actualmente a cursiva/normal

Standard GNOME application shortcut keys and access keys - Help menu

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Contents | F1 | Show help contents page for the current application

##### Standard Window Manager Shortcut Keys

The following shortcut keys are used by many window managers, and should not normally be over-ridden by your application.

Teclas rápidas y de acceso para el gestor de ventanas estándar

Función | Combinación de teclas | Descripción
--- | --- | ---
Cambiar las ventanas principales | Alt Tabulador, Mayús Alt Tabulador | Cambiar el foco la siguiente o anterior ventana de nivel superior del escritorio
Cambiar paneles | Ctrl Alt Tabulador, Mayús Ctrl Alt Tabulador | Cambiar el foco al siguiente o anterior panel en el escritorio
Salir de la sesión | Ctrl Alt Supr | Abrir el diálogo de confirmación de cierre de sesión
Menú de ventana | Alt Espacio | Abrir el menú de ventana
Close | Alt F4 | Cerrar la ventana con el foco
Restaurar R | Alt F5 | Restaurar lo que tiene el foco a su tamaño anterior
S con ventanas secundarias | Alt F6, Mayús Alt F6 | Cambiar el foco al siguiente o anterior ventana secundaria asociada con la aplicación (funcionalidad precisa para metacity TBD, ver el error 94682)
Mover M | Alt F7 | Mover la ventana con el foco
Redimensionar s | Alt F8 | Redimensionar la ventana con el foco
Minimizar n | Alt F9 | Minimizar la ventana que tenga el foco
Maximizar x | Alt F10 | Maximizar la ventana que tenga el foco
F pantalla completa | Ctrl F11 | Mostrar la ventana en modo a pantalla completa, sin borde, barra de menú, barra de herramientas o barra de estado

##### Teclas rápidas de navegación estándar para los widgets

The following shortcut keys are reserved for keyboard navigation use by the various widgets used in GNOME, and should not normally be over-ridden by your application.

Teclas de navegación estándar de GNOME para widgets

Clave | Función
--- | ---
Tabulador, Mayús Tabulador | Mueve el foto del teclado al siguiente/anterior control
Ctrl Tabulador, Mayús Ctrl Tabulador | Moves keyboard focus out of enclosing widget to next/previous control, in those situations where Tab alone has another function (e.g. GtkTextView)
Ctrl F1 | Mostrar el consejo para el control actualmente seleccionado
Mayús F1 | Mostrar la ayuda sensible a contexto para la ventana o control actualmente con el foco
F6, Mayús F6 | Dar el foco al siguiente/anterior panel en una ventana GtkPaned
F8 | Dar el foco a la barra agrupadora en la ventana del panel
F10 | Dar el foco a la barra de menú de la ventana
Mayús F10 | Muestra el menú contextual emergente para los objetos actualmente seleccionados
Espacio | Conmutar el estado de la casilla de verificación, botón de radio o botón de conmutación con el foco
Intro | Activar el botón con el foco, el elemento del menú, etc.
Inicio, Fin | Seleccionar/moverse al primer elemento en el widget seleccionado
RePág, Ctrl RePág, AvPág, Ctrl AvPág | Desplazar una página la vista seleccionada arriba/izquierda/abajo/derecha

##### Teclas rápidas de navegación adicionales para los widgets

The following emacs-style navigation shortcut keys are still available in GNOME 2.0 text entry fields (by selecting the "emacs" scheme in the GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts preferences dialog), but are disabled by default. Since some users will still want to use them, do not over-ride them for your own purposes in any situations where a text entry control has focus.

Teclas de navegación estilo Emacs para los widgets

Clave | Función
--- | ---
Ctrl A | Mover el cursor al principio de la línea
Ctrl D | Borrar el carácter siguiente/bajo el cursor
Ctrl E | Mover el cursor al final de la línea
Ctrl K | Borrar desde el cursor al final de la línea
Ctrl U | Borrar la línea actual
Ctrl W | Cortar al portapapeles
Ctrl Y | Pega desde el portapapeles
Ctrl Espacio | Establecer marca
Ctrl Supr, Alt D | Borrar desde el cursor al final de la palabra
Ctrl Retroceso | Borrar desde el cursor al principio de la palabra
Alt Espacio | Elimine todo espacio en blanco alrededor del cursor, reinserte un solo espacio en blanco
Alt\ | Borrar todos los espacios en blanco alrededor del cursor

#### Interacción del teclado con las aplicaciones del panel (miniaplicaciones)

Panels have been fully keyboard navigable since GNOME 2.0. Since your panel application can gain keyboard focus, you must ensure that it is also keyboard navigable.

Las reglas para la navegación por teclado de las aplicaciones del panel son básicamente las mismas que para otra ventana. No obstante existe una diferencia importante:

- No use la tecla Tab para mover el foco entre los controles de una aplicación del panel. En su lugar, use las teclas de flechas para este propósito.

When an object on a panel has focus, the Tab key normally moves focus to the next object on the panel. If your panel application also used Tab for its own internal navigation, the user would have to press Ctrl Tab to move focus out of your panel application instead. This inconsistency would be detrimental to the user experience.

## Idioma

Un etiquetado consistente crea un entorno familiar por el que el usuario puede navegar confortablemente. Cuanto más familiar sea el entorno, más fácil es encontrar información.

### Etiquetas

#### Controles

Clear, consistent and concise labelling of controls helps users to work out the purpose of a window or dialog they have never seen before. To a visually-impaired user, clear labels are even more important. A user who relies on a screenreader has no assistance from icons, layout, or spacing to work out what the controls do, so clear labelling is essential.

Guías

- Mantenga las etiquetas cortas. Esto:

  - Reduces the expansion of text when translated, and thus minimizes the effort required to localize the UI. Translated English text can expand up to 30% in some languages.

  - Facilita el uso de motores de traducción.

  - Mejora la velocidad de comprensión para el usuario.

  Do not shorten your labels to the point of losing meaning, however. A three-word label that provides clear information is better than a one-word label that is ambiguous or vague. Try to find the fewest possible words to satisfactorily convey the meaning of your label.

- Do not include text in windows that describes how to use the interface, for example You can install a new theme by dropping it here. As well as adding visual clutter, descriptive labels can also conflict with information provided in documentation.

- Use standard terms. You can find a list of standard user interface terms in the GNOME Documentation Style Guide, Recommended Terminology..

- Aplique reglas de capitalización estándar. Consulte la para obtener consejos sobre la capitalización de las etiquetas de la interfaz de usuario

#### Consejos

##### Consejos de la barra de herramientas

A toolbar tooltip is the short description of a toolbar control's functionality that the user sees when they mouse over it.

Guías

- Concisely state the purpose of the control. The tooltip should be more descriptive than the corresponding menu item name, if there is one, but not verbose. For example, Undo last action for the Undo button.

- Use sentence capitalization rules. See .

##### Consejos de la aplicación

An application tooltip is the short description of your application that the user sees when they mouse over the launcher or menu item for your application. It is stored in the comment field of your application's `desktop` file. See

Guías

- Create short tooltips. Aim to accurately communicate the functionality of an element with the fewest words possible.

- Use sentence capitalization rules. See .

- Use las reglas de puntuación estándar, con la excepción de que no debe usar el punto al final del consejo o sugerencia.

#### Menús

Guías

- Use the recommended standard labels for menu items and titles, where they exist. Do not use synonyms such as Exit instead of Quit. See for a list and descriptions of standard menu items and titles.

- Use reglas de capitalización de la cabecera para todos los elementos del menú y títulos. Para obtener más información consulte la .

### Avisos y mensajes de error

Un buen aviso o mensaje de error contiene dos elementos:

1. Una breve descripción del problema.

2. Una lista de las formas en las que el usuario puede solucionar el problema.

Ambos elementos se deberían presentar en un lenguaje no técnico, libre de jergas, a menos que el público al que está dirigido sea particularmente técnico.

If your application knows enough about the problem to be able to give all this information to the user, it will often be capable of rectifying the problem itself when the user has decided which course of action they want to take. For example, if the problem is insufficient memory, tell the user which currently-running application is taking up the most memory, and provide a button to close it for them. (Do not offer to launch a graphical process manager, however, which is something most users should never see!)

Consulte la para obtener información más detallada acerca de escribir y presentar errores, avisos y alertas de información.

### Ayuda en línea

Writing online help is a specialized task, and is therefore not covered in any depth here. Refer to the GNOME Documentation Styleguide for guidance on writing clear, consistent and helpful documentation for your application.

## Listas de comprobación

### Cosas que puede hacer por si mismo

#### Antes de comenzar

Write down the type of people you expect to use your application. Then write some "scenarios" for each type of user— a little story that describes the typical tasks those users will use your application for. These tasks should be along the lines of:

> Alfredo necesita encontrar un correo electrónico, que recibió la semana pasada, acerca de widgets

rather than

> Alfredo pulsa en el botón Buscar y escribe `widgets` en el diálogo.

De esta forma, puede usar los mismos escenarios para comprobar y comprar diferentes diseños de interfaces y describir cualquier funcionalidad que falte.

Include these user descriptions and scenarios with the documentation you commit to CVS. This way, other contributors will get to understand your users too, can help to develop the application with that knowledge, and can provide more scenarios of their own.

#### Acceso y foco del teclado

When you have started implementing your interface, hide your mouse, and make sure you can still use it to do everything using only the keyboard. Implement keyboard functionality at the same time as mouse functionality— don't leave it until the end.

Usando solo comandos de teclado, mueva el foco por todas las barras de menú y de herramientas en la aplicación. Confirme también que:

- Los menús de contexto sensitivo muestran correctamente (Mayús F10).

- Los consejos o sugerencias se pueden mostrar arriba y abajo para todos los controles que los tienen (Ctrl F1, Esc).

- Todas las funciones listadas en la barra de herramientas se pueden realizar usando el teclado.

- Puede operar completamente todo control en el área del cliente de la aplicación y diálogos.

- El texto y los objetos en el área del cliente se pueden seleccionar.

- Cualquier mejora de teclado o combinación de tecla funciona como se ha diseñado.

- Compruebe que al moverse entre objetivos el indicador del foco visual es fácil de identificar en todo momento.

#### Temas, colores y contraste

Pruebe varios temas de GNOME para asegurarse de que su aplicación respeta todos los ajustes disponibles.

Test your application with black and white, high contrast themes and confirm that all information is still conveyed correctly. If you don't have a suitable high contrast GNOME theme available to test, print off some screenshots in black and white (not greyscale) and make sure all the important information is still visible— this will approximate what a high contrast theme user will see.

#### Animación

Asegúrese de que ha implementado una opción para apagar cualquier animación en su aplicación (por razones de accesibilidad), y de que funciona tal y como está diseñada. Apague la animación. Confirme que toda la información se muestra correctamente.

### Lo que puede hacer con otras personas

#### Obtener comentarios rápidamente

It's always tempting, but don't start coding your interface straight away. Sketch out some ideas on paper first, or in Glade or HTML if you prefer. (But don't be tempted add any functionality at this point if you do it this way!)

Show these prototypes to other people— the GNOME mailing lists and IRC are ideal for finding likely candidates. Ask them to use these prototype interfaces to run through some of the scenarios you came up with earlier. You'll probably get questions like "how would I do X", "which menu is Y on"... these questions will help you think about the interface from the user's viewpoint. You'll probably also get a few suggestions about how to do things differently— these ideas may or may not turn out to better than yours, but any idea from a potential user is worth considering!

You should also consider seeking opinions from the GNOME Usability team. They have designed many user interfaces before and may be able to spot potential problems at this early stage, before you take your design too far to change easily.

Once you've decided on the basic interface design and have started coding parts of it, find somebody to try it out again— it doesn't have to be the same person. You'll probably find some more problems that were hard to see on your static paper prototype. By finding these now, it's usually not too late to fix them without too much trouble.

#### Internacionalización y localización

If you intend your application to be translated into different languages, show draft designs of your application to the GNOME Translation Team. They'll help you find potential translation problems, such as not leaving enough space for translated labels, shortcut keys that cause problems on a different keyboard layout, or using new terms in your app that are hard to translate.

If possible, try out your application with users from the locales you are targeting. This will help you determine whether users understand how to use the application, if they perceive the graphics and colors the way you intended, and if there are words or images in the application that may cause offence to users of that locale.

## Créditos

(lista en orden alfabético, si se le omitió de forma accidental, escriba un correo-e a los autores o abra un informe de error)

### Autores activos

- Calum Benson, calum.benson@sun.com

- Bryan Clark, clarkbw@gnome.org

- Seth Nickell, seth@gnome.org

### Ilustradores adicionales

- Mihai Anca, ropiku@gmail.com

- Denis Anisimov, genius@s146.net.ru

- Wouter Bron, wousser@gmail.com

### Autores inactivos o retirados

- Coleen Baik

- Adam Elman

- Colin Z. Robertson

- Maciej Stachowiak

### Reviewers and Contributors

- Chip Alexander

- Kathy Fernandes

- John Fleck

- Andrea Mankoski

- Nils Pederson

- Sebastian Rittau

- Christian Rose

- Sharon Snider

- Suzanna Smith

- Matthew Thomas

NO TRADUCIR

This bibliography lists books and other resources for software engineers, user interface designers, and human factors specialists, arranged by topic and without a particular ordering. The final section of the bibliography contains information about useful online resources and organizations.

General Design

Dreyfuss, Henry

Designing for People

    Nueva York, NY

: allworth press,
2003
A reprint of the 1960s design classic by the designer of everything from the modern airplane cabin to the Bell telephone. Perhaps the best book for introducing the general concerns and thought patterns of design (industrial, product, or interaction), as well as an entertaining read.
Mandel, Theo.

The Elements of User Interface Design

.

    Nueva York, NY

: Wiley Computer Publishing,
1997
. Un libro útil que cubre todo lo básico y un amplio rango de entornos y nuevos desarrollos como agentes de interfaz, asistentes, interacción de voz, interfaces de usuarios sociales y diseños web.
Norman, Donald A.

The Design of Everyday Things

.

    Nueva York, NY

: Doubleday,
1990
. Un libro excepcional y entretenido acerca del diseño detrás de las cosas cotidianas.

Graphical Design

Horton, William

The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation

.

    Nueva York, NY

: John Wiley & Sons,
1994
. NO TRADUCIR
Misjksenaar, Paul y Piet Westendorpp.

Open Here: The Art of Instructional Design

.

    Londres, RU

: Thames & Hudson,
1999
NO TRADUCIR
Mullet, Kevin y Darrell Sano.

Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques

.

    Englewood Cliffs, NJ

: Prentice Hall,
1995
. NO TRADUCIR
Rubin, Jeffrey.

Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design and Conduct Effective Tests

.

    Nueva York, NY

: John Wiley & Sons,
1994
. NO TRADUCIR
Tufte, Edward R.

Envisioning Information

.

    Cheshire, CT

: Graphics Press,
1990
El segundo clásico trabajo acerca de la previsión del trabajo, por Tufte.
Tufte, Edward R.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

. Edición de reimpresión,

    Cheshire, CT

: Graphics Press,
1992
El primer trabajo clásico acerca de la previsión de la información, por Tufte.
Williams, Robin.

The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice

.

    Berkeley, CA

: Peachpit Press,
1994
. NO TRADUCIR

Usability

Arlov, Laura.

GUI Design for Dummies

.

    Foster City, CA

: IDG Books Worldwide,
1997
. NO TRADUCIR
Cooper, Alan y Reimann, Robert.

Acerca de Face 2.0: The Essentials of User Interface Design

. John Wiley & Sons,
2003
. NO TRADUCIR
Cooper, Alan.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

. SAMS,
1999
. NO TRADUCIR
Isaacs, Ellen y Alan Walendowski.

Designing from Both Sides of the Screen

.

    Indianapolis, IN

: New Riders Publishing,
2001
. NO TRADUCIR
Nielsen, Jakob.

Usability Engineering

.

    San Francisco, CA

: Morgan Kauffman,
1993
. NO TRADUCIR
Tognazzini, Bruce.

Tog on Interface

.

    Reading, MA

: Addison-Wesley,
1992
. NO TRADUCIR