So, in updating the UI spec for 2008.11[1], one of the more troublesome details (I have a Columbo-esque dislike for those) is what the tooltip should be for the "Input Methods" item on the Preferences menu.
Right now, it's "Configure Input Methods", and I think everyone agrees that's not very useful :) My original suggestion was "Configure the entry of characters that are not on your keyboard", but as the IIIM team pointed out, that only describes one of the things you can do in the capplet. And it's quite hard to summarise what input methods are for, and how we allow you to configure them. Other suggestions we've thought about are: "Customize input method (IIIM) configuration" "Manage switching of the keyboard input language" But I'm not sure they quite hit the nail on the head either. So, does anyone else have any inspiration? The GNOME HIG definition of a "good" tooltip is one that: * Describes the most important tasks users can accomplish with your application. * While not verbose, should be longer and more descriptive than the menu item's name. All suggestions welcome... Thanks, Calum. -- CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer Sun Microsystems Ireland mailto:calum.benson at sun.com GNOME Desktop Team http://blogs.sun.com/calum +353 1 819 9771 Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems
