GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 167045
Strange wording in gnome-control-center theme manager messages
Last modified: 2006-07-14 16:12:18 UTC
#: capplets/theme-switcher/gnome-theme-installer.c:340 #, c-format msgid "" "Icon Theme %s correctly installed.\n" "You can select it in the theme details." #: capplets/theme-switcher/gnome-theme-installer.c:343 #, c-format msgid "Gnome Theme %s correctly installed" #: capplets/theme-switcher/gnome-theme-installer.c:346 #, c-format msgid "" "Windows Border Theme %s correctly installed.\n" "You can select it in the theme details." #: capplets/theme-switcher/gnome-theme-installer.c:349 #, c-format msgid "" "Controls Theme %s correctly installed.\n" "You can select it in the theme details." These messages seem strange -- it seems there is an "is" or "has been" missing: "...is installed" or "...has been installed". In addition, GNOME is spelled inconsistently with other places in gnome-control-center and GNOME. It should probably be spelled in uppercase as in those places.
In addition, in other places in gnome-control-center, it's called "window border themes", not "windows border themes".
Similarily, it's called "control theme", not "controls theme" in other parts of g-c-c.
I don't typically want a message box telling me that something is correctly installed. Sometimes, the proper behaviour would seem to be NOT displaying a message to the user. However, if you feel that these messages are necessary and useful, I'd say something like "Icon theme %s has been installed. You can select it in [etc.]"
I've also always felt the wording in these messages boxes to be slightly strange. I think the issue of whether there should even be a message box here is seperate though (however, it would probably be more useful if it said something like "%s theme has been installed, would you like to apply it now?")
... except without a comma-spliced run-on sentence ;;) "Theme %s has been installed. Would you like to apply it now?"
I'm working on a patch for this, but I came up against a problem deciding what buttons to put on the dialog. I assumed [Close] [Apply] would do, but Close sounds a bit odd. Does anyone have any suggestions how else the question could be phrased, or what buttons would be appropriate?
My one cent. :D The theme "%s" has been installed. Would you like to apply it now? [ No ] [ Yes ]
Yes/No is not optimal because it requires the user to read the question first. How about "Close" "Apply Now"? Or "Use Current Theme" "Apply New Theme"?
(In reply to comment #8) > "Use Current Theme" "Apply New Theme"? This seems quite clear, but is it necessary to repeat Theme on each?
(In reply to comment #9) > > "Use Current Theme" "Apply New Theme"? > > This seems quite clear, but is it necessary to repeat Theme on each? I think yes -- otherwise you will still have to read the question in order to begin to understand what it's all about. See comment #8. Also, from a translation perspective, "Use Current" and "Apply New" would be ambigious and difficult to translate. It being about themes wouldn't be that obvious, and even if it was, the translation of the word "theme" will need different genders in other languages, and depending on that gender, the other words in the sentence may need changing. Think of genders in French for example; and "nouveaux" and "nouvelle" respectively. Furthermore, if the strings suddenly appear in another context (say, "Apply New" but this time about settings in general), the existing translation would be automatically reused because of how gettext works, but then the context would really have required a different translation... In short, using partial sentences sucks from a translation perspective, please use full sentences (including the noun) if possible. In this case it's definately possible to include the noun IMHO.
(In reply to comment #10) > (In reply to comment #9) > > > "Use Current Theme" "Apply New Theme"? > > > > This seems quite clear, but is it necessary to repeat Theme on each? > > I think yes -- otherwise you will still have to read the question in order to > begin to understand what it's all about. See comment #8. > I beg to differ. Since this is a user invoked action, the user should be aware of the context he is working in, in this case, themes. I also don't see the translations issues droping the noun would bring about, but then again, I have limited experience in the field of translation.
Fix has been committed to CVS. In the end I have gone for: "The theme \"%s\" has been installed.\nWould you like to apply it now, or keep your current theme?" [Keep Current Theme] [Apply New Theme] I think given the comments this is probably the best solution.
(In reply to comment #12) > Fix has been committed to CVS. In the end I have gone for: > > "The theme \"%s\" has been installed.\nWould you like to apply it now, or keep > your current theme?" > > [Keep Current Theme] [Apply New Theme] > > > I think given the comments this is probably the best solution. > Good choice! ;) I have attached a mockup of the dialog, that I believe is more in-line with the HIG. I have changed the wording of the apply button. Since the question is apply now or keep current theme, I think the logical anwsers are 'Apply now' and 'Keep Current Theme'. Size and spacing of the dialog are a bit off in this mockup, because I used an existing dialog as a base. Feedback?
Created attachment 67332 [details] Theme install dialog mockup
The capitalization of the two buttons is different. (Check the HIG to see which one should be changed.) Apart from that, looks great.
(In reply to comment #15) > The capitalization of the two buttons is different. (Check the HIG to see which > one should be changed.) > > Apart from that, looks great. > Thanks, I missed that one :) I'm not sure this is a HIG issue, but more language specific. In my native language (Slovenian) it's normal to capitalize only the first word, while in english people usually capitalize all the words (prepositions excluded).
I've updated the dialog with your suggestions.