Silicon Graphics has been applying a set of enhanced Style Guidelines to
its User Interface products.  This style is based upon the OSF/Motif Style
Guidelines, but incorporates more specific graphic design recommendations,
and incorporates a richer rendering vocabulary appropriate for high-end
visual processing workstations.

The design goal was to offer recognizability, familiarity, and ready
transferability for those users already familiar with standard Motif,
while delivering a calmer, more inviting visual interface.
The primary motivation for this effort was to insure that SGI's Motif-based
user interface components were a supportive, high-quality visual match for
the advanced rendering and multimedia presentation baseline common across the
SGI product line.

SGI's enhanced Style Guidelines attempt to get the best out of what Motif
specifies.  A schemes package is used to implement a baseline of explicit,
high-quality graphic design specifications, dealing systematically with the
application of color, typography, and layout across the interface.  The goal
is to play down control panels, dialogs, and chrome, to preserve the user's
focus on their primary visual interaction with the demanding graphical
application at hand.

SGI's Style Guidelines go on to describe enhancements to the appearance and
rendering quality of user interface components.
    A "rounded" treatment replaces harsh, high-frequency bevelling,
	to reduce conflict on-screen with applications which use true 3D
	and true multiple-light-source rendering models.
    A number of basic perceptual concerns are addressed, including:
	- the use of outlining, to aid in perception of adjoining colors,
	- reduction of excessive "stacking" of widgets, to improve the success
	    of the dimensional illusion,
	- the use of clear, distinctive visual devices (such as check marks),
	    to improve the recognition and salience of status displays.
    Readability is enhanced by reducing clutter throughout the interface:
	- scroll bars are visually integrated with their client areas, to read
	    as a single, simple unit,
	- radio buttons are rounded, to fit together with less visual
	    confrontation,
	- simpler, graphical "decals" are used for fixtures which were bevelled,
	    such as the Window Minimize fixture or the Option Button's bar,
	    to reduce competition with other dimensional effects.
    A "Locate Highlighting" scheme emphasises the role of interactive widgets.
	As the mouse moves over an active widget, it "brightens" a bit.
	This lexical feedback overcomes the "poke and hope" approach to
	mastering an interface, as functioning objects let the user know they
	are actively responsive to the mouse, while passive labels and
	background graphics just lie there.

Finally, the SGI Style Guidelines encompass an extended set of standard
interactive techniques, which are commonly found across our application base.
These additional widgets include, for example:
    - LED indicator lamps, to integrate status feedback within typical widgets,
    - Calibrated valuators, such as sliders and dials, with tick marks and
	editable numeric readouts.
    - Continuous thumbwheels, to support unbounded actions such as continuous
	rotations and infinite zooming.
    - Geometry-based drag-and-drop icons, which support pannning, zooming,
	and 3D projection, have resolution-independent descriptions, and
	can be dragged across window boundaries with visual integrity.
    - Common front ends for common services, such as color choosing and font
	selection.

SGI is actively interested in improvements to the OSF/Motif Style baseline,
across the board, throughout the Unix/X community.  To help communicate this
interest to the larger style-defining community, I have included excerpts
from the SGI Style Guidelines.  Hopefully, these descriptions and
screen snapshots will be helpful in stimulating some further ideas about
what Motif could be capable of.

Representative SGI Style Guideline excerpts are available for anonymous ftp
from sgi.com, in the subdirectory ftp/pub/styleguide.  To get them via ftp:
    - establish ftp connection			ftp sgi.sgi.com
    - at the prompt 'Name (...)'		anonymous
    - then, at 'Password(...)'			yourname@site
    - at 'Guest login ok, ... ftp >'		cd pub/styleguide
    - to list all available files;		ls -ls
    - to understand these files;		get looks.README | more
	This README describes the files
	which are currently available.
    - set up for binary transfers;		binary
    - now, get the booty;			get looks.summary.ps.Z
    - when you're done, leave with		CTRL-D

The excerpts included here are compressed PostScript documents, suitable for
sending to your LaserWriter or other PostScript printer.  In order to do so:
    - uncompress the file "looks.summary.ps.Z", to produce the ascii text
	PostScript file named "looks.summary.ps".
    - submit this file to your printer, and be patient.

Rob Myers
Member of the Technical Staff
Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Inc.
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA   94043

(415)960-1980
rob@sgi.com