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This is the UI review process valid for NetBeans 6.1 and following versions.

UI Review Process

Goal and Scope

The goal of the UI review process is to keep a high level of consistency across the Main user interface elements in the NetBeans IDE. Main UI elements are those that appear in or apply to all (or most) project or file types (such as the main toolbar and context menus). If an intended UI change affects any of the Main UI elements, it needs to go through the UI review process. UI changes that don't affect any Main UI elements are exempt from the review process. The process applies only to features that are distributed in the All NetBeans IDE download, not to additional plugins.

Terms Used in This Document

  • Main UI Element - a user interface element that appears in or applies to all (or most) project or file types. These elements should always in-sync with the current development build.
  • Permanent UI Spec - a user interface specification that describes the behavior of a Main UI element. UI review changes that are approved result in modification to one or more permanent UI specs.
  • Submitter - a person who requests a change (direct or indirect) to a main UI element.
  • Reviewer - a person who owns a Main UI element who will review and approve/reject the proposed change.

Main UI Elements and Their Owners

The following elements are Main UI elements and have their behavior described in permanent UI specs. Click on the links to see the specs.

Process

  1. Submitter: Write a UI spec describing intended changes and make it available online.
  2. Submitter: Select a reviewer from the owners of main UI elements.
  3. Submitter: Submit an issuezilla issue with pointer to the UI spec with UI_REVIEW keyword, and assign it to the selected reviewer.
  4. Reviewer: Approve the change or reject the change with explanation of requested updates in the spec.
  5. Reviewer: If the change was approved, modify the permanent UI spec of the main UI element.

Instructions for Submitters

Do not commit changes affecting the Main UI elements into the current development daily build, until the change has been reviewed and approved in the UI review. A difference between a permanent UI spec and daily build implementation is classified as a P2 bug according to the bug priority guidelines.

The UI spec describing changes to the main UI elements should contain use cases and usage scenarios plus screenshots or ascii-arts visualizing the change. Even if the review is focused on the Main UI elements, it's important to include description and screenshots of other affected UI (e.g. dialogs and wizard panels). It helps the reviewer to evaluate the change in main UI elements and make the review decision.

For the UI spec you can use the UI Spec Template or any other format if it well meets the requested UI spec criteria.