I wonder what useful stuff one can put in an About box in a Mac OS X program.
Most basic the About box displays
- Program icon
- Program name
- Version number
- Copyright
More sophisticated ones displays
- Link to homepage
- Credits
- Version control identifier
The most comprehensive About box I have ever seen, is found in the program Album Shaper and it displays 4 tabs with:
- Credits
- Release history
- Software update status
- Upcoming features
I have seen programs that displays the licence owner info in the About Box.
Some About boxes shows a scrolling credit list. Others display fancy graphics.
With so much variety, what makes up a good about box?
Answer
Apple is probably a good example to emulate in this case. The default about box (with the app icon, version number, and copyright) doesn't offer many extra 'goodies', but things like release history and upcoming features are probably not necessary. The "About Finder" window and the "About This Mac" window are probably a good middle ground.
It's worth pointing out the amount of thought that went into the version identifier in the "About This Mac" window. First of all, it's grey text so it's not competing with the more important information like hardware specs or the software update button. Secondly, it handles the version control problem well by changing to display the build number and then serial number when clicked. There is also a "More Info..." button which launches System profiler, but could easily be a link to a product web page.
I'd recommend keeping things like credits, release notes, upcoming feature lists, and blog posts on the product's web site. Don't make things scroll. Keep it simple but helpful.
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