[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    RE: Key management
From:       Dawit Alemayehu <adawit () earthlink ! net>
Date:       1999-11-26 2:12:20
[Download RAW message or body]

On Thu, 25 Nov 1999, David Faure wrote:
> > On Thu, 25 Nov 1999, David Faure wrote:
[snipped]
> Auto-completion, manual completion, ... should be configurable at the 
> KDE level (i.e. what Waldo already added supported for), and
> abbreviated URL and internet keywords should be configurable globally as
> well (for konqueror and minicli at the same time)...

I know I am probably being very picky, but I guarantee you that someone will
complain about this.  Most people would not mind these features in konqueror's
location bar.  But when it comes to the minicli box, everyone will complain. 
You even said below it is confusing that minicli shows "no such host" error
when you type the wrong command.  See what I am getting at.

> We always have to choose between configurability and consistency.
> Either everything is configurable on a per-app basis (and we lose
> consistency), or everything is only configurable globally (and we lose flexibility)...

Right.  Most everything is a tradeoff in any design environment.  However, that
does not necessarily mean we necessarily have to loose flexibility.  We can for
example make the default behavior the same for everything.  Then it will be up
to each individual user or to the distros to modify these settings to fit
their needs. But I think it is important to allow this flexibility to all apps.
A good example I can think of that shows the importance of flexibility or
there lack of is font type/size issue in kfm.  Remember the request that many
people had about wanting to have different font settings for kfm - the
file manager and kfm - the browser.  Also the recent  discussion about when
pop-up menus should be displayed is another key example of the need to have as
many things configurable as possible.

Hence, IMHO the configurability minicli, konqueror or any other app.  By default
they should use the global settings.  But then we should leave it up to each app
to allow the change of these settings to the user's liking.  But then again I
personally tend to always favor flexibility as long as it does not impact
performance ...

> 
> The only thing that might be minicli specific is whether you want to allow 
> short urls there, because if it's on, typing "kosnole" instead of "konsole"
> says "no such host" which is very confusing...

It won't for much longer :)  In the old minicli I fixed this by forcing a check
for the presence of a '.' in abbreviated URLs.  Those changes have not
completely been ported over to the HEAD branch.  Infact, many of the things
modified for the kde 1.1.2 in minicli did not make it into the HEAD branch. This
is why you get that confusing unknown host error message.  I will fix this soon.

> All the rest is IMHO global settings.

I agree with this to certain degree.  All defaults should be based on the
global settings, but we should not IMHO restrict configurability at the app
level.

Regards,
Dawit A.

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]