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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Why the K-Menu sucks
From:       Matthias Ettrich <ettrich () trolltech ! com>
Date:       2000-10-29 10:48:31
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Sunday 29 October 2000 11:29 wrote Matthias Elter:
> Hi
>
> I see lots of negative comments on the K-Menu layout on both the KDE and
> Caldera user mailing lists. And they are right, it sucks. The main reason
> for this is not the choice of categories. When I have learned one thing
> from rewriting KControl it is that even if you discussed hours on a
> category structure and think it is intuitive some people always will
> disagree. So lets not argue about whether or not a "Editors" toplevel group
> makes sence or not now.
>
> There however is one rule of thumb for GUI design, no matter what you do,
> do it in a consistent way. Looking at the K-Menu I see entries like
> "Internet Dialer" for kppp right under "KNode" for knode. While "KNode" is
> the applications name, "Internet Dialer" is a description for kppp. Other
> examples are "KMail" versus "Email notifier" or "KJumpingCube" versus
> "Asteroids". You can't call this consistent, can you?
>
> I think it is obvious that we have to agree on _one_ standard for K-Menu
> entries.
>
> People use the K-Menu to start applications they do not use regulary, they
> usually have shortcuts on the panel or desktop for applications used for
> daily work. The K-Menu is also used to give an overview of what
> applications are available to new users.
>
> I think it is no question that descriptive entries like "Mail Client" make
> the tasks listed above easier than an entry like "KMail". You might say it
> is obvious to you that "KMail" is a mail client. But would this be obvious
> to a novice user like your mother?
>
> Now you got a problem as soon as you want to add a another mail client to
> the menu. Entrioes like "Mail Client 1" and "Mail Client 2" do not make
> sence. True, and one solution would be to add a suffix like "Mail Client
> (KMail)" and "Mail Client (Empath)". A better solution IMHO is to have a
> standard entry which in this case would be "Mail Client" for KMail and add
> optional entries with a suffix like "Mail Client (Empath)" or "Mail CLient
> (Evolution)".
>
> Do I have permission to clean up the K-Menu this way?
> I know this breaks translations but this is HEAD.


Just so I know I understood you: The optional entry will automatically be 
used if there are two equal name fields in a menu?

For example: The user runs a standard KDE setup. In the Internet cathegory, 
there's an entry "E-Mail". Now, the very moment another mail client gets 
installed, there might be two entries like:

       "E-Mail (KMail)"
       "E-Mail (Netscape)"


Looks very reasonable to me. There's also no point in having "KDE " all over 
the place (like "KDE System Guard" ).


Matthias

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