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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Minor suggestions
From:       Dave Leigh <dave.leigh () cratchit ! org>
Date:       2001-12-18 13:55:52
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On Monday 17 December 2001 12:58, Manuel Arriaga wrote:
> Hi everyone,

Hi, Manuel,

I'm using Mandrake, so my menus are different from what you describe 
(remember, if you don't like things you can change them, though I understand 
your criticisms with regard to the default configuration.  Just a couple of 
thoughts:

> 1- Duplication between 'Graphics' and 'Word processing' : both entries
> list .ps, .pdf  and .dvi viewers.
>
> 2- 'GV', 'X PDF' and 'X DVI' under 'Word processing': none of them
> provides a way to edit (rich) text documents, which (I think) should be the
> criterium of inclusion in that section.

This is really a judgement call, as postscript, pdf, and dvi typically are 
representations of a printed page, and have no more to do with graphics than 
they do with text. Putting them in both places seems to be a reasonable 
compromise. Mandrake puts two submenus under "Applications"... "Editors" and 
"Text Tools." This appears to me to be a better solution regarding tools used 
for editing vs. tools used to display or otherwise manage text.

> 4- Existence of 'Control Centre', 'System' and 'Preferences' submenus leads
> to confusion. Although I understand the difference between system-wide
> settings and individual user preferences (it is understandable in a
> multi-user OS), I don't understand why both are shown to non-privileged
> users: perhaps only root should see the 'System' submenu. Besides that,
> there are some items under 'Preferences' which don't seem to belong there:

System utilities can be run by non-priviledged users by virtue of the "kdesu" 
command, which requires the root password at program invocation. I almost 
never log on as root, and if you do you shouldn't. Having these utilities on 
the menu allows us to run these programs without having to log out as a user 
then log back in as root.  This both promotes security and saves time.

> 6- 'Advanced Editor', 'Kate' and 'Text Editor' under 'Editors': three very
> similar applications in the same menu leads to confusion.

That's been discussed both here and on other KDE lists. As various features 
and different techniques are tried you can expect some diversity to result. 
In the future we'll likely see these merge.

> 7- When quitting KDE, user should  be notified of any running apps
> (specially important due to multiple virtual desktops).

The best possible world would be for KDE to remember state of the current 
session so that when you log back in it's restored exactly as you left it.  
That's what session management already attempts to do, at least with regard 
to KDE apps. If there are non-KDE apps running, or if you have unsaved 
documents, then you are informed. It works that way now, so I don't see your 
point.


-- 
dave.leigh@cratchit.org
http://www.cratchit.org

Win98 is called Win98 because there is a 98% probability that it will crash
during installation

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