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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Fwd: Re: kde-look & -usability
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () mountlinux ! com>
Date:       2001-08-28 10:35:34
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Hi..

in response to feedback Michael received on this list re:KPrintAction, he put 
together this email which i am forwarding on...

that said, do people on this list think it is productive to have this kind of 
interchange between yourselves and the developers? if so i can continue to 
keep one eye open for GUI/usability related developments and make sure they 
get forwarded on... or not. =)

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

1) you have to make a distinction between the action of "saving" and
 "printing". In the first case, you're taking the object with its internal
 structure and create a file that contains this internal structure.
 "Printing" (in large sense) is something conceptually different: from the
 object, you create an image of it in the form of PS data, and that image
 doesn't contain the object structure anymore. You have to understand
 "printing" as "create a PS image from my object, and then do something with
 it (save it, convert to PDF, fax it, ...)". From this point of view, it
 makes sense to group all those actions that are performed on the image of my
 object, whatever the word you use (Export, Send, ...). IMO, I find it more
 accurate to say "Print to PS/PDF" than "Save as PS/PDF".
2) From the developer point of view, "saving" and "printing" are also
 completely different, they are handled differently and corresponds to
 different code. It would be quite difficult (even impossible) to mix both
 without messing everything, and loosing a large part in flexibility.
3) KDEPrint deals with KDE. If people wants to have a PDF printer accessible
   to any application, this is not a KDEPrint issue. This is like wanting to
   have KDE LookNFeel within GTK application. If you want a generic PDF
 printer, just use CUPS with a PDF backend (you can find one here
   http://users.swing.be/kdeprint/pdf).
4) Sending to FTP site is already possible, from the file saving dialog. You
   are not restricted to local file, and you can enter FTP locations. Network
   transparency is one of the great feature of KDE.
5) KPrintAction is IMO a well suited name when you know what it's all about.
   KPrintAction is a class that implement an action connected the the
 KDEPrint library. It allows a quick access to a kind of printers: specials,
 regulars or both (depending on the application developer). In that context,
 KPrintAction seems to be OK. The screenshot only shows one possibility:
 special printers. But you could also have only regular printers. BTW, the
 fact that you have all "Mail", "Fax", "PS/PDF" entries grouped is because
 they correspond to special printers: in that example, I used the
 KPrintAction to provide an easy access to all special printers.
6) I don't think that it is sooooo bad to have together:
	Export/Send
	  to Mail
	  to PS
	  to PDF
	  to Fax
   Is it really completely senseless?

Bye.
Michael.

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Aaron Seigo

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