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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    A radical idea
From:       Alistair Davidson <lord_inh () yahoo ! co ! uk>
Date:       2001-11-12 20:06:43
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As a relative *nix newbie, I've found that one of the hardest things to get 
used to is the directory structure.

On windows, I know that if I want to look for files related to program "X", 
they're probably in "C:\program files\X\". There may be a few in 
"C:\windows\", but that's usually stuff that I only want to touch in extreme 
situations anyhoo.

On Unix, things are far more confusing. /bin has "binary" files, which turns 
out to mean compiled programs. But there's /sbin and /usr/bin and so on and so on.

There's /etc... I'm still not 100% sure what goes in there. There's all sorts 
of other directories. Configuration files seem to be scattered about willy-nilly.

Now, before anybody jumps on me, I'm perfectly well aware that this structure 
makes sense from a purely technical perspective. But does it make sense from a 
usability perspective?


I'd say no. It's confusing to the point of giving me headaches. A user 
interface's task is to seperate the user from techincal issues. I submit that, 
while the present directory structure should be maintained for myriad 
technical and practical reasons. However, the user interface should by default 
insulate the user from the underlying directory structure.

Now, to many people that's going to be blasphemy. Please, flame away.


Anyway, that's the principle, how would it work in practise?

An alternate file-browser that presents its own, user-friendly, directory 
structure is one option. Something like:

/drives
/home
/programs
/program data
/programming
/tmp

"/programs" would basically be "/bin", with perhaps a "static" subdirectory 
for "/sbin" and a "user" subdirectory for "/usr/bin".

"/program data" would be subdivided by program, and contain all non-executable 
program data- rc files, dynamic libraries, graphics, etc

"/drives" would contain all mounted drives other than "/" and "/home".

"/programming" would contain stuff only of interest to us coders- "/src", 
"/lib" etc


I'm really just throwing out a crazy idea here, and I expect to be flamed into 
a cinder, or told it's technically infeasible, but I really think this would 
improve KDE's usability a lot.

-- 
Alistair Davidson
Read my comic, Bizmatch! http://www.altgeek.org/lord_inh/comic/index.html
"Disloyalty in a democracy is to stop asking questions."


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