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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    K Menu layout idea
From:       Eric Ellsworth <whalesuit () softhome ! net>
Date:       2002-05-30 2:49:58
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Hi all,
	I just had an idea for how we could lay out the KDE menus in a way that's 
easily expandable.  I'm probably going to take a beating for the number of 
things I want to cut out, but let's get this debate rolling.

This would be the simplest layout, and it would offer a way for distros to 
highlight the programs they want to place up front:

K --->
L	Lock Screen
o	Logout eric
g	-----------
o	Bookmarks				Other menus can be turned on in panel config
|	-----------
|	Help
|	Eric's Home Directory
V	Search				Ideal: combine web, email, file searching
	-----------
I	Use the Internet
m	Office Work
g	Play Games
1	Music and Movies
V	Add More Programs
	-----------
I	XMMS
m	KWord
g	Freecell
2	KOrganizer

Img1 is an SVG image saying "Programs", scaled to the size of the apps section
Img2 is an SVG image saying "Recent", scaled to the size of the Recent Apps 
section.
The logo is SVG and comes up to Search.

For the submenus:

	Use the Internet  ---->
					Web Browser (Konqueror)
					Email	 (KMail)
					Instant Messenger (KMerlin)
					Try Other Programs

	Office Work       ---->
					Open Office (Word Processing)
					KSpread	(Spreadsheets)
					KOrganizer (Personal Scheduler)
					Try Other Programs

The other menus work similarly, each with a Try Other Programs item.

"Try Other Programs" launches an dialog:

	Use a different program for:
		Category 1
		Category 2
		Category 3
		Add a program to the list
		
		For each category, we'd have a list of programs of this type.

So for the Use Internet Menu the dialog would say:

	Use a different program for:
			Web Browser
			Email
			Instant Messenger
			Add a program to the list

When you chose a particular category, you're presented with the list of 
programs known to be in this category, and of course (Others), which launches 
either a file dialog to browser the filesystem, or a master list of apps, 
compiled from RPM or apt-get or whatever.  This app is then registered into 
the category web browser.

When you choose "Add a program to the list", there will be a 
non-progress-blocking prompt that asks you to categorize the app you've 
added.  This a category list with the app listed in this category.  "Add a 
program to the list" would also include functionality to add a submenu, which 
(optionally?) contains a "Try Other Programs" entry.

The benefits of this setup:
	a) it's now obvious how to add programs to the menu.
	b) the default menu-changing behavior is not to simply add news apps, but to 
exchange the ones that are there for a new one.
	c) this lets the distros highlight the whatever app/category they want to, 
but still gives the user a consistent way to evaluate new apps.
	d) the initial classification scheme doesn't matter so much (see point c), 
because the user can easily change both the apps and the classification, 
without having to go through and reclassify everything.

And of course, the Menu Editor would continue to exist for those that want a 
quick way to overhaul the whole menu, though it would probably need to know 
about categories now.  Likewise when you drop an app on the menu using D'n'D, 
we could work in a way to categorize it.

Allright, just give me a couple minutes to put on my flame-proof suit here 
;-).....  Whaddya think?

Cheers,

Eric
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