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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Some TOM thoughts
From:       Marten Klencke <mklencke () gmx ! net>
Date:       2002-06-11 11:23:50
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Hi all!

Here are some thoughts I was thinking about in the train to university
regarding storage of the TOM menu and some organizational issues. What do you
think?

=====================

TOM Tasks Layout
----------
If, for a specific task, there is one app registered, the menu
item will execute that application. If there are more apps, the
menu item has a submenu consisting of the apps. The default application
for the task is at the top with a separator beneath it.

The Manage Tasks item pops up the dialog for selecting applications
for tasks, adding new tasks, etc. When selecting applications, the
applications that are registered in the normal applnk are used, but
custom applications can be specified. Just like specifying applications
for file types in Konqueror.

TOM->
     Internet->
        EMail (KMail)
        Browse the Web->
            Konqueror
            ---------
            Mozilla
            Opera
        Manage Tasks...
      Office
        Word Processing (StarWriter)
        Spreadsheet (StarCalc)
        Drawing->
            StarDraw
            Sodipodi
        Manage Tasks...
etc...

TOM Storage
-----------

<tomapplnk>/
This is the main directory consisting of subdirectories and
.desktop files. In the above case there are 2 subdirectories
(Internet and Office). This can be nested a few times.

The .desktop files are just like the applnk .desktop files, but
with 2 extra items:

Task: The task they belong to
TaskDefault: Is this application the default application to handle
    this task?

If there is only one application for a task, then the Default item
is irrelevant. However, if there are more, and none of them has
a Default entry (that is, the user hasn't selected a default), then
the first one alphabetically will be default.

There are, just like with applnk, a system wide tomapplnk and a user-
specified tomapplnk. The user's overrides the system wide one. For
example, if the user specifies another application as default for a
task, this is used. Also, users can add own extra tasks and alternative
applications for tasks that will not impact the system-wide
configuration.

(Do we need a way for users to remove system wide menu entries? Simply
leaving them out doesn't work because both menus are merged. There
has to be a explicit indication somewhere that the user wants to hide
a certain system-wide entry/task-group)

Other things
-----------
One special submenu in the TOM that has the normal applnk items.
This way, no two menus are needed on the panel if you also want
to keep the old-style menu.

A Panel app that holds icons for the recent applications/documents,
so they are as easily accessible as possible.

=======================

Cheers,

Marten Klencke

-- 
GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet.
http://www.gmx.net

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