From kde-usability Sat Jun 29 08:42:07 2002 From: JESSE B BISNETTE Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2002 08:42:07 +0000 To: kde-usability Subject: KDesktop X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-usability&m=102534030721931 Hello all, I am new to this list, so I apologize if this topic has been brought up before. Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I find the KDE desktop to be quite unpolished and not the most user friendly aspects of KDE. I think the the following suggestions would greatly help make KDE even better ... First I think the icons should align themselves to a better grid system. As it is now, it appear to me that the icons in a row are positioned based on the largest icon description in a given column. Therefore, if you add another icon to a column with a larger description, the entire column of icons shift when you align them. I think that, when icons are aligned using the right click->align icons option, they should align themselves to a fixed grid with vertical grid spacings slightly larger than the the largest allowable text field (what is it now ... about 14 characters?). Secondly, and this is for the konq file browser as well, when a file with a long filename exists on either the desktop or while browsing using konq, some abbreviated filename should appear that is only 1 row of text, similar to the way either Macs or Windows handle this problem. The only time the full file name is shown is when that icon is active. The current behaviour can be extremely annoying when dragging extremely long URL links onto the desktop and fixing this would reduce the huge gaps between two icons aligned vertically. Third, it seems kind of annoying when I save a file to the desktop and It saves places the icon on the desktop in-between two columns of icons. If I drag a file to the desktop, it should be placed where I drag it to (as it does now), and when I either save a file to the desktop using the web browser, through the command line, or any other way besides dragging the file to the desktop, that that file should be placed in a more orderly fashion (at the end of an available column, in a new column, or some available spot in the grid, but not in-between the columns as it sometimes does now. My last point deals with renaming files. Though this is not as important as my other points, it would still add greater usability to KDE and I would love to have this ability; it is the one thing I miss from Windows. One way to rename a file in Windows is by clicking on filename once, and then clicking on it again after a short pause (not a double click ... I'm sure you know this behaviour). Adding this would obviously would also have to be tied to the kcontrol module for mouse peripherals. Well, I know this probably isn't the easiest of tasks, but I think that this would make the desktop much easier to use than it is now. If I were a coder, I would implement these changes myself and send patches, but the only coding I know is Matlab ... not too helpful here :-). Anyway, hope these suggestions help and thanks to all the developers out there ... I love KDE!!!!!! Cheers, Jesse _______________________________________________ kde-usability mailing list kde-usability@mail.kde.org http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability