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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Desktop being $HOME
From:       Gav Wood <gav () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-12-02 11:25:29
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On Monday 02 December 2002 6:25 am, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Sunday 01 December 2002 04:08, Gav Wood wrote:
> > > look them up, how? in the file manager, which defaults to $HOME? or by
> > > a file dialog which also defaults to $HOME?
> >
> > or by the most obvious place - the place right under your nose. the
> > easiest to see place. the place that your screen defaults to showing when
> > you log in.
> >
> > that place? the desktop.
>
> i almost never see my desktop. why? because i use applications all the
> time. like web browsers and word processors and email apps. they obscure
> the desktop. so it isn't the most obvious and easiest to get to place once
> you actually start working.

the desktop is still the place you see first when you log in, it's still the 
place you see when you close your maximised program.

essentially the desktop is the gui's way for (implicitly) portraying "here is 
*your* special place" to the user. - the first port of call so-to-speak.

the home directory is the os's (and cli's) way for portraying "here is *your* 
special place" to the user. - the first port of call so-to-speak (when you 
enter the cli/login to the os).

> how many icons do we see on recent releases of other desktops? why?

well.... if mr gates says we shouldn't put icons on the desktop anymore, who 
am i to argue... :-)

> > the benefits are (though you probably read my previous mail on the
> > subject) --- that i found --- that having Desktop==~ makes for
> > consistency (sp?) and a common anchor between the cli, the gui and unix
> > in general.
>
> again, this is because you use the desktop as a dumping place for
> documents, icons, etc... this is becoming a less and less common way of
> working, because many (most?) people find it difficult and less productive
> to do so as opposed to using file managers and file dialogs.

actually i have a specific downloads folder on my desktop (and indeed my home 
dir).

if i ever need to see it, i can use ~/Stuff or just click the Stuff folder on 
my desktop. they are logically (and, most importantly more me, physically) 
the same place.

> let's face it, if i have dozens of documents on my desktop, it takes

i dont generally - i use folders etc for my file management as you suggest.

i still find the environment better for the consistency and plain simplicity 
of it though.

> glad it's working for you. =)

it is - and that's all i came to say.

gav
- -- 
Gav Wood <gav@kde.org>
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