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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: dnd menu and other systems
From:       Eric Ellsworth <whalesuit () softhome ! net>
Date:       2003-01-20 2:10:21
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> > hm. the reasons i offer are specifically to do with the consequences
> > of putting it in kcontrol! these are real consequences, ones that KDE
> > is already suffering from.

Again, I'm gonna stick with Aaron on this one.  KDE already has way too many 
configuration items in  KControl.   Compare it to Windows or Mac - we have at 
least twice as many modules there, and most of them have more tabs and 
options than their Windows/Mac counterparts.  And this is true even though 
KDE largely doesn't do hardware/base  OS settings, and Windows and Mac do!

> > the more i look into thing, the more i think extending kconfedit is
> > an appropriate solution.
> I havent tried kconfedit, but it sounds like some sort of regedit.exe,
> which im not sure is a good idea. 
I also haven't seen kconfedit. Where can I find it?

>I mean, can it handle options that
> depend on other options? (and make the relationship easy to
> understand). 
Excellent question.

>Im worried such a thing would simply list all the options
> for a given config file and display them sorted in some arbitrary way.
> I dont really think this would be useful.
It would be _very_ useful if it prompted everyone to document what the all 
options they're using do.  So we'd need storage for all these descriptions.   
I also think this will increase the utility of the program and the options in 
the future.

> > kcontrol would not need to be completely redone. it's rather
> > successful for its intended audience, and having looked at the
> > kconfig stuff i don't think much would have to change in the current
> > KDE API (besides the addition of a few new features that would be
> > useful to some apps, though not all).

I think there is quite a lot that can be trimmed out of kcontrol, or at least 
belongs in advanced tabs.  For example, the business in about Left,Right, 
Middle buttons in the (3.0.5RH) Taskbar tab - this is for customization gurus  
and people incoming from other Linux WM's (small in number and already 
saavy).

> > this is not to say kcontrol can't be improved, but a complete redo is
> > unnecessary.
>
> I didnt mean redo as in scrapping all the code, but looking at it and
> moving as many options as possible (but not more) to whatever new
> program could be used to tweak the more advanced or less frequently
> used options.
Yes! Yes! Yes!  Remove options!

> > and then instead of having this discussion for N advanced features
> > that arrive in the future, we can sort features into neat little
> > piles, such as:
> > [piles removed]
This is the key work of the usability list - deciding what to add, keep, and 
move.  The rest is about finding an interested developer.

> As i have stated above, i dont think a ms regedit.exe clone would work
> really as many options have dependencies, and some of them are quite
> advanced. 

> What i would like to see is basically a kcontrol like thing
> that doesnt have to be newbie safe. That is, still present the options
> nicely grouped and with the best fitting controls to change them, but
> show all options.
That's an interesting idea, as long as some of it is built dynamically by the 
options that on  disk, rather than being a fixed UI for options in text 
files.  I'd sure like it if it could scan through KDEHOME, find all the 
options that are there, and then attempt to find out what they do, either by 
consulting a list, or determining which app reads this option.

>Maybe this is possibly to do automatically if the
> config items are specified in xml in some way? 
I think we should leave the options themselves in the format they're in,  and 
building a list descriptions, and as you wisely point out, dependencies.
This list could indeed be nicely specified, dependencies  and all with a 
DTD/Schema.

Cheers,

EE
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