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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE compared to BeOS: BeOS-Menu vs. K-Menu
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2003-01-28 22:00:04
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On Tuesday 28 January 2003 02:32, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> On Tuesday 28 January 2003 21:59, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > speaking of which, i checked out the vFolder spec in the hopes i could
> > use it for TOM but it seems completely useless for my needs.
>
> In which way?

as i read it, it assigns one or more keywords to each .desktop file. these 
keywords can then be used in queries to create a menu. the simplest of these 
queries would be "list the .desktop files by category". but one could also do 
"show me web browsers" or "show me the Konqueror web browser".

but what i need is the ability to create arbitrary groupings of .desktop 
files, and in those groups have entries that have one or more possible 
entries (with the first existing one being chosen)..

so i may have my "Web Design" group with "Edit HTML", "Upload Website", 
"Validate Website" and "View Website" as entries. Edit HTML may be associated 
with Quanta first, Bluefish second and Kate third. if i don't have Quanta or 
Bluefish installed, the menu will hapilly use Kate for this entry. this makes 
writing task groups that you can distribute easier: you don't have to require 
a specific application, nor are you forced to show all possibilities in the 
hope one is there. 

to the user this is fairly hidden. they can change the application associated 
with this entry, or add a new one, from the Modify.. dialog.

then there's the groups themselves. these predefined sets need to be able to 
be shown/hidden by the user by simply selecting/deselecting a grouping in the 
main Modify... dialog.

the vfolder spec does a fine job of categorizing existing applications, and 
i'd like to take advantage of those keywords to help uesrs pick appropriate 
entries. but it doesn't provide for the flexibility in grouping, ranking and 
defining alternates that i'm looking for.

so wether i use the vfolder spec or KDE's physical hierarchy, i'm still left 
needing to implement a layer over top of that to provide user-driven task 
grouping and definition. before reading the vfolder spec i was hoping it 
might provide a powerful way to organize menus very dynamically; but it's 
just another system of hierarchy.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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