[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: "Home" name confusing
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2006-10-11 1:55:43
Message-ID: 452C4F1F.6060403 () acm ! org
[Download RAW message or body]

Iñaki wrote:
> Hi, I've realized that various friends of mine when starting in Kubuntu they 
> have a singular problem: they confuse the meaning of "Home".
> 
> This is, I tell them by phone "save the file in your home" and they 
> intuitively try to save that file in /home instead of /home/user.
> 
> I have a theory about the cause of this confusion:
> 
> - In Windows this issue never occurs because the user never see:
>   "C:\Document and settings\user\Documents\..."
> The user always see:
>   "My documents\..." (when saving or opening file, or when exploring him 
> documents).

First you need to clearly understand that in KDE: "My Documents" is NOT 
"HOME".  KDE's equivalent to" "My Documents" is: "system:/documents".

> - But in Linux when the user press "Home" icon he see:
>   "/home/user/..."

There are no icons in Linux.  I presume that you are referring to the 
KDE DeskTop since this is a KDE list.  The URL for the Home icon is 
configurable.  Much has been said about the 'two homes' issue.  I have 
solved the problem by forking KDE on my system and I am willing to 
contribute my code.

> in the navigation bar, so, what is "home"? the "home" directory? my 
> directory?...

The Home directory is the root of the user's private directory tree just 
as it is on Windows -- it is a directory that has the name of the user's 
account name.  "My Documents" is a subdirectory of the directory "<user>".

> In KDE there is a strange and useless kio called "home://" that is exactly the 
> same as "/home", why does it exist? it just maybe to add confusion.

Have no idea what it is for.

> A solution for this issue could be a kio: "myhome://" pointing 
> to "/home/user", so the user doesn't need to know the complex file system of 
> Linux.

This wouldn't be a good idea.  Home can already be accessed through the: 
"system:/" directory.

I do note that: "documents:/" would be usefull.

> Anyway, this could be an issue when the user open a Gtk app that knows nothing 
> about kios and try to look for "myhome".

There is an issue here that "Documents" doesn't work for non-KDE apps.

-- 
JRT
_______________________________________________
kde-usability mailing list
kde-usability@kde.org
https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]