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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Localised folders in /home/user (Documents and Desktop)
From:       Kevin Krammer <kevin.krammer () gmx ! at>
Date:       2006-11-23 11:18:46
Message-ID: 200611231218.51908.kevin.krammer () gmx ! at
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On Wednesday 22 November 2006 14:57, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote:

> Just to verify, you are talking about localizing the KDE system-provided
> folders such as ~/Desktop and not every folder in the home directory?

Yes, correct.

> Currently I have mixed feelings about this.  Desktop is visually and
> conceptually different, so I dont see a problem with localization _if the
> user always uses applications which localize Desktop_.  Since Desktop is
> simply a folder and not a KIO slave, would the internationalization not
> appear if you listed it in a terminal?

It depends on the implementation.
One suggestion is to keep the English name on filesystem level and support 
runtime translation (stored in hidden files or through symlinks), another 
suggestion is to have the filesystem name of the directory be localized 
directly.

> Do directories such as /media get 
> localized (I don't run a multiple or mixed language environments, so I have
> no answers)?

I think such directories do not get localized at the moment and I am not sure 
they would even if Desktop and Documents would be.
Depending on the approach (see above) localizing system paths could be 
problematic in multi language setups(e.g. dual language families)

> Would it be easier to handle if Desktop was handeled 
> like /media and a KIO slave created for it?  How many users really do save
> their stuff to Desktp, especially when Applications file managers default
> to $HOME or the last accessed directory?

FIrefox's default is the desktop :(

> It is very important we help the user understand these system directories
> are different if we plan on localizing them.  Otherwise it will be *very*
> confusing to ANYONE, not just new-moderate users, when they switch
> localization or have a mixed environment (which I think is common enough to
> need to be addressed) and certain directories are localized and others are
> not.  There is also the non-KDE application issue to deal with, however I
> am not technical-enough to have any suggestions (nor do I fully understand
> what is involved in the problem).

Basically that's what the whole discussions are about:
- where does localization end
- what about language changes (during runtime, after reinstallation, using 
transferring between computers, etc)
- depending on the scope, what about multi language installations
- consistency with non-KDE applications

Technically everything should be possible. KDE-only changes are easier to 
implement, but might be bad for iteroperability with non-KDE applications.
System-wide changes require cooperation from the distributors, e.g. 
renaming /home or /media might violate some file system naming standard.
Crossdesktop but GUI-only changes (i.e. respective changes in KDE, GNOME, GTK, 
Qt but not console apps) will take some time.

Cheers,
Kevin

-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring

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