On Sunday 07 November 2004 15:45, Dik Takken wrote:
> On Sun, 7 Nov 2004, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > a bigger issue, however, is the meaning of protocols. even the proposed
> > wizard does nothing for this problem, which is the true root of the
> > issue. i mean, what IS irc6 or finger or fish? well, sure, WE might know,
> > but the users that need this extra help don't.
>
> What are you trying to say? Even a protocol-dropdown won't work because
> users don't even know what 'fish' is? How about the idea of adding a short
> description to each entry in the list, like 'browse files on a remote
> computer' in case of the fish protocol?

First, that description is completely misleading. "smb" can also be described 
exactly the same way and so can "ftp". When all these protocols are described 
the similarly which one is the "average" user (whom I suspect is the intended 
audience) supposed to pick ? Moreover, just look at the list of protocols we 
support. It is simply overwhelming for an experienced user to digest let 
alone to those who use the computer to browse the web or perhaps check email. 
IMHO, while the idea of network transparency is a very powerful and nice 
feature to have, but it is of little or no use to most of the users out 
there. The only contact most users will have with idea of "protocols" comes 
when they type a web address such as "google.com" in the location box and see 
it get converted to "http://google.com" automagically.

From my perspective the problem with this proposal is that it completely 
ignores the fact that network transparency is almost always a power user 
feature. To me it is much more easier and effective to have a nice tutorial 
explaining the feature than to somehow present it visually. One can do that 
by simply expanding on what George has already started and show how some of 
these protocols can be used from Konqueror as well as the open file dialog, 
preferably with a screenshot, and post is somewhere prominent. Spread the 
word out on the many publications that post stuff about Konqueror.

-- 
Regards,
Dawit A.
"Preach what you practice, practice what you preach"