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List:       kde-bugs-dist
Subject:    [Bug 8333] setting 'home page' is unintuitive
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2007-07-10 8:24:36
Message-ID: 20070710082436.7077.qmail () ktown ! kde ! org
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------- Additional Comments From tyrerj acm org  2007-07-10 10:24 -------
Re: Comment #115

The embedded premise here is that there are two things:

1.  HTTP (web or HTML) browser 

2.  file browser

> In their minds, they are totally exclusive of each other.

There is no basis for this belief in reality.  I doubt that people make any logical \
distinction between the internet and the "web".  That is, do they use a file manager \
to go to FTP sites?  And which do they use to view HTML files on their local network \
or local system?

Actually, there are two things:

1.  Browser

2.  File manager

Browsers browse files.  I have never seen a browser that won't browse both files on a \
network (including the internet) as well as the files on the local system.  If people \
have somehow developed a superstition that there was a difference between a web \
browser and a file browser, it would be informative to determine how this developed.

> Attempting to teach them that konqueror does both is a long, steep, up hill  
> battle for which there is no benefit to anyone.

Actually, we are attempting to teach people that that this artificial distinction \
exists.  I would suggest that we stop.  Now that we have Dolphin, it should be simple \
to do so.  We eliminate the KFM command from KDE by replacing it with a call to \
Dolphin and call Konqueror a Browser (NOT a Web Browser).  This shouldn't be \
confusing to people since Firefox exists and it isn't a *web* browser, it is just a \
browser.  I don't think that many people use Firefox to browse local files, but that \
doesn't change the fact that it is quite able to do this.

File managers manage files.  KDE has a file manager usually called KFM (actually two \
of them: list and icon views) that run as parts in Konqueror.  These are totally \
integrated into Konqueror so that they also do part of the browsing function when \
browsing on the local system, local network, or FTP sites.  This integration of the \
file manager with (or into) the browser is one of Konqueror's greatest strength -- \
this is the great benefit! the integration of the file management functions in to the \
browser, that is to be gained: greater usability by loosing the superstition that \
they need to use two separate apps.

I think that most people already realize that the file management is integrated into \
the browser function.  You can't, I think everyone knows, manage files with Firefox.  \
It will browse anywhere but it will not manage files.  

So, there is little to learn.  All that is left is the strange superstition that you \
need to use a separate application to browse files using HTTP.  And, the false belief \
that KDE had taught people (KFM is not just a file manager, it is a file browser).  \
IMHO, people that have demanded a separate "file manager" will be surprised to find \
out that Dolphin is not a "file browser" (it is only a file manager).


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