Re: RFC: Common desktop-wide paths

[Jamie McCracken <jamiemcc blueyonder co uk>]

On Sat, 2004-10-02 at 23:06 +1000, Tristan Buckmaster wrote:
> I do not see what is wrong with the current download system where the web
> browser points you to the directory you last stored a file of the same MIME
> type.  I think it is wrong to associate MIME types with folders and do not
> believe this was the intent of these default folders.  The problem is because
> the MIME type does not give you enough information to classify.  1 simple
> example is an audio file maybe music, a speech or maybe just some sound
> effect.  The use of the default folders, were to create a place for users to put
> someone and in doing so classify it as something.  For example is if you put
> an audio file in the music directory you classify it as music and all 
> applications that deal with music will know about it.  These default folders are
> really just a primitive way of attaching a forn if meta data to something.  Once
> we have developed better ways of handling attaching proper meta data and 
> using that meta data we can throw all this away.
> 
The Mime types are hierarchical EG "Audio" which contains subtypes for
individual audio types so in that case you could specify all Audio files
to have a default location of $Home/Desktop/Music.

The advantage of using Mime is that it gives you fine grained control of
what goes where thus making it useful for more advanced users who want
to customise things to a higher degree.

jamie.