Re: RFC: Common desktop-wide paths

[Mikael Hallendal <micke imendio com>]

Maciej Katafiasz wrote:
> Dnia 05-10-2004, wto o godzinie 13:07 +0200, Mikael Hallendal napisał:
>
> > > [1] Of course, I prefer just asking where to put the file, that's why we
> > > have bookmarks and default target folder in file chooser, they make that
> > > operation really quick. But if everyone agrees that's the best way to
> > > help user, so be it, just let's not create mess on user's desktop,
> > > they're sufficiently good at it themselves, OK? I really don't want to
> > > see win32 desktop horror recurring in GNOME
> >
> > Well, Internet Explorer asks where to put the file iirc and most users 
> > choose to put it on the desktop since they know where it is then. A 
> > problem in Windows is that all applications automatically default to put 
> > a launcher application there and I think a lot of people are afraid to 
> > remove them.
> >
> > We *are* talking about the default behaviour here and showing a dialog 
> > probably won't help a lot of people since they'll probably just click OK 
> > to get rid of it before the realized that they might have needed the 
> > information since they can't find their downloaded file.
> >
> > If we have automatic downloads they should default to a place where 
> > people can see them, ie. the desktop. If you don't like this (ie. not 
> > being in the main target group in respect of this feature), feel free to 
> > change to ~/Downloads.
>
> Well, isn't it quite the same as putting apps' shortcuts on Desktop? You
> said it yourself it intimidates people, and doing that with downloads
> isn't any better.

I didn't say it intimidates people, I said that a lot of people are 
probably afraid to remove them since they think it'll remove the 
application they just installed.

Downloading files to the desktop is quite different since that's an 
action that the user initiates and it's quite obvious what the file on 
the desktop represents (the file you just downloaded).

> Oh, and for the record, standard, appropriately labeled folder (like,
> let's go creative, "Downloads") is _much_ better for discoverability.

Doesn't this also create unwanted files/folders on your desktop? All 
users might not want this folder, so why should it be created for them?

Regards,
  Mikael Hallendal

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