Re: Goal #3: item 'Photos dir'

["Dotan Cohen" <dotancohen gmail com>]

On 16/08/06, Ben Monnahan <monnahan gmail com> wrote:
> Hi again :)
>
> > > Don't we want to make paths relative to Photos?  So that users can
> > > move it around as neccesary? Again, should we move the current Photos
> > > there if it doesn't already exist?
> >
> > Is it the point of this part of the goal? did I misunderstood
> > something ? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the initials bugs entry and
> > patches were to whange the default directory where f-spot *imports*
> > picture when you select 'copy' or import directly from the camera.
> >
> > Having all path relative to the Photos directory will break the actual
> > logic of f-spot.  As a remember, now, you can import picture without
> > copying them in ~/Photos, so f-spot is able to handle images outside the
> > Photos directory.
> >
> > Moving and re-organizing images is (again, correct me if I'm wrong) the
> > subject of another enhancement proposal.
>
> Entirely correct.  This would be invasive and is way too big of a change for
> the current goal.
>
> > So, in my mind, f-spot will run on one db (do not put the user in
> > trouble) with a configurable *import* directory, and with a possibility
> > to run f-spot on a different db (with or without another import
> > directory) as command line option.
> >
> > For me, it's the best way to integrate all the requested features
> > without breaking the actual logic and users habits.
>
> Rethinking it, I think you are right here.  Definitely as a first step this
> is the way to go.  I'm still concerned about the following usage pattern:
>
> Joe Blow hears about F-Spot and decides to give it a try.
> He imports a bunch of photos and tags them.
> He realizes he's almost out of space on /home, but has plenty in a separate
> partition /files
> He wants to change to have /files/Photos be his new import directory
> He wants to have all of his photos together for simplicity/backup/etc
>
> From what I understand of the current plan, the first photos he imported
> would stay in ~/Photos, and new imports would go to /files/Photos?  Is this
> ideal?  What if he is a non-English speaker and Photos doesn't make any
> sense to him?  Again, this may be something we need to accept giving the 2
> week constraint, and just having in the ability to change it would be a big
> step forward.
>
> I don't actually import to Photos because I like to leave my photos in
> directories by event.  Does the case I raise here worry the import to Photos
> users? Or not?
>
> > > My only other thought is, remember the request that the DB be moved
> > > into Photos?  Is that something we want to consider at this point?  It
> > > seems the ideal for the multiple albums case as well as the
> > > portability case.  That way its all stored in one bunch.  If nothing
> > > else it touches on a lot of the same issues as these bugs, so we
> > > should probably take it into account with this patch.  Unless we
> > > decide to discard it.
> > >
>
> This still appeals to me, but is again outside the current goal.
>
> Ben

I'm getting into this a bit late, but this is how I see it:
I am one of those users where the directory Photos makes no sense- I
would ideally have my pictures in a directory called תמונות or even
transliterated to "tmunot". So the renaming of the Photos directory is
important to me. There could even be a situation where a user has a
directory called Photos, decides to try out F-spot, and has his Photos
directory ruined.

On first run F-spot would ask where does the user want to keep his
photos. "~/Photos" may well be a default value. The file photos.db
would be inside this main directory, and this main directory could be
considered an album.

If the user wants to add another album, he would click File->New
Album. The wizard would ask for the new albums' location, which would
be another directory. Inside that directory would be another photos.db
file.

The user would switch albums under File -> Albums -> Home Album, Work
Album, etc. The user could select files from Album1 and move or copy
them to Album2. That would solve the problem of a user wanting to move
his current Photos directory: he could simply create a new album and
move the pictures there.

There could even be an Import Album feature where the user selects a
directory that contains a photos.db file (created by another instance
of F-spot, say on a laptop, and moved to the local machine) and have
it added to the list of albums. This would let Joe bring his laptop
with him on vacation, tag his photos in his spare time, and then
import them to F-spot. It would also facilitate easy backup.

As for current F-spot users who have photos.db in the ~/.gnome2/f-spot
directory, the next few versions of F-spot (until the 1.0 release, for
instance) could look there for the file, and move it automatically to
~/Photos (or whatever other directory was chosen).

Of course, this is all from an end-user's perspective as the ideal
solution. The actual programming may be impossible: I am not a
programmer.

Thanks for listening. Can't wait to beta-test your patches!

Dotan Cohen
http://dotancohen.com