Re: extra menus on panel

[Dion Detterer <diond healey com au>]

I accidentally sent Tom Vogt an email instead of to the list, and he
wrote back:
>
> > > I don't think users - and especially not novice users - think oo. I think
> > > the document-centric proposal is more to the point. users think in TASKS.
> > > "gotta write a letter", "have to change my homepage", "e-mail my fiance".
> >
> > think about this:  whether it's a tv, a hifi or a vcr, users expect them
> > to have on/off buttons.  why?  because their classes are all subclasses
> > of the class "electrical appliance" which defines that all electrical
> > appliances have on/off buttons.
> 
> I see the point now. I agree, this makes lots of sense.
> 
> > Okay, we've got a relationship between the actions a user can perform on
> > the desktop and the panel.  Once the user recognises the panel as "a
> > special folder", they'll know they can move folders into it using drag
> > 'n' drop, for example.
> 
> yepp, I see.
> 
> question: this would require a complete rewrite of huge parts of code,
> right? is it worth it? or can the same effect be "faked" with minor changes?

I think you'd need to ask George this.  The D&D example could probably
just have the panel create a menu based on the contents of the folder
being dropped, but this symbolises a copy action, which will make the
user think "but that should *move* it!", i.e. inconsistent behaviour. 
We should really look at the panel using folders for its menus (I hate
to say it) like Windows, just as we do the desktop, so actions like
these are possible.

(This isn't the case, is it?)

-Dion.