Start Here

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

The "Start Here" folder seems a dreadful place to send new users.
So far as I can see from the Debian default install this contains:

 Applications          (GNOME foot icon)
 Favorites             (Brown bag icon)
 Preferences           (Screwdriveer and wrench icon)
 Server Configuration  (Globe icon)
 System Settings       (Screwdriveer and wrench icon)

Aside from the obvious problem of duplicate special icons, none of these
icons look like folders; they neither show a folder in the icon nor have
the count of items that other folders do.

The contents, or lack thereof, can be intimidating.

Even granting the changes I am about to propose, "Start Here" seems
a poor name for these contents. The phrase takes an imperative tone
with the user when it should be the user which commands the computer.
(The Microsoft Start button doesn't do this; as with other buttons, the
user uses it to issue a command to the system.) Perhaps the most similar
folder on Windows is the "My Computer" folder. Such a casual tone surely
rubs many of us the wrong way and is inappropriate in environments where
the the user doesn't own the computer. Furthermore, "Computer" may not
be descriptive of what is in the folder in a networked environment.
As this folder appears on the desktop, a name containing the word "desktop"
would be confusing. The idea of an comupting environment is likely to be
missed and, at least in English, it's a long word. It may also confuse
those who think of the environment as only Earth's environment and as
users become more savvy it may be confusing because there is also the
execution environment of programs.

Therefore I propose the following names:
 1) System - short, descriptive, and it makes sense to have
      the "System Settings" folder there.
 2) GNU System - same as above and gives credit to those without whom none
      of this would exist.
 3) <vendor/> System - Provides an easy point of customization by
      distributors and deployers.

My preference is for "GNU System" as the upstream default with appropriate
customization allowed for distributors and deployers.

(On my own desktop, I have "System" and the folder icon seen here:
  http://www.phys.lsu.edu/students/merchan/shots/system-folder0.png
which is a composite of the Sierra theme folder and an image from gnu.org.
That's just a personal choice. It probably doesn't make sense for rest.)

Proposed Changes to "Start Here":

 6 Folders (listed alphabetically)

  Drives
      The available block devices on the system regardless of
      mount state. The physical device that is the floppy drive doesn't
      disappear because its not mounted, so there should be some guaranteed
      way to find it. Windows puts these immediately under "My Computer",
      but they may introduce too much clutter for what should be a simple
      folder. "Devices", or some other generic word may be better. Then other
      peripherals such as cameras and handheld devices may be included.

  Games
      The obvious.

  Productivity
      All of the basics: a text editor (gedit), a calculator (gcalc),
      and so forth. This should be as free of duplicates as possible so
      that users can simply find simple tools for the simplest of tasks.
      Abiword, Gnumeric, et al. would probably be better placed in a
      "GNOME Office" folder on the desktop. More obscure tools (such as
      gnome-terminal) should be in a subfolder.
      
  Shells
      The shells available on the system. These should be the end-user's
      way of getting a terminal. Similar to running command.com on Windows,
      what the user needs is often not a terminal but the shell than runs
      on it. The nautilus metadata should probably place an emblem on the
      shell that is the user's default shell, or it may be indicated by a
      special icon. `ssh` and the like should probably be available from
      here. Ideally, it would be possible to make copies of ssh (the
      .desktop file, that is) and edit the properties to make quick
      connection points to known machines, but more a more extensive
      property editor would be needed in Nautilus. (Does Nautilus support
      the Desktop Action part of the .desktop spec?)

  Startup
      The end of the session manager! Well, not really. Any thing the user
      places here (preferably as links and .desktop files) would opened
      (or run) when the user logs in. This requires the most new work
      of these folders as it involves the session manager. It might
      be implemented by passing the --sm-disable argument to programs
      run from it and placing in the default gnome-session something to
      open the things in the startup folder.

  System Settings
      The existing folder. However, if "Settings" is used as part of
      the name of any particular item, this should probably be changed
      to something else so that there isn't a folder with a name like
      that of a control panel.

I realize that this may conflict with the use of the existing directories
to define the menu structure of the panel. However, I'm not sure that it
does; even as someone who has watched the development of this and someone
who is not a newbie I'm not sure what the connection is between the menus
and the folder. I suspect new users would not see it either.

A definitive starting point on the desktop is a good idea for new users.
But as time passes and the user tailors his environment to his personal
use (by the arrangement of folders and files - I don't mean settings)
the persistence of an item demanding attention becomes a nuisance. When this
item is the system folder, as Start Here is now, it is imprudent for the
user to remove it. Thus as users gain experience the Start Here folder
becomes a nagging necessity. In order to preserve the starting point,
I recommend that the Start Here item on the desktop be changed to a tour
or tutorial.

This is not a complete scheme for providing access to the applications
and applets which may be installed. I've excluded the Favorites item
because I don't know its status; the idea of favorite applications
frankly doesn't make sense to me. Since for some reason I find that
Preferences only contains Advanced which only contains Panel, I don't
know what is supposed to be there. I haven't a clue what Server Configuration
is either - except an empty folder.

There are some other things I would like to include in a complete description
of a default desktop, but they cannot be approximated with what exists in
GNOME afaict.

Cheers,
Greg Merchan
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