Re: Default directory for saving screenshots.

[Malcolm Tredinnick <malcolm commsecure com au>]

On Sat, Sep 08, 2001 at 05:09:38PM -0400, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
>    On the screenshooter applet, should we make the default directory
> for saving the screenshots be ~/.gnome-desktop?  That way, when you
> take a screenshot, it would put up right away on your desktop.

Well, the obvious drawback here is that if you aren't using something
which puts icons on your desktop, you will spend a few minutes
scratching your head and wondering why the screenshooter applet appears
broken and then mailing the gnome mailing lists. This can bite even a
new user, since they may turn off whatever uses .gnome-desktop (e.g.
gmc) at some point and only much later use the screenshooter app.

However, that said, we need a default directory and Miguel's suggestion
seems like trying to make life easier in the default case. If we do
this, though, can the preferences dialog be altered in some fashion to
make it _very_obvious_ how to change the directory.

At the moment, you go to the "files" tab in preferences and I suspect it
could be a bit overwhelming for a hesitant user. There's an entry box
that just looks like line noise (the filename template), there's a huge
description about filename extensions that takes up two thirds of the
box and right at the top is the directory. I'm a bit concerned that
people will go "there be dragons!" when they glance at that page and
miss the directory changer. Or am I assuming too little from other
users?

I guess my point is: if you're going to essentially "hide" the images
from an 'ls' listing, please make it very easy for _all_ users to find
out where the images went (the "directory to save images in" preference
tells you this if you notice it).

Cheers,
Malcolm

-- 
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.