Re: PANEL OBJECTS

[George <jirka 5z com>]

> > well one would have to add .desktop files ... It hink this should be
> > addressed by the filemanager... and maybe the menu code in the panel
> > needs a little bit of inspection and revision
> > 
> 
> If anyone wants to do this, I was playing with it and here's what's
> needed, in my view.
> 
> - the panel has to scan some directory in the user's home directory, in
>   addition to share/apps. While you're changing this, the function which 
>   scans share/apps is a giant beast that could be cleaned up. 

go ahead and clean it up :)

> - the user-specific stuff has to be merged with the share/apps stuff.
>   There are several approaches:
>    - just ignore share/apps if the user has anything
>    - the icewm way, a "Programs" menu for share/apps and user items
>      go where the current stuff is. (I like this way)
>    - try to merge share/apps and the user stuff in some way - this is a
>      mess IMO.

I would take a different approach, add a category, User Programs ...
since most packages will msot likely install a .desktop file .. and msot
packages will be installed by root, we want the main thing to still be
share/apps

I would be more for this ...: gmc has a desktop folder right? ... so why
not adding a "Desktop" submenu? Desktop is already done and is user
specific ... and it makes the thing simpler ... which is always good

> - the above does not allow customizing the Panel menu, "Lock screen" and
>   "Log out." Perhaps customizing this can go in the Panel's properties
>   dialog if anyone cares enough.

the menu.c needs to be rewritten .... any takers?

> - A .desktop files editor is needed; I think there's one in gmc already,
>   but it might be worth breaking out into a separate app. This is like the
>   Info dialog on MacOS, only more stuff in it.

I'd leave it in gmc ... it's gmc's job really ...

> One unpleasantry the Interface Hall of Shame mentions (or used to) is that
> neither Windows nor Mac lets you choose the order of the items on the
> menu; this is a consequence of storing the menu items in the filesystem. 
> Optional ordering information could conceivably be added to .desktop
> files, or .directory files, to deal with this.

desktop files don't ahve to be of type application, but of other types ...
so the entire menu could be easily stored on a file system ... if you
come up with a good scheme for this ... go ahead and code it I guess ...

> Unfortunately much of the usability stuff hinges on how gmc ultimately
> implements file metainformation, etc., so for now only the first few
> things I mentioned can really be done. I'd say su and edit share/apps for
> now, and implement the real fix later. Or maybe quickly hack the panel so
> the directory scanned is configurable.

the directory scanned setting would not be a nice hack ... I'd prefer
scanning the Desktop for .desktop files and adding it all to a "Desktop"
submenu ... that seems pretty clean to me ...

George

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Lebl <jirka@5z.com> http://www.5z.com/jirka/
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