Re: PANEL OBJECTS

[robert havoc pennington <rhpennin midway uchicago edu>]

On Tue, 12 May 1998, George wrote:
> 
> 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
>

This is more or less like the icewm "Programs" menu, right? I like it a
lot. It keeps all the system stuff available, but on a submenu; then my
most-used shortcuts are on the toplevel menu.
 
> 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
> 

It depends on what Desktop is supposed to be... I'm not sure I want the
same shortcuts on the root window and in the panel menu.

If a good "recent documents" API is invented, that would be a nice thing
to have as well. Apps could just register any recent documents, and the
panel would pick the newest 4 or whatever.

> > - 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 ...
>

It needs at least CORBA access, though; so it can be invoked by other
apps, or from the GnomeFileSelection someone is going to write someday. :) 
 
> > 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 ...
> 

Cool. Whatever hack someone wants to do is fine by me... my main comment
is just that the long-term solution should be a nice, clean, easy-to-use
filemanager, and a special home directory folder called something nice
like "Application Menu Items" or "Panel Menu Items" or whatever. If both
Mac and Windows take this approach, and we can't think of anything better,
doing it differently would be kind of gratuitous I think.

Havoc Pennington ==== http://pobox.com/~hp