Re: How about a real document reader!

[Ronny Klein <r klein wiwi uni-halle de>]

On Fri, Dec 12, 2003 at 06:22:22AM -0500, Adam Williams wrote:
> > I have several documents on my computer gathered from all over the net.
> > Usually, it's sufficient for me to read them on screen instead of
> > printing them out. However, in order to store them in a nice way, I have
> > to print them out. What I'm missing is a nice document reader which can
> > handle different file formats like .pdf, .html, .ps, .txt and even .swx
> > or .doc, and can present me these file in good on-screen readable way
> > like the full screen option of acroread. Furthermore, this program
> 
> Doesn't a web browser do this?  With the mozilla-bonobo plugin I can
> view just about anything (expect Open Office files, yet).
> 
> > ...
> 
> Nautilus?  Enable the tree view.
> 
> > ...
> 
> Whats different?
> 
> > ...
> 
> Nautilus can view alot of documents,  a nautilus plugin like
> mozilla-bonobo is for web-browsers would be very nice.
> 
A webbrowser shall be used for browsing the net. A file manager
shall be used for browsing and organizing your files. A document
reader shall be used for reading your stored documents. 

I think, that we have something like gThumb or Gqview is proof
enough that file manager cannot replace a good picture viewer. The
same applies for a good document reader, although this might be not
so obvious. I agree that nautilus does a good job in organizing your
files and of course you can open each file with the right
application. But each document opens in a different way, with a
different application. In addition, it is not so easy to press
Ctrl-N and the next document in the folder is opened. Furhtermore,
there could be something similar like .thumbnails (maybe .documents) 
in each folder where the document reader stores automatically the
first page of the document and - if available - the title and author.
The application allows you then to browse through your whole document
folders with simple keystrokes and presents you each document in a
similar way. When you've have found what you were looking for you
press another key and the full screen mode starts and you can start
to read. 

With an application designed only for that purpose you can simply
ease the task of reading documents on-screen. Without gThumb or
Gqview, you would probably still print your photos and put them in
photo album.