Re: How about a real document reader!

[Adam Williams <awilliam whitemice org>]

> > > 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 this is a anacronistic view of the desktop.  The desktop should
be driven by the document,  distinctions between applications is just a
usability problem.

> I think, that we have something like gThumb or Gqview is proof
> enough that file manager cannot replace a good picture viewer.

Or that the general purpose "file manager" isn't yet general purpose
enough.  And/Or that components for the given file types haven't been
written.  Check out things like gstreamer,  no reason very similair
things couldn't be done for PDFs, SXWs, etc... that allow thumbnailing
and inline viewing in nautilus/evolution/etc...  If you hack your system
a bit you can already do this with AbiWord and Gnumeric files.

>  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.

Right, thats a usability problem.  Ultimately it can't be completely
done away with,  but "we" can certainly do better than has been done.

>  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 real solution to this is EA (extended attributes) so that this
meta-data is glued to the data and moving the file, etc... takes it
along.  Things like .thumbnails/.documents/whatever really just reflect
a deficieny in the underlying system.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/01q3/metadata/metadata-1.html

> 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. 

There is no reason whatsoever that this couldn't be integrated into
something like nautilus.