Re: [Nautilus-list] User levels

[Ramiro Estrugo <ramiro eazel com>]

Kenneth MacDonald wrote:
> 
> If a preference's storage in gconf isn't writeable by the current user
> (i.e. it's found a mandatory config path) then either the mechanism
> for changing it shouldn't appear or should at least be greyed out.
> 
> That way, site managers can give users as much control as is good for
> them.  Yes, I am a site manager with about 2000 users :)
> 
> I like completely configurable software, but I must have the ability
> to stop users reconfiguring arbitrary parts of it.  Support becomes a
> nightmare otherwise.  My community isn't prepared to pay for the extra
> people power it would take to open up the system completely.
> 
> This isn't a Nautilus problem, it's a gconf/bonobo problem in my
> opinion.
> 
> (Feel free to replace any should/must with "I'd like it to", depending
> on your mood at the time of reading. :)
> 
> --
> Kenny

Remember that Nautilus as it currently stands has the almost conflicting
goals of being usable by novice users new to UNIX systems as well as
experts that want to be exposed to all details of their systems.

The user level mechanism we came up with is a compromise between these
two extremes.

Anyway, back to your problem - deploying Nautilus to your 2000 users.

If you feel really strongly that the current user levels will net you a
higher "cost" that a simpler design with just 1 set of settings ever
visible or possibly tweaked by the user, then I think you're in luck
because all the tools needed to make this possible already exists in
Nautilus.

It would be fairly straightforward hacking to either make Nautilus
always stay in the default user level, say Intermediate, or even come up
with a new custom designed one.  I say 2 days or so of hacking.  The
hard part as always is coming up with the right set of things to expose.

If you are interested in this, you can always post specific questions
about making this possible.

-re