Re: [Usability]Embedding capplets in application preferences

[<bordoley msu edu>]

Tommi Komulainen <tommi komulainen iki fi> said:

> Hi,
> 
> Is there any general rule regarding the use of capplets in application
> preferences?  My most specific concern is that proxy settings have for
> long been configurable directly from within galeon.  Now that the proxy
> capplet has equivalent functionality, I feel that galeon should provide
> easy access to the settings that have earlier belonged to web browsers
> almost exclusively.
> 
> Many of the capplets affect the whole desktop (fonts, theme, mouse) but
> proxies only a (small?) fraction of it, so it's more specialized in that
> sense.  I think it is expected that those settings are available from
> within the application that's specialized in the web as well, such as
> galeon.  For the most of the applications it's just a necessary evil;
> the weather applet doesn't really care about the web, for example, it
> just needs its HTTP connection.
> 
> I realize that embedding the capplet in the preferences dialog might
> mislead the user to think those are application-specific settings, but
> it would provide more integrated feel.  This is how evolution is
> handling GtkHtml font preferences.
> 
> Providing a simple button that starts the capplet would be somewhere in
> the middle, it would provide easy access and make it more obvious these
> are not application-specific settings.
> 
> Or am I just confused to think there's any problem here?


I guess it depends on the level of desktop integration you are aiming for. My 
personal opinion is that galeon should not have these preferences in its 
preference dialog as they could confuse the user into thinking they are 
galeon specific. Another option is to add a button to the prefs dialog that 
launches the control center capplet (configure network preferences or 
something).

dave