Re: [Usability] Re: Default Save Location and Default Save Filetype in UI config

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005, Reinout van Schouwen wrote:

> Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:12:04 +0100
> From: Reinout van Schouwen <reinouts gnome org>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] Re: Default Save Location and Default Save Filetype
>     in UI config
>
> Op Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:41:23 +0000, schreef Alan Horkan:
>
> > I would certainly encourage Gnumeric to put files in ~/Documents or even
> > ~/Documents/Spreadsheets/
>
> You'd have to solve the "translate strings in filesystem or in UI" dilemma
> first...

Do I?

I'll get to it after I've translated /dev /home /etc

I think it is over engineering to expect to do this in more than one
language at a time.  Gnumeric could create a folder "foo" or a folder
"bar" (based) on locale so long as it knew to use that same folder next
time.  An application can go further and do what works for them, they do
not need postpone indefinately doing something useful because a perfect
solution doesn't exist.

If we were trying to set a Freedesktop.org standard it would be a
different issue but application developers need not work under such
extremely strict contraints.

Even if there are loads of users who use their computers in more than one
langauge I think making everyone else wait for a perfect solution is far
more unreasonable than asking them to accept the folder on disk will be
named in the same language as they used when they first ran the program.

It is unrealistic to expect to have the same folder in two different
languages, and worse it is inconsistent to have only some folders behave
like that and not others.  If somone cares to write a new "translatable
filesystem" then more power to them but I think it is an unfair and
unrealistic requirement to bring up simultaneous multinlingualism every
time this is dicussed.  (Even if Alan Cox suggested it is a massive over
complication, and he should be smart enough to know he is sometimes too
smart for his own good.)

An application like Gnumeric could create a "foo" directory the first time
it is run and set that as the default save directory there would be some
other way (probably by editing a config file) to create a folder called
"baz" and use that instead if you really wanted.

"The perfect is the enemy of the good" it would be great if anyone could
make some progress on this and then maybe find ways to improve it later.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

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P.S.  I use Gnumeric as an example because it is an excellent program and
has a very distinctive type of document which one would likely want to
categorise a little more than just throwing in with all your other
Documents.  I am not assocaited with the Gnumeric developers but I think
they do a great job.