Re: Seach everything [was Re: [Usability] New "Add to panel" dialog]

[Eric Larson <elarson novell com>]

On Fri, 2005-10-21 at 16:03 +0100, Alan Horkan wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Oct 2005, Eric Larson wrote:
> 
> 
> > > The same way we have standard "Load" and "Save" dialogs, we could have
> > > a "Search" component reused through all these tools.
> 
> > I just want to second this. I stated this earlier on the list but I am
> 
> A desktop wide tag and search system sounds great but I cannot help
> feeling the politics behind mono makes progress in that direction
> very difficult for Gnome.
> 
> There were suggestions in the past of adding a searchbar to/in place of
> the file chooser, anyone remember? Is that more what you meant than
> Beagle?

I was addressing the applet selector interface more so than simply a
search bar or search widget. I think the interface proposed to replace
best (the holmes interface) could be used as a template for anything
where there are many items. I think the applet chooser UI is similar in
nature to the holmes interface. Essentially, I think it is just a good
idea to keep these sorts of interfaces similar. 

As for the beagle side of things, my hope is that whatever tool is used,
we are able to find relationships between different elements on the
desktop. I feel beagle can do this fwiw. Apple already does this to some
extent with spotlight in their control panel. While I can't remember the
details, I searched for "net" and go the network tools in addition to
some other tool that was related. It made an impression on me because I
would not have thought the tool was associated with the network, but
after clicking on it, things made sense and I learned something. These
types of relationships can be extremely helpful I think. 

Eric