Re: [Usability] New "Add to panel" dialog

[Eric Larson <elarson novell com>]

Hi, 

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 19:45 +0200, Markus Jonsson wrote:
> lör 2005-10-22 klockan 09:54 +0200 skrev Vidar Braut Haarr:
> > On 10/20/05, Manu Cornet <Manu Cornet gmail com> wrote:
> > > I have been working on a new version of the "add to panel" dialog, for
> > > the Ubuntu distro. This dialog is already available by default in the
> > > new Ubuntu "Breezy Badger" version.
> > 
> > What immediately strikes me about this dialog is how much it resembles
> > Nautilus viewing a folder in icon mode.
> > 
> > "Don't reimplement the wheel."
> > 
> > Lets say this whole thing was made into a special location
> > ("applets:///" or whatever), what would we miss from your proposed
> 
> "emblems:///" is crossing my mind. It would be nice too. :)
> (actually had to check if this wasn't implemented allready)

One of the considerations of handling this in Nautilus is the idea of
being able to do everything you can do in Nautilus. What if someone
tried to copy a firefox icon (not knowing it was only an icon) into the
applets folder? What about making folders within the applets folder?
What if someone tries to put a bookmark in the applets folder? I realize
we can simply not allow someone to do these things but it makes you
wonder what is the point of reusing the interface only to provide a
confusing concept to the user. 

Since we do not have (and probably will not have) a "Programs" folder
that someone can simply copy an app into (ie like apple), it seems
better to go ahead and keep the file manager as only for files. I agree
a nautilus type view is good, but I think the implementation should be
something that allows for other views such as applications or the
control panel (as I have said before). 

Eric