Re: why kde and gnome's menu situation sucks
On 10/25/2002 6:38 PM, Michael Cardenas at michaelc@lindows.com wrote:
> Well, I haven't used aethera, but kmail != evolution
>
Agreed.
> and I'm fairly
> sure that aethera != evolution either.
>
aethera != evolution right now, although it too is meant to be an Outlook
sorta clone. evolution is more mature and robust software right now.
Someday though,
aethera:KDE::evolution:Gnome::Outlook:Windows
> To new users, a menu with a
> different name is a big deal.
>
Yup. That's why descriptive labels in addition to names would help.
>> I understand what your concern here is. Let me ask you this. How often do
>> you think this would be a valid worry? For example, think about the sort of
>> user that Debian Desktop is meant to appeal to. How often do you think that
>> sort of user will be switching desktop environments? Isn't it safe to say
>> that such users are pretty likely to pick just one desktop environment and
>> pretty much stick with that. In which case, a menu that does NOT offer BOTH
>> the KDE and Gnome email app is not such a problem, yes?
>>
>
> I think that the argument that new users won't switch desktop
> environments supports the idea of having menus with both kde and gnome
> apps, since the likelyhood is that if they never try gnome, they'll
> never even see evolution.
>
But if a reasonable KDE native alternative to Evolution is available, like
Aethera or Kroupware, then why does the Desktop Debian newbie who installs
KDE ever need to see Evolution?
I don't mean to disrespect Evolution here - it is a fine program.
What I mean is, if both KDE and Gnome provide a functionally equal set of
applications for accomplishing common desktop tasks, then why do Gnome users
need to run KDE apps when they have a perfectly good Gnome app already
installed?
Please understand that the above is meant to apply to the total Linux newbie
who doesn't know much, if anything, about all this KDE and Gnome stuff. Of
course, for the more advanced Linux user, who likes to switch between the
programs of KDE and Gnome, that option would be available.
> I guess a good compromise would be to have both environments have an
> email menu item, and have that item point to the respective platform
> specific email client, but have some cues to slightly inform the user
> that he will be running a different program, such as an icon and a
> tooltip. So, in gnome, the email menu item will have the evolution
> icon, and in kde, it will have the aethera icon.
>
I like the idea about the icons a LOT. Little icons provide useful visual
cues, and would help resolve this problem that we have been chatting over.
Although, it should be possible to turn the menu icons off for those who
don't like them.
Cheers,
Luke Seubert
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