Searching .desktop files and other advantages of Fd.o menus

[Loïc Minier <lool@dooz.org>]

On Fri, Jul 13, 2007, Joey Hess wrote:
> In the long run, big menus of all the possible programs all obsolete
> anyway. A better interface is a tool that helps you search for programs,
> and then remembers programs that you've used so you can quickly
> re-access them. The command line has been doing this for decades;
> desktops are only just starting to catch on to the idea. (And of course
> Enrico is several leaps beyond it with some debtags stuff.)

 Actually desktops support this since some years too via deskbar-applet
 and beagle.  These programs are now very usable, but as file contents
 are also indexed for some of them, I am not sure we should install such
 a program by default.

 I just tried deskbar-applet, and it searches through the information of
 .desktop files just fine.

 Another benefit of FreeDesktop menu systems is in the availability of
 menu editors, such as alacarte, which permit reorganizing your menu,
 adding / removing / changing entries etc.

 Translations were also pointed out as a major advantage.

 You can also benefit from launchers in panels or on your desktop which
 will keep all the attributes of the original .desktop files.


 I already complained of flaws of the Debian menu system in the past,
 and I agree with all the complaints I've seen here (icon formats,
 useless entries, Debian specificity).
   Debian specificity is the worst thing here as it prevents us from
 sending improvements upstream and doesn't permit application authors to
 contribute new applications or features: it's less likely that someone
 spends time creating a Debian menu editor than a Freedesktop one.  It
 puts the burden on Debian folks to reinvent everything (translations,
 categories, user overrides) and doesn't permit contributing the efforst
 on the menu entries upstream.
   Maintainers also lose time writing Debian menu entries, or
 downscaling icons in size and colors.

-- 
Loïc Minier