Re: Debian apps in GNOME menu
Steve Haslam <araqnid@debian.org> writes:
> On Tue, Nov 02, 1999 at 12:52:25AM +0100, Torsten Landschoff wrote:
> > In case somebody wants to know my opinion on this (nobody wants, I
> > know ;-)): I think if we want to deliver the best distribution we
> > can to our users we should do something about the menu
> > situation. Our menu system really sucks compared to any other out
> > there.
> I was tempted to say I disagree- then I realised I had no /firsthand/
> experience of other systems, just that people who'd watched me install
> Debian liked the way the menu system seemed to work properly...
Well, speaking as someone who has used a pretty wide variety of menu
systems, I have to say that I *do* disagree 100% with Torsten.
Debian's menu system is one of the key factors that made me decide to
choose Debian back when I was comparing Linux distros. And it's far
superior to non-Linuxish offerings like CDE as well, IMO.
I suspect that Torsten is simply unaware of many of the features of
Debian's menu system -- it really could use some better documentation.
I note that many people aren't even aware that Debian's menu system
has support for translations.
> Translations are a major omission, though.
The hooks are there, it's just a matter of making better use of them.
However, this is the one area where the design of Debian's menus is a
bit weak. OTOH, I'm not sure that it's possible to make a menu system
as flexible and useful as Debian's that provides easier translations.
Many window managers and other menu-using tools don't have any
internal support for this. So, the approach that the Debian menu
system uses, while limited, may be the best possible compromise.
IOW, we could improve the support for NLS, but, I suspect, only at the
cost of dropping support for some window managers and menu programs.
Which would be a Bad Thing.
Still, if it were possible, I'd rather see better NLS in Debian's menu
system and use that in Gnome than use Gnome's existing menu system.
cheers
--
Chris Waters xtifr@dsp.net | I have a truly elegant proof of the
or xtifr@debian.org | above, but it is too long to fit into
http://www.dsp.net/xtifr | this .signature file.
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