Re: Menu-2.0, optimized menu tree, hints

[Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>]

joost witteveen wrote:
> > It sounds like this can generate
> > many possible trees that, while optimal, are very different depending on
> > what's installed. Which means that a user who is familiar with the menus on
> > one system might be completly lost on another.
> 
> Well, the trees generated on my computer all very much look like each other.
> But you are right, there are diffences.
> 
> On the other hand, if we want to prevent that Apps/Editors on one
> system has 20 entries, and on my system to only has 2 entries,
> then I see no other way out than to re-shape the menu tree.

Well the alternative that has been brought up before is to make everything
use a deeper tree (like Apps/Editors/Big/Emacsen), and have menu
automatically collapse the tree to Apps/Editors on your system with 2 editors 
and keep the big tree on mine (that has every editor installed).

The only differences between doing it this way and the hints way are that:

1. The hints way is a lot cooler conceptually. :-)
2. The collapsing tree way doesn't allow merging of menus like Apps/Sound
   and Apps/Viewers into Apps/Multimedia.
3. The collapsing tree way means that you always find stuff where you'd
   expect it, you just may not decend as deep in the hierarch as you
   expected to.

#2 is a big drawback but at the same time makes things more consitent too,
#3 is a big plus. Did you consider this alternate approach and if so, what
did you find wrong with it?

> > But maybe it really works out so this isn't a problem?
> 
> Just the way I was thinking.
> 
> Maybe it will turn out that for the first-time users, it's best
> to use a fixed tree (hints_optimize=false).
> But I have recieved quite a number of complaints about the enourmous 
> number of entries in some sections (usually at places where _my_ tree
> is underpopulated), and I do want to be able to give a responce
> to those people.
> 
> Having said that, I do hope that eventually the `optimized' tree
> is good enough also for beginners -- but that just remains to be seen.

Ok, looking at how it actually works out seems like a good idea.

-- 
see shy jo