Re: Bug#361418: Debian menu and the Apps/Science section
> The second point is very important, but only to a limit. Browse the
> Apps>>Tools on the debian menu, and you will find WAY too many programs,
> thus making the entire menu system useless.
[snip]
You make a great point though, so maybe the issue comes down to
finding an aspect ratio that is a good balance between the two.
[snip]
> As an engineer, who is also a scientist (and many are not), I will defend
> the need for a separate menu item. In the future, when more academics
> learn how to program, we will have many more science programs to use, and
> at that point we can add subdivisions to these categories.
I was thinking about this more, and its clear that one solution will
not be ideal for all systems, or for the future as more apps are
added. So would it add unreasonable complexity to the menu system to
have the menu semi-dynamic? The idea is that it would split categories
as more apps are installed, or combine lists and move them up a level
if apps are removed.
Imagine a situation where under all of science, I only have 2 apps.
Then in the menu system, you would only have "apps -> science -> list
of apps". Then later you install 15 apps and the menu system sees that
you exceeded a threshold of 10 and then divides the science menu into
a sub menu "apps -> science -> physics and life science". Then if
physics might later hit a limit and split into astronomy and
mechanics, etc. If some apps are removed and the threshold is no
longer exceeded, the sublists could get bumped back up a level.
The cool thing about this is that nothing would ever get moved to a
different branch of the menus, so as the menu changed, it would still
be easy to find the app one is searching for. The length/depth of the
branch would just change to keep the aspect ratio reasonable.
Maybe this is just crazy, but what does everyone think?
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