Projects/Plasma/AppsMenuReorganization: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:52, 18 July 2009

Apps Menu Structure Proposal. I'd like to make apps menu more fine-grained by introducing submenus

Internet

Browsing

Konqueror
Firefox
Opera
Akregator

File download and sharing

aMule
KTorrent
KGet
KFtpGrabber

Communication

KMail
Kopete
Konversation
Kontact
KAddressBook
Knode

Connectivity

KPPP
KRDC
KRFB
networkmanager
<monitoring apps?>

Multimedia

Playing and Management

amarok
<videoplayers>
<tag editors>

Creation and editing

Kino
cinelerra
LiVES
Open Movie Editor
kdenlive
Audacity
Wink screencasting

Graphics

Viewing and Management

Okular
Gwenview
Digikam

Creation and editing

Krita
Kolourpaint
Gimp
Blender
Inkscape

Desktop publishing

scribus
kile
lyx

Education

Blinken

Lingustic

KHangMan
KWordQuiz
Parley

Math

KmPlot
KAlgebra
Kig

Science

KStars
Kalzium
KTurtle
Step

Office

k3b
Okular
Kwrite

Time management and Work Organization

KOrganizer
KTimeTracker (remove from menu -- present as plasmoid)
Kalarm (remove from menu -- present as plasmoid?)
KNotes
kontact
<Syncing apps>

Accounting

?

OpenOffice.org

<openoffice apps>

KOffice

<koffice apps>

Desktop publishing

scribus
kile
lyx

Translation

Lokalize
OmegaT
<dictionaries>

System Tools

dolphin
Konsole
Strigi search
k3b
<Accessibility apps>

Monitor

KSysGuard
KSystemLog

Disc tools

gparted
filelight
<backup app>

Security

kwallet
klamav

Configuration

systemsettings
yast
<...>

Engineering

kompare

Programming

KDevelop
KCachegrind
<Version control tools?>

Web-development

Quanta

Translation

Lokalize
OmegaT

CAD

Math

Explanation

if several apps fulfill the same function (i.e. konqueror, opera, firefox), then their title should be in form of %function% - %appname%: "Web-browser - Konqueror", and they should be listed consequently
We need special entries in .desktop files determining the priority (Menu-Priority, Menu-Priority-KDE, Menu-Priority-Gnome).
- Because the order is important
- apps with Menu-Priotity above 100 constant could be visually separated by the line (they are the main apps in the category)
- apps with Menu-Priotity below 10 may be hidden at all (i.e. they are rarely used by an average user)
- If category has only 1 item, the item should be displayed instead of category
- Statistics is needed for this (simple voting?)
'Utilities' category isn't needed at all. For example, 'root terminal' should be in System.
Plasmoids: a lot of small apps need to be turned into plasmoids.
- charselect should be callable from anywhere but K-Menu
- kcalc -- the same
- dictionary applet

I like the way desktop widgets are displayed in Mac OS X (easy accessible any moment - e.g. clock, calendar, calc)

Alternatively, instead of 'Office' we could use 'Desktop Publishing', putting 'Groupware (Kontact)' into 'Internet' +merge 'Graphics' to 'Multimedia':

Multimedia
k3b
- Music
  - Play and Manage (amarok, tag editors)
  - Create and edit (Audacity)
- Video
  - Play
  - Create and edit (kino, etc)
- Graphics
  - View and Manage (Gwenview, Digikam)
  - Create and edit (Krita, Kolourpaint, Gimp)

Links:

Critisism I recieved from kde-devel@ so far:

.... submenus are bad. They do not seem very usable to me, especially when the structure is not evident: ...
- so it's better to look through all 10-20 entries (possibly in in each

category) before finding app that you need?

- there should be no more then ~5 items in each category
This breaks traditional alphabetical order...
- alphabetical order is of small value when user doesnt know the name of the

app he/she is looking for.

Somehow 11 items seems better than 4 submenus
- but I wrote only few apps, in real life there will be more apps

And they don't believe that the menu is for newcomers, experienced users use 'Search' field anyway.

Comment: Please don't do this. I just discovered this confusion is on purpose and not by accident. We're reverting this in our Kubuntu packages. I'd rather not carry a diff from upstream, but we are not going to ship this.

Comment: normally I would think submenus are bad, but what if it were possible to only have a submenu appear if there is more than one app in a particular category? Much in tha same way a main category doesn't appear in the main menu unless there is a menu item there. just a random thought.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 ==Internet==
-===Web===
+===Browsing===
 *Konqueror
 *Firefox
 *Opera
 *Akregator
 ===File download and sharing===
 *aMule
@@ Line 17: / Line 18: @@
 *Konversation
 *Kontact
+*KAddressBook
 *Knode
 ===Connectivity===
@@ Line 22: / Line 24: @@
 *KRDC
 *KRFB
+*networkmanager
 *<monitoring apps?>
 ==Multimedia==
-===Play and Management===
+===Playing and Management===
 *amarok
 *<videoplayers>
@@ Line 30: / Line 34: @@
 ===Creation and editing===
 *Kino
+*cinelerra
+*LiVES
+*Open Movie Editor
+*kdenlive
 *Audacity
+*Wink screencasting
 ==Graphics==
-===View and Management===
+===Viewing and Management===
 *Okular
 *Gwenview
@@ Line 40: / Line 50: @@
 *Kolourpaint
 *Gimp
+*Blender
+*Inkscape
+===Desktop publishing===
+*scribus
+*kile
+*lyx
 ==Education==
 *Blinken
@@ Line 56: / Line 73: @@
 *Step
 ==Office==
+*k3b
 *Okular
 *Kwrite
-===Groupware===
+===Time management and Work Organization===
-*kontact
 *KOrganizer
 *KTimeTracker (remove from menu -- present as plasmoid)
 *Kalarm (remove from menu -- present as plasmoid?)
-*KAddressBook
+*KNotes
+*kontact
 *<Syncing apps>
-*<other kdepim apps>
+===Accounting===
+*?
 ===OpenOffice.org===
 *<openoffice apps>
@@ Line 74: / Line 93: @@
 *kile
 *lyx
+===Translation===
+* [http://userbase.kde.org/Lokalize Lokalize]
+*OmegaT
+*<dictionaries>
 ==System Tools==
+*dolphin
+*Konsole
+*Strigi search
 *k3b
-*Konsole
+*<Accessibility apps>
+===Monitor===
 *KSysGuard
 *KSystemLog
-*Strigi search
+===Disc tools===
-*KSnapShot
+*gparted
+*filelight
 *<backup app>
-*<Accessibility apps>
+===Security===
+*kwallet
+*klamav
 ==Configuration==
+*systemsettings
+*yast
 *<...>
 ==Engineering==
 *kompare
@@ Line 95: / Line 130: @@
 *Quanta
 ===Translation===
-*Lokalize
+* [http://userbase.kde.org/Lokalize Lokalize]
+*OmegaT
 ===CAD===
 ===Math===
@@ Line 103: / Line 140: @@
 '''Explanation'''
-*if several apps fulfill the same function (i.e. konqueror, opera, firefox), then their title should be in form of %function% - %appname%: "Web-browser - Konqueror"
+*if several apps fulfill the same function (i.e. konqueror, opera, firefox), then their title should be in form of %function% - %appname%: "Web-browser - Konqueror", and they should be listed consequently
-*We need a special entries in .desktop files determining the priority (Menu-Priority, Menu-Priority-KDE, Menu-Priority-Gnome).
+*We need special entries in .desktop files determining the priority (Menu-Priority, Menu-Priority-KDE, Menu-Priority-Gnome).
 **Because the order is important
-**apps with Menu-Priotity above 100 constant could be visually separated
+**apps with Menu-Priotity above 100 constant could be visually separated by the line (they are the main apps in the category)
-by the line (they are the main apps in the category)
 **apps with Menu-Priotity below 10 may be hidden at all (i.e. they are rarely used by an average user)
-**If category has only 1 item, the item should be displayed instead of
+**If category has only 1 item, the item should be displayed instead of category
-category
 **Statistics is needed for this (simple voting?)
 *'Utilities' category isn't needed at all. For example, 'root terminal' should be in System.
@@ Line 137: / Line 172: @@
+Links:
+*[http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/menu-spec-1.0.html#category-registry Freedesktop Menu Spec]
+*[http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ Desktop file spec]
@@ Line 144: / Line 182: @@
 category) before finding app that you need?
 **there should be no more then ~5 items in each category
 *This breaks traditional alphabetical order...
 **alphabetical order is of small value when user doesnt know the name of the
 app he/she is looking for.
+*Somehow 11 items seems better than 4 submenus
+**but I wrote only few apps, in real life there will be more apps
+And they don't believe that the menu is for newcomers, experienced users use 'Search' field anyway.
+Comment: Please don't do this.  I just discovered this confusion is on purpose and not by accident.  We're reverting this in our Kubuntu packages.  I'd rather not carry a diff from upstream, but we are not going to ship this.
-And this is said to be false: "the menu is for newcomers, experienced users use 'Search' field anyway."
+Comment: normally I would think submenus are bad, but what if it were possible to only have a submenu appear if there is more than one app in a particular category? Much in tha same way a main category doesn't appear in the main menu unless there is a menu item there. just a random thought.