Projects/Plasma/AppsMenuReorganization

    From KDE TechBase

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

    Internet

    Web

    • Konqueror
    • Firefox
    • Opera
    • Akregator

    File download and sharing

    • aMule
    • KTorrent
    • KGet
    • KFtpGrabber

    Communication

    • KMail
    • Kopete
    • Konversation
    • Kontact
    • KAddressBook
    • Knode

    Connectivity

    • KPPP
    • KRDC
    • KRFB
    • <monitoring apps?>

    Multimedia

    Play and Management

    • amarok
    • <videoplayers>
    • <tag editors>

    Creation and editing

    • Kino
    • cinelerra
    • LiVES
    • Open Movie Editor
    • kdenlive
    • Audacity

    Graphics

    View and Management

    • Okular
    • Gwenview
    • Digikam

    Creation and editing

    • Krita
    • Kolourpaint
    • Gimp

    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
    • k3b
    • Konsole
    • konqueror
    • okular
    • KSysGuard
    • KSystemLog
    • Strigi search
    • KSnapShot
    • <backup app>
    • <Accessibility apps>

    Configuration

    • <...>

    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)



    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 this is said to be false: "the menu is for newcomers, experienced users use 'Search' field anyway."