[kubuntu-devel] kubuntu-defaults

[Jason Straight]

On Tuesday 14 February 2006 08:11, Jonathan Riddell wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2006 at 01:03:58PM -0500, Jason Straight wrote:
> > First the why:
> > I don't believe in stupifying things for the goals of simplicity,
> > removing certain options from KDE is like removing the pliers from a
> > leatherman, dulling the edge of a knife, or removing the adjustment from
> > a crescent wrench.
>
> Yep, but also options that almost nobody uses makes things more
> complex for everyone else.
>
> > The Open Terminal and Fine files options being removed from konqueror
> > tool menu no mean that for someone to find a file they need to learn to
> > use find or locate, and in order to open a shell at a location they have
> > to open a konsole and then cd to the directory where they want to
> > operate. I fail to see how that will make things simpler for anyone.
>
> Find files is back in dapper.

Good, and thanks.

> What's the advantage of Open Terminal over opening konsole?

Not having to manually cd to the directory you want to be in, saves time.

I think if it's there someone will click on it, if they don't know what to do 
with it they'll close it, and not use it again. No longer confusing.

26 Letters in the English alphabet is difficult for 5yr olds too, but we don't 
omit 5 letters just to simplify it, they learn to use them all just fine.

I dunno, maybe it's just me. I'm a parent (3 times) and basic child psychology 
seems to apply, if you treat them like babies they won't grow up, they won't 
learn. I don't think coddling is the answer to making things easy. It's like 
shielding a child from the real world while they are growing up, sooner or 
later they are going to have to interact with the real world and they will be 
unprepared if they haven't learned to use all their abilities to their 
advantage.

I find having more options == easier, due to less steps to perform functions. 
If I need the computer to do something and I can't find an option already 
included - it means I have to write something or look for another tool, which 
adds more confusion and steps. Which I think is what gives linux it's 
underlying strength, there's hardly anything that's "hidden", if someone 
thought of a feature that was neat it get's put in. I think if the KDE 
developers thought it wasn't a wanted (needed) feature it never would have 
made it in.

> > The ability to browse archives as folders removed from konqueror means
> > someone has to unzip any archive before they use it, and for the
> > layperson choosing a directory to extract to can be more daunting than
> > simply dragging and dropping the files to another konqueror window. Plus
> > the ability to operate on files in an archive itself can be rather
> > useful. I have many e-books I leave tared or zipped and use konqueror's
> > browsable zip:/ and tar:/ features exclusively for them.
>
> I'm still undecided either way on this, if it is better to open archive
> files in ark or in konqueror.

It's a matter of simplicity, if I want to browse an archive and read the 
contents of it, it's easier to use a real filebrowser, than to have to 
extract the archive to be able to read the files. And I think the layperson 
is going to find double clicking a zip archive to read the contents easier 
than using ark, chosing a destination directory, and not overwriting files.

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