Re: spacial

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2004 at 03:22:32PM -0400, Alexander Larsson wrote:

> This was also a conscious decision. If we allowed apps to install global
> templates the templates directory would be full of crap like "create
> <app> file" for all a) apps the user doesn't run and b) templates the
> user doesn't use. 

Therefore this idea:
> > If not directly filling template folders there could be a
> > 'template library' for just copying over the desired ones. 


> It's not meant to
> be a way to basically launch apps (which it would otherwise quickly turn
> into), that problem needs to be solved in a better way.

And I thought Gnome is moving towards being document centric with 
spatial Nautilus and stuff. Directly launching an app to generate 
a new file isn't the thing to do in this context. So there must be 
a way to generate even generic files triggered outside apps.
I can hardly see how there could be meaningful (technical) seperation 
between templates for simple new empty files or customized document 
templates.

 
> Even real document templates, that are generic rather than specific to
> your company/organization/whatever are bad. Dumping, say, all the MS
> Office templates into a global templates directory would instantly make
> the menu huge, impossible to find things in and full of stuff you never
> user. Thats not useful.

Ok, I see apps with their own template library are a problem.
For stuff like OOo Impress it would be better to just trigger File->New.

How about having a folder/menu with 'shortcuts' to the File->New 
functionality of each app that is the prefered for a file type?


An alternative to making templates accessible by a menu:
template icons that will spawn new files on clicking.


> This is exactly the reason the directory is a *normal* folder. None of
> the virtual stuff, none of the merging. Its a normal folder, people
> *should* see it, and they *should* modify it. That is what makes it
> useful. And if you don't use it, just delete it (or never create it) and
> live happily ever after.

Hey, I have no issue with it being a normal folder (in fact I like 
unification and don't like special cases). But having the empty 
'Create Document' entry in the desktop context menu makes me sad :(
And somehow I thought Gnome was meant to work right out of the box, 
not requiring anybody to tweak stuff (and yes, with the spatial stuff 
and applications that are very laid back to bring files/content to the 
front I consider this to be quite crucial functionality).


---
Thorsten Wilms