Re: "Main Menu" layout

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Thu, 2004-06-03 at 12:10, James Ogley wrote:
> > So, why is it that the Main Menu layout is total bollocks, and all the
> > distros patch it, but no one fixes it upstream? I don't understand. :-)
> 
> /because/ the distros all patch it? ;)
> 
> > Also, can we nuke the distribution-specific menu now?
> 
> My 0.02 on this is that it's valuable.  I can't speak for other distros,
> not used nay of them in a long time, but on SuSE, the distro menu
> contains a whole raft of apps that are not GNOME apps, and don't place
> .desktop files in $gnomeprefix/share/applications.
> 
> When someone buys/downloads a distro, I guess they expect (especially if
> they're GUI-oriented rather than CLI-oriented) to be able to have access
> from the menu of whichever desktop they use to the applications that
> that distro packages.

The distro should use the cross-desktop menu standard, then...  All the
apps will appear in all the menues of the all the desktops in use,
unless explicitly told not to.  That's how it should work, ideally.

Furthermore, even if the menu spec as it stands isn't used, having two
separate menues for "default GNOME apps" and "distribution apps" is
abhorrent UI.  Why the hell should the user care where the app came
from?  An app is an app and they should all be in the same place.  The
fact that one uses one menu heirarchy/standard and another app uses a
different menu system is a low-level implementation details that users
should not even have to know exists, much less have to take into account
when looking for applications in the menu.
-- 
Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>
AwesomePlay Productions, Inc.