Re: CD Writing Proposal

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Tue, Jun 01, 2004 at 12:25:29PM -0400, Benjamin Kahn wrote:
> On Fri, 2004-05-28 at 22:10 +0200, Thorsten Wilms wrote:

> > The user might want to write the same data more than once.
> > Tying the 'disk' to a particular blank CD would be totaly artificial.
> 
> 	I'm not sure why this is a problem.  There are artificial abstractions
> all over the place in computers.  A good abstraction helps users
> understand the interface they are using.

Because it makes it harder for the user to understand the process.
It's illogical, so it's bad even for experienced users.
It's also limiting posibilities.
The concepts of a blank medium, a collection of data to be burned and 
an (iso) image should be kept intact. Blurring the lines will only 
lead to misunderstandings. The creation of a image can be hidden, 
but the fact that data is not just copied to disk not.
 
> 	However, I agree that some people may want to create multiple copies of
> a CD.  My proposal removes a very simple way of doing that because it
> violates the abstraction I'm trying to create.  However, it wouldn't be
> impossible.  The steps would look like this:
> 
>      1. Start the Nautilus CD burner. (Either through the menus, or
>         through the Places menu.)
>      2. Click the "Create a Disk Image" button in the dialog which
>         appears and select the media size.
>      3. Assemble the files as usual.
>      4. "Writing" the files has the effect of closing the disk image.
>      5. From then on, copying the ISO to a blank CD writes that image.

I actualy like the fact that I don't need to care that much about images when 
burning with K3B. I think creating and storing the image should be handled 
like caching, rather silently.


> This is certainly more steps than is required now.  Although I think
> this is an uncommon case, the dialog showing a successful CD burn could
> allow users to insert another blank CD...

And another dialog bugging the user ...
 

> 	Do you really believe that nothing should happen when you perform a
> physical action like inserting a blank CD?  I agree that the "What do I
> do now" dialogs can be annoying, but surely creating a blank CD icon on
> the desktop is the least that can be done?

No, forgot that. What I realy meant: Nothing that might interfere with the 
user's actions/plans should happen. The icon has to be created of course.

 
> 	I'm uneasy about choosing the one true default for CD burning.  What
> happens if the user installs 5 CD burning applications?  Shouldn't all 5
> of those be treated equally?

But the goal is to have an integrated feel, burning as part of file management.
That doesn't go well with giving choice by providing a special dialog.
Listing (other)burning apps in the Applications menu should be sufficient.
And burning facilities of Gnome should be so complete and good that it 
can be the one true default anyway :)
 
> > The user should not be asked to insert a CD, before it has to be.
> > Because interupting his actions should be avoided.
> 
> 	Well, at this point the user has to either have blank media, or needs
> to pick an image size.  The dialogs could be combined so there is only
> one, not two.

Better. There's still the possibility to have a bar with common limits, 
without asking the user about sizes.

 
> > There should be a way to save data collections.
> 
> 	Why?

For burning stuff more than once, and not necessarily in a row.
For using the collections as catalog of the burned data.


---
Thorsten Wilms