Re: CD Writing Proposal

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Fri, May 28, 2004 at 03:18:31PM -0400, Benjamin Kahn wrote:
> 
> I'm interested in comments.  The latest proposal is available at:
> http://www.zoned.net/~xkahn/nautilus-cd-burning 
> There are also glade and GIMP files there and more mockup images.
> 
> The current system has a number of potential problems: 
> 
>       * The disk being created isn't tied to a particular blank CD, it's
>         based on an idea of disk images, a somewhat foreign concept to
>         most users.

But stuff will not be directly written to CD. The possible misinterpretation 
of the CD Creator's content being directly the CD's content should be 
countered.
The user might want to write the same data more than once.
Tying the 'disk' to a particular blank CD would be totaly artificial.
 
> When a blank CD is inserted into the drive, a dialog should appear to
> guide the user to the next step.  A blank CD icon should also appear on
> the desktop.  Double clicking on this icon will open the Nautilus CD
> Creator window for this media.

But when I already opened the CD Creator by other means, _nothing_ should 
happen when I insert a blank medium (besides checking/reporting medium size).


> The user can select an action from the menu which is dynamically
> generated from the list of applications declaring themselves CD burners.

I don't think it's wise to specificialy support to have several apps for one 
task. There should be one sensible default. If a user wants to use some special 
burning app, he should just run it.

The dialog you propose is full of problems. Easiest to solve them by not  
having such a dialog.


> It is obviously possible to get to the Nautilus CD Creator without
> inserting a blank CD.  And this should be easier to find -- a menu item
> for it should appear in the Programs menu.  (Probably under Accessories,
> but Office or System Tools are viable options as well.)  If no blank CD
> has been inserted in ANY CD recorders, a dialog asking the user to
> insert a blank CD should appear.

The user should not be asked to insert a CD, before it has to be.
Because interupting his actions should be avoided.

 
> Cancelling the dialog closes the Nautilus window.  Inserting a CD
> dismisses the dialog.
> Create a Disk Image opens a new dialog requesting the Image size.
> (Standard CD -- 650 MB, DVD -- 4.3 GB, etc.)  A disk image icon will
> appear
> on the desktop in a similar fashion to the blank media.

A disk image should be a disk image. Actual iso images and data collections 
can't be both represented the same way ...


> The Nautilus CD Creator window should default to the list view so file
> sizes appear.  The status bar should show the amount of free space
> remaining on the drive.  Attempts to copy files exceeding the size of
> the blank media should result in a standard out of disk space message.

I would prefer space to be used instead of free space. No need for me 
to tell the app what CD size I will use. But I admit that's just me, 
might not be a good thing for unexperienced users. Just make sure a 
size request the user can't answer will not be a dead end.


> If the media really is ejected and not written to disk first, the
> assembled file links will be removed.  Thus Eject is a destructive
> operation and should have a confirmation.  In fact, the same dialog will
> appear, but with an additional eject button.

There should be a way to save data collections.


---
Thorsten Wilms