"David C. Rankin" drankinatty@suddenlinkmail.com wrote:
On 01/17/2014 12:26 PM, Darrell Anderson wrote:
All,
The eventual release of R14 will mark a turning point in
Trinity
history. The R14 release is significant because of the many
class
and branding renaming changes. While we have drafted a README document to explain such changes, we have no mechanism for
users to
read the document.
I would like to see us patch the sources such that a Release
Notes
document is always placed on the user's desktop when updating
to a
new release. That practice would continue with maintenance
releases
too.
Darrell,
I usually always agree with you, but here I don't. It
absolutely burns me up
when an install places things on my desktop that I haven't told
it to put there
and I don't want. I just think of windows and all the worthless
links you had to
delete off the desktop just to see a clean desktop.
I agree it would be good to give that information to users on
install, but
can't we find a better place for it? Why not do it in:
a small systray app that is run on first use after install;
or
a button in the about:tde dialog access from every help menu;
or
as an entry in tmenu -> README - R14 Release (opening in
kwrite)
Anything, I mean anything, except a whopping big icon planted
on the desktop
Thoughts?
You asked ;-)
Where else do you think we could put it that would accomplish
what you are
trying to do?
A handbook entry or plain webpage, optionally force-opening it in Konqueror the first time a user logs into a new version of TDE? I know that the handbook is the first place I would probably look for the release notes if I wanted them and had no access to the website.
I agree with David on not liking random things placed on my desktop--it disrupts my icon grouping and I would probably junk an involuntarily installed icon without checking to see what it did.
I am open to ideas.
I like the idea of a one-time autostart. Whether through the help handbook or just a text file in kwrite is fine. If we choose the help handbook then we need to convert the Release Notes into a docbook file and compile as bz2 html file, just like all other help handbooks, along with the same background theme. In that respect, a one-time auto-start of kwrite is much simpler. On the other hand, a one-time autostart of the help handbook is slick and polished, and we also can add the Release Notes into the main handbook table of contents for longevity.
With the next maintenance release we update the document and reimplement the one-time autostart.
We already track something similar every time the r14-xdg-update script runs. We could use a similar date tracking key in kdeglobals to ensure the one-time autostart.
I see this as a basic courtesy to users as well as a nice touch of professionalism.
As we plan to implement a 90 maintenance release schedule after R14.0.0, I believe now is a good time to discuss options for ensuring users have an opportunity to be informed.
Darrell
I also think an auto-start option is better than placing stuff on the desktop, which I hate as well. By the way, I don't even use icons on desktop, so users who do the same would not be able to see the icon anyway.
Michele
-
Darrell Anderson -
Michele Calgaro