New subject: [trinity-devel] Placing the Release Notes on the Desktop

18 Jan 2014

...
    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. 
I now recall an enhancement request that is similar to this 
dicussion:

http://bugs.trinitydesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=832

Another option for the Release Notes is to add a special menu item 
that is enabled with each new release. The Release Notes would 
remind the user how to disable the menu item.

Another option is a special device icon. The effect would be the 
same as that described in the original proposal, but is easily 
disabled in Configure Desktop->Behavior->Device Icons. This option 
could result in the previously described effects of modifying the 
user's desktp, but perhaps this special device icon could be coded 
to be placed somewhere on the desktop where icons normally are not 
placed. Then again, I have seen user desktops that are filled 
almost completely with icon shortcuts. In that case, the Release 
Notes icon would get lost.

I think a one-time autostart might be best. That would cause only 
one one-time "intrusion," and I suspect with new package updates, 
user's would not mind the one-time intrusion.

Darrell

Re: [trinity-devel] Placing the Release Notes on the Desktop