On 1/23/11, David C. Rankin drankinatty@suddenlinkmail.com wrote:
On 01/22/2011 04:48 PM, Katheryne Draven wrote:
As requested by some people (Xu_R AKA The Old Man) an odt and pdf of the reasoning behind my kmenu setup.
I would appreciate any input to improve the setup.
Thanks
Kate
Thank you Kate!
I generally spend a couple of hours sorting apps into their logical places when I start with a fresh install. Standardizing kmenu into a logical order limiting each menu/submenu entry to ~ 10-15 items with a max depth of ~4 is much needed. Here are two thoughts for consideration:
(1) of the existing distros that did a good job with kmenu, SuSE's inclusion of a 'Utilities' submenu that held all the kde apps really helped with organization. Here is a shot of what I adapted from an old openSuSE 11.0 install:
[93k] http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/dt/trinity/ss/kmenu-utilities.jpg
(2) everybody also has a subset of applications they use most frequently. What I call "mytools" or I guess what "User-Apps" is intended for in your setup. For what it is worth, here is a shot of the collection of mytools that may have a submenu or two that may be of interest:
[138k] http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/dt/trinity/ss/kmenu-mytools.jpg
(I don't know how the duplicate basket entries got there. On suse, when you edit the gnome menu, you often get unwanted side-effects in the k3 menu as well)
I think this effort to tame the kmenu jungle is well worth the time and I thank you for your efforts.
-- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com
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Thank you David
All of this (your input and images) is very useful. I did have a Utilities menu, but I had trouble figuring out what should go in there. What constituted "system" and "utility" apps (or tools perhaps?).
I do the same thing (reorganizing the kmenu), and its something I noticed my users doing as well. When 108 different people start fiddling about with kmenu I asked why. The usual answers were, "its out of order", "nothing is where its supposed to be", or "it doesn't make sense the way it is. They all thought it was a defect like the kind they experienced when using windows (adding an item to the startmenu throws everything off).
When I asked them for a mockup of what they thought it should be like, what made sense to them, I got the basic of what we have here. Looking at SuSe, it seems they did a similar study or someting.
I think we need to focus first on the parent directories (Office or Desktop Publishing, Tools, Utilities, etc etc) then work on the subdirectories. I think the apps should help us determine what subdirectories are needed. I urge the use of proper computer terminology, avoiding the use of "MS Terms". We should mean to education as well, after all knowledge is freedom (among other good things).
With regard to "mytools", it smacks too much as a homage to MS, with its "My this" and "My that", but in the end its not my decision. Its clearly something Trinity as a whole must make. I do urge against the use of MS terminology. I understand the belief that if its familiar, it will make the use more comfortable. That, however, has not been my eXPerience :). Users who leave windows for Linux cringe when they see references to it. They're finally free of their master, why would they wish to build a shrine to it? The use of MS terms, also reinforces the belief that Linux is just a second rate Windos wannabe.
OH BLAST! Where did this soapbox come from??!!
Kate