Re: Application roles - first steps

[Uli Kusterer]

In article <mailman.150.1077279073.340.discuss-gnustep@gnu.org>,
 Enrico Sersale <enrico@imago.ro> wrote:

> Yes, but I don't know if it is a good idea to show something more then the 
> file name in a browser column or under an icon. I think that we should always 
> use inspectors for these kinds of information.

 Does GNUstep implement [NSFileManager displayNameAtPath:] ? I think 
that would be a good candidate for this. On MacOS, this is used to show 
the localized filename, without the extension if a file's file name 
extension is hidden etc.

 It would be only logical to have it display the role instead, or only 
the file name, or both with one of them in brackets (depending on the 
user's display settings).

 And then you'd make GWorkspace simply always display the display name 
of an application or file, and display it in any window titles that 
contain the application name, in menus, and any other place where you're 
displaying the app's name to a user, and not its location (which would 
be the actual path) or explicitly its role.

 I don't want to make it sound like the usual: "Just add it and make it 
configurable" crowd, but I think this is the case where regular desktop 
users probably won't care what the actual file name is, while more 
advanced users may want to display both and hardcore Unix/Linux hackers 
will probably not accept anything but the actual file name.

 Hmmm... another idea: In MacOS X you can set up the view to show 
certain info about a file in blue underneath the file name, in a smaller 
typeface. I.e. it displays the number of items in a folder underneath 
its icon (i.e. in icon view), or the dimensions of an image file. Maybe, 
instead of displaying the role in brackets, you could use that look.

 That way, users would immediately see which part is the actual file 
name, and which part is a description added by the system. Of course, 
you could go wild WRT configurability if you wanted, even on a per-file 
basis (as only applications have a role, that would be convenient).

Just my 0.02c
-- Uli
http://www.zathras.de