[RFC] "Documents Folder" icon in "system:/"

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Friday 12 August 2005 07:26, Friedrich W. H. Kossebau wrote:
> Am Freitag, 12. August 2005 10:17, schrieb Aaron J. Seigo:
> > On Thursday 11 August 2005 08:11, Gary Greene wrote:
> > > On Thursday 11 August 2005 05:26 pm, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > better yet, that
> > applications directory ought to be hidden and the apps can simply install
> > .desktop files like good little citizens.
>
> So we better should convert /bin -> /.bin, /usr -> /.usr, /etc -> /.ect,
> too?

seeing as those aren't in the user's home directory and therefore they look at 
all the time in the user interface (e.g. KDE), of course not.

> Can anybody tell why the hidden flag was invented at all?

to keep files that the user doesn't create nor needs to manage directly out of 
the way so when you do an `ls` you see just your files, not the 
configurations for all the apps you use. it's a simple an effective tool that 
allows applications a place to store files without making them completely 
inaccessible to the user, without requiring a separate area on disk one must 
manage with quotas and permissions and without cluttering up the every day 
directory listings for users.

the files that applications tend to generate are usually not meant to be 
managed directly by users except in unusual situations. as a user, we 
shouldn't have to care that they exist and therefore they are hidden from 
normal view (though still there for emergencies or tweakfesting)

pragmatism.

> hide away (system files) from being listed. But does it scale? I always get
> kind of shocked when I come across my $HOME with "Show hidden files" on.
> There are more hidden files and directories than regular ones!

if they are hidden, why do you care exactly?

we do have more and more common locations for things, however. look at 
~/.local and ~/.kde for instance.

> A funny exception is Desktop. It is treated both as a plain file directory
> (by default being not hidden and in $HOME) and a ressource managed by an
> app (KDesktop). Which now and then creates happy user experiences, not.
> Should it be hidden, too?

that was already covered in this thread.

> The whole file system hierarchie for users needs a rethought. $HOME is
> overcrowded. The hidden flag is not the solution.

overcrowded? this isn't a housing project. all that matters is what the 
average user sees in their day to day work.

> Separation of settings, 
> app ressources, app managed data, user managed data (the plain old files),
> applications, whatever else, is needed.

we already do this.

> And presented unencrypted to the 
> user if he really wants to look next to his plain files. After all we
> support open source, don't we? ;)

we already do this.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

Full time KDE developer sponsored by Trolltech (http://www.trolltech.com)
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