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

[James Richard Tyrer]

Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> we've been speaking about files that are visible to the user by 
> default. configuration and other application data does indeed live in
>  $HOME and by default it's not visible. when it is visible, that's a 
> problem.

So, you agree that I am correct?

> specifically because it's not something the user created and 
> therefore has little opportunity to decide the purpose, value or 
> content of. instead of keeping it in ~/Settings we keep them in 
> hidden directories. which is why we shouldn't need to have a separate
>  ~/Documents or ~/Files ... it's just one more level of hierarchy
> (and thereby training, support and configuration) that we can avoid.

Training?  Your logic here fails.  New KDE users don't fall off Turnip
trucks.  Statistically speaking, most of them are Windows users.  You 
may not want to believe it but in Windows there is a directory named "My
Documents" which is a subdirectory of the directory with the account 
name.  So, for Windows users, the training options are:

1.	In KDE, the "My Documents" directory is called "i18n(Files)"

2.	In KDE we don't have a directory corresponding to "My
	Documents".  By default, you store your personal files in:
	"HOME".

It is obvious that the "HOME/Files" directory is analogys to Windows and
therefore easier for Windows users to learn.  There is also the
psychology concept: "proactive inhibition" -- if you already learned
something one way, this makes it harder to then go on to learn to do the
same thing a different way (harder to learn than if you started from zero).

> as far as user visible files go, $HOME ought to be populated with the
>  user's data.

And exactly who determined that it "ought" to be thus?  You are
appealing to an unknown authority.  Have you consulted the KDE usability
people or an expert at OpenUsability?  And don't say that it is the UNIX 
way.  These ex-Windows newbies don't know anything about UNIX.  Like Mac 
OS/X users then don't care what (underlying) OS they are using -- don't 
care that they are using Linux (or other *NIX).  All they care about is 
the Desktop Environment.

> that's how it's been generally kept, with the odd misbehavour, for 
> some time now.

Visible files that are not a User's Data files in HOME is not odd
misbehavior.  As stated elsewhere there are various reasons for it to
PROPERLY be there.  If we don't try to keep a users personal data files 
in HOME, we can then have various visible files and directories in HOME. 
  I found this a side benefit when I moved the root of my personal file 
tree to a subdirectory of HOME.

-- 
JRT