[kde-doc-english] The Filemanager (docbook)

[Christian Weickhmann]

Hi!

I tried to write the chapter about the file manager. There are two problems in 
my proposal: Don't know how to make a subsection (so I just called it 
<subtitle> which is irritating, I know that!!! Please fix it). And I couldn't 
imagine a scentence in the "Icons" section.

Grüße,
Christian

// ------ FILE: the-filemanager.docbook ------- //

<sect1 id="file-manager">
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<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Christian</firstname>
<surname>Weickhmann</surname>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>

<title>The File Manager</title>

<sect2 id="folder-structure">
<title>Folders</title>

<para>The file manager comes up with two columns open: The folder view and the 
sidebar. The folder view contains icons for
each item inside the current folder. These items can be
folders of files. Files containing special information
like text, PDF or HTML files can be displayed with a preview
function. You will be able to see what they are about before
you actually open them.</para>

<para>Every item will be opened by single clicking on the icon.
A folder will be opened in the same window, every file
will either be opened in the appropriate programme or
the file manager will ask you if he doesn't know (for instance if you have no 
text processing programme that opens Word documents the file manager will ask 
you).</para>

<para>You can go back to the last opened folder by clicking on the 
<guilabel>back</guilabel> or go up one folder by clicking
the <guilabel>up</guilabel> button.</para>

<para>Navigating through the folders by using
the folder view can become unpractical. The sidebar provides
shortcuts and special functions that make it easier to
find what you are searching for.</para>

<para>On the left edge of the sidebar you will find a number of buttons, each 
(or at least almost) with a different icon. They are called 
<guilabel>Navigation Panel</guilabel>.</para>

<subtitle>Bookmarks</subtitle>

<para>As Konqueror (the file manager) also serves as a very powerful 
webbrowser you will find a bookmark functionality. Here you will find the 
same structure as in your <guimenu>bookmarks menu</guimenu>.</para>

<subtitle>Devices</subtitle>

<para>Next the sidebar provides a list of all known devices
on your computer. These devices can be either physical drives,
such as your hard disk, CD-ROM drive or floppy disk drive,
or virtual "drives", such as remote shares or hard disk partitions.</para>

<subtitle>History</subtitle>

<para>Konqueror will remember the web pages you have visited and list them 
either by date or alphabetically in a tree structure. You can select the 
behavior by right clicking on the <guilabel>History</guilabel> item, 
selecting <guimenu>sort by</guimenu>. Left click on some item (e.g. 
www.kde.org) and Konqueror will show you the documents you have visited. Left 
clicking on some document (e.g. <guilabel>index.html</guilabel>) will open 
the web site in the folder view.</para>
<para>Right click on a history item like <guilabel>www.kde.org -&gt; 
index.html</guilabel> opens a slighly different popup menu: You will find the 
item <guimenuitem>New Window</guimenuitem> which makes Konqueror opening the 
site in a new window.</para>

<subtitle>Home Directory</subtitle>

<para>The <guilabel>home directory</guilabel> item in the sidebar's navigation 
panel. You will find your home directory as the first entry. Below you will 
find all folders of your home directory. Now guess what: Left clicking on any 
folder in this view opens the folder in the folder view. But you can also 
work with the folders' context menu, create subfolders and so on.</para>

<subtitle>Sidebar Media Player</subtitle>

<para>Try dragging a music file (like .mp3, .ogg or .wav files)
on the sidebar. The file will immediately be played.</para>

<subtitle>Newsticker</subtitle>

<para>Newsticker will display a customisable list of news sources. Right click 
either on the <guilabel>Configure button</guilabel> or on one of the 
newssource buttons (e.g. KDE News which is usually predefined) to add a new 
newsticker source.</para>

<subtitle>Network</subtitle>

<para>Here you can browse the services provided by other computers on the 
network. The LISA-Deamon has to be started in order to work correctly. The 
network browser is more than i.e. the Windows Network Browser: It allows you 
to see a variety of services provided by a computer. You can easily browse 
SMB shares, HTTP Sites or transfer files via the secure FISH layer.</para>

<subtitle>Root Directory</subtitle>

<para>As you might have already learned Linux doesn't know "drives" (like C: 
or D: in Windows). Everything is organized in a file system tree. This the 
must have a root and here it is. The <guilabel>Root Directory</guilabel> 
function is the same as the <guilabel>Home Directory</guilabel> function. The 
only difference is that every folder is being displayed, not only your home 
directory.</para>

<subtitle>Services</subtitle>

<para>This is somehow the "rest". Try browsing through the different items. If 
an Audio CD is in your CD or DVD drive you will be able to find everything on 
it and even more in the <guilabel>Audio CD Browser</guilabel> item (you can 
even compress audio files and save them on your harddrive with this 
function).</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="icons">
<title>Icons</title>

<para>
To only select one icon hold down the CTRL-Key and click on it. If you want to 
select more than one icon,
[... don't know how to write it in a way that everyone understands ;-)].
Once one or more icons are selected you can do anything you want with them -- 
if it is listed in the context menu which opens when right clicking on one of 
the selected icons.
If you want to move or copy items, select them and then drag (left mouse key 
down) them to the preferred location. When you release the mouse button a 
menu will come up offering you to <guilabel>Move</guilabel>, 
<guilabel>Copy</guilabel> or <guilabel>Link</guilabel> the selected items. 
You can also <guilabel>Cancel</guilabel> your action.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="links">
<title>Links and Shortcuts</title>

<para>
As already mentioned above you can link files or folders anywhere. It means 
that the linked folder will appear and behave just like the original in 
another location without consuming space on your harddrive.
So if you for example have a number of documents and only a few are used 
regularly, you can easily group them in a folder and create links in it.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="trash">
<title>The Trash</title>

<para>Before a file is deleted in the KDE file manager it will be moved to 
Trash to give you the possibility to get it back if you deleted it by 
accident.
The trash bin will show all deleted items. You can select the one to be 
recovered and move it to its original place as described in the section 
"Icons".
If you right click on the trash bin and select <guilabel>Empty trash 
bin</guilabel> the files in it will be gone!</para>

</sect2>
</sect1>

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-- 
... Logically incoherent, semantically incomprehensible, and
legally ... impeccable!