KDE 4: the good, the bad and the broken

[Dotan Cohen]

> A specific case is that service (right click) menu actions for Ark.
>
> 1.  There is no service for simply compressing a file -- single file,
> not an archive.  That is, the current "Compress" subdirectory should be
> named: "Archive" and there should be a "Compress" subdirectory with
> options to just compress a file.  Contrast this with: "Extract archive"
> which is not the opposite of "Compress".  Also note the absence of any
> option to simply uncompress a file.
>
> 2.  There are redundant and confusing options:
>
>        "Here" is redundant as it creates a TAR.GZ archive
>        "ZIP/TAR" is simply wrong.  It should be TAR/GZIP.  This is especially
> confusing since: "ZIP" is also listed and it is _not_ gzip.
>
> 3.  There are options missing from the (poorly named) "Compress"
> subdirectory:
>
>        "TAR/BZIP2" is common enough that it should be on the list.
>        "TAR" should probably be there as well.
>
> Since these are configurable, I would suggest that all of the options
> exist, although they might not all be enabled by default:
>
>        TAR/Z
>        TAR/XZ
>        TAR/LZMA
>
> 4.  "Extract Archive Here, Autodetect Subfolder" seems like a poorly
> worded string.  I think that what is meant is: "Extract Archive to
> Subfolder".  Actually what it does is to force a subfolder.
>
> 5.  Going to: "Compress to", I find listed:
>
>        Tar archive (compressed)
>
> after some research, I find that this should be:
>
>        Tar archive (Z-compressed)
>
> I also notice:
>
>        Tar archive (gzip-compressed)
>        Tar archive (bzip-compressed)
>
> Perhaps these should be:
>
>        Tar archive (GZIP-compressed)
>        Tar archive (BZIP2-compressed)
>
> for correctness and consistency.
>
> I have been accused (falsely) of implying derogatory things about
> developers.  So, I would like to make clear what I do think about this:
>
> It shows a lack of design work.  Good software engineering requires that
> you design before you code -- design twice and code once.
>
> I think that this is simply sloppy work -- perhaps the result of more
> than one person doing it without sufficient discussion.  The developers
> can do better, but if they can't, then the usability department should
> redesign this and the coders should implement it.
>
> And, yes, I will volunteer to fix this.
>

Thank you James, I will certainly take a look at the Compress /
Decompress service menus. Are there any bugs already filed? In either
case, this is certainly material for the "Broken" category.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://bido.com
http://what-is-what.com
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