Re: "Next Link" icon.

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 09:27, Dave Leigh wrote:

> <weasel> this message is not meant in any way to negatively
> characterize the above idea, or any particular idea stated on this or
> any forum by any particular individual, especially if they happen to
> read this e-mail. It's the ones who *don't* read this e-mail that I'm
> talking about. ;) </weasel>

<rant>
Well it *should*, because quite frankly, half the posts to kde-look 
aren't about user interfaces at all, but just wish lists for some 
desired feature that might be handy for one or two people, or be useful 
once in a blue moon.

This is the way you get MS Office and its enormous bloat, with a 
zillion features that only get used by one person in a thousand, 
perhaps once or twice a year. No offence Sean, but 90% of the 
functionality you ask for is only useful for you and the specific -- 
and unusual -- way you choose to work.

"Next link" may or may not be useful. Actually, I think it could be 
very useful. But it isn't a look-and-feel issue, its a functionality 
issue, and one that should be solved by Dave's suggested "pluggable 
add-ons".

I'd like to remind people that one of the reasons Unix/Linux is so 
robust and usable, with far less of the bugs and much less of the bloat 
of Microsoft products, is that the Unix philosophy is of small, useful 
programs that are then piped together into useful tools?

(Apart from Emacs of course <grin>.)

GUI apps don't have pipes as such, but the closest equivalent for a GUI 
might be plug-ins tools and modules. Sean's "Next link" idea is crying 
out to be a plug-in, not a built-in part of KDE. Drop the "Next link" 
plug-in into the appropriate directory, and it works. Drag the plug-in 
out of the directory, and the button disappears from the toolbar.

In my opinion, and I know this isn't a look-and-feel issue either so 
don't bother flaming me, what KDE needs is a good interface to the 
shell scripting languages (in effect a macro system) so that people can 
build their own plug-ins instead of trying to cram every imaginable 
feature, and then some, into the core of KDE.
</rant>



-- 
Steven D'Aprano