Re: New `MimeType` fields in .desktop

On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 15:53, Thomas Kluyver <[email protected]> 
wrote:
> I can see what you're saying, but I don't think it's ridiculous to 
> suggest that a desktop file could encode some indication of how well 
> an application handles a particular file type. You could think of 
> this as describing 'can open' vs 'can import'.

I agree. In addition to that, there is also viewer vs. editor 
distinction. Sometimes I want to view files but other times I want to 
edit them. These are two different actions and could have different 
applications associated to them, since the editors are optimized for 
editing but not really fit for viewing, and the opposite is true for 
viewers. Unfortunately, the desktop entries do not allow specifying 
more than that the program can “open” a file, which lacks semantic 
subtlety.

Here are examples of files I often use in two different modes as a web 
developer:

- HTML file is viewed in Web Browser but edited in a text editor.
- Photos can be viewed in e.g. Eye of GNOME but edited in GIMP.