Where Do You Want Apps To Show Up By Default? Menu Or Desktop?

Stick an SD in, and you want your pnd-file apps to magically appear......

  • On the Pandora desktop

    Votes: 18 9.9%
  • In the menu, sorted by category

    Votes: 163 90.1%

  • Total voters
    181

skeezix

Internal Development
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www.codejedi.com
When using pnd-file type applications (which hopefully takes off), when you stick an SD card (or two) in the applications get automagically detected and made available.

For desktop managers, sticking the resulting .desktop file in one path means they go on desktop, or another they go into menu (by category.)

Currently the default config is set to drop them to the path that is the desktop; we could trivially alter the default conf file so they go to a menu instead.

(We're still debating right now how you can easily assign an app to one or the other at a configurable level, so let that aside for now. ie: We could make a conf file so you could specify which apps go where, or make it dynamic so if just too many apps are there it goes to menu, or maybe do it by category, or any number of ways, but we'll see what we can do up front, and we can alter behaviour over time. But we're talking about a _sensible default_ here.)

For default to desktop makes easy for you to just plug in an SD and run stuff, and is more 'traditional' a la handhelds (iphone, webOS, Palm OS, Pocket PC, etc and so on .. icons on your display.) But if you have 75 apps, you prolyl wont' fit them all on the desktop, so you want them in a menu.

So, how woudl you like your Panda to work by default?

jeff

edit: just had a brainfart; right now, you put pnd-files in your SD /pandora/apps directories; coudl make it so its /pandora/apps for desktop, and /pandora/menuapps for menu, perhaps, or something like that. Nice and easy that way, maybe..
 
I think this would work well:

Insert SD card containing PND files of all various categories.

Then, on the desktop a folder called 'SD 1' or 'SD 2' shows up. Go inside that and you'll see folders for each category type of application. So an 'Applications' folder for all PND's that have 'Application' type in their PXML, and so on for Games, Emulators etc. Having the same sort of setup for the Menu at the same time would work good too for me, in case I have lots of windows on my desktop and it's not easy to get to the SD1 or SD2 folders as going into the Menu :)
 
I agree with your brainfart!

And after that, I also agree with having Desktop for default. I personally don't like it that way but I can easily edit conf file, and plan to. But by showing apps in the desktop you make them more accesible to the kind of people who doesn't want or doesn't know how to change the conf file, or would get confused trying to find them in the menu (if that's even possible).
 
How about make all the apps show up on the menu, and your favorites show up on the desktop as well as the menu.
 
How about:
when you insert a card, a new menu-button pops up on the toolbar, with all of the apps on that card in there. Keeps things separated.

I myself rarely even see my desktop, so putting it on the desktop isn't of much use for me...
 
Can we not make it read a user file noting the preference which would override a .pnd file specifying either Desktop or Menu -- both of these features would be good.

I guess Desktop. It looks cool and is easier to find given a small amount of .pnds.
 
I'd rather keep my desktop clean.

A dedicated menu is much better, since it even provides us the ability to separate things into categories (dunno about all you guys, but I plan to have a LOT of apps on the SD, and just throwing everything on the desktop seems quite messy - even unprofessional)
 
Every app or game should be properly exposed in the menu, the desktop is a clear plus for favorites, If an app or game is exclusivly on the desktop, I'd probably search for it with locate instead of looking at the desktop.
 
conso said:
the desktop is a clear plus for favorites

Just realized I forgot to mention that, which is quite an important feature to be present...
 
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How is the SD card arranged?
like what is the filestructure like?
sd
\/
pandora
\/
apps, docs, downloads, desktop, media
and sub categories for each of those?
 
I voted for menu. I do like the idea of using the desktop, but once your .pnd collection grows it'll get ugly.

The idea of favourites on the desktop though, very yes.
 
Menu, I never use desktop shortcuts.
Also, it would be great if there was a launcher shortcut. In KDE, I never actually use the menu OR the desktop, I just hit Alt + F2 and use the launcher. I think GNOME has one of these, GNOME Do.

Just remembered, it's called krunner. xfce prolly has its own version.
 
skeezix said:
edit: just had a brainfart; right now, you put pnd-files in your SD /pandora/apps directories; coudl make it so its /pandora/apps for desktop, and /pandora/menuapps for menu, perhaps, or something like that. Nice and easy that way, maybe..
I think you have the best solution right there in your post.
 
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skeezix said:
edit: just had a brainfart; right now, you put pnd-files in your SD /pandora/apps directories; coudl make it so its /pandora/apps for desktop, and /pandora/menuapps for menu, perhaps, or something like that. Nice and easy that way, maybe..
I like this idea - it seems practical, to me. :)
 
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I hate having opinions, but I dislike the apps vs. menuapps idea. Applications are applications are applications and should be stored distinctly from the way they're presented. Similarly, having separate SD1 and SD2 folders seems like a poor idea, as it shouldn't matter which card an app is on, it should only matter that it's on.

So how about having all PND apps appear in a menu (sorted by category, or maybe not)? Then, if this magic is possible, add a right-click option to put it on the desktop (favourite it), an option which is stored in a config file on NAND or SD.
 
Tempel said:
So how about having all PND apps appear in a menu (sorted by category, or maybe not)? Then, if this magic is possible, add a right-click option to put it on the desktop (favourite it), an option which is stored in a config file on NAND or SD.
If this magic is not possible:
- list of on-desktop pnds stored on the sd
- make a small app that has two panels with pnd list (by default all on the menu side) and move buttons + save button that writes the list of pnds on the desktop side to sd
 
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