gnome-volume-manager blank CD defaults

[John (J5) Palmieri]

On Thu, 2004-10-07 at 18:15, Michael Wiktowy wrote:
> > Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2004 12:02:57 -0400
> > From: "John (J5) Palmieri" <johnp at redhat.com>
> > Subject: gnome-volume-manager blank CD defaults
> > To: Development discussions related to Fedora Core
> > 	<fedora-devel-list at redhat.com>
> > Message-ID: <1097164977.22577.6.camel at remedyz.boston.redhat.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain
> > 
> > I wanted to get the Fedora communities opinion on popping up a burn://
> > folder when a blank CD is inserted into the drive.  Right now we pop it
> > up which makes sense because if you pop in a blank CD most likely you
> > want to burn to it.  Problems come in when a user is using browser mode
> > in Nautilus.  If you pop the CD in and out a couple of times you get a
> > bunch of burn:// folders.  Since you get a CD icon on the desktop which
> > you can double click to open up the burn:// folder I am wondering if I
> > should turn this off by default.  I am of no opinion either way so I
> > want to see how everyone else feels. 
> > 
> > -- 
> > John (J5) Palmieri
> > Associate Software Engineer
> > Desktop Group
> > Red Hat, Inc.
> > Blog: http://martianrock.com
> 
> My Opinion since you asked for it:
> One of my major annoyances is things that pop up obtrusively.

Ok well this should be fixed once we have some sort of notification
system that is informative yet non-intrusive so I am not so worried
about this since you can turn it off.  Defaults aren't whats least
annoying to experienced users, they are about what is most convenient
for new users.

> I think
> that a default option should be as intuitive and non-intrusive as
> possible while still guiding the user to the proper solution.

That is the goal but I would take intuitive before non-intrusive.

> With that in mind, I would say that the icon appearing on the desktop
> with some descriptive title that it is a blank CD and what drive it is
> in (realizing that some have multiple burners on their systems) would be
> adequate.

The problem with this is the desktop is often obscured and a new user
would have to find where the icon popped up so it is not extremely
intuitive.  Once a user understands about dynamic icons then it becomes
more intuitive.

> Right clicking should give you the option to burn it with your choice of
> installed burners.

This I don't understand.

> Double-clicking on it should activate the default burning software which
> would be burn://.

This is already what it does.

> I would do this for audio CD also.

There is no question about audio CD defaults.  For those the right thing
is to start an CD player.  It is the same thing that happens when you
pop a CD into your stereo.  

> i.e. Treat removable media as kind of a pseudo mime-type in nautilus.

Removable media works fine in Nautilus.  They pop up as icons and you
can launch them.  By default they also pop up windows which makes
sense.  

The reason I special case CD burning is because of some of the problems
associated with it, though I have yet to hear any compelling argument
for removing it.  As I said when I started this thread I really don't
care either way but there have been compelling points for leaving it in
so I am leaning that way right now.  If you want to convince me you need
to come from the point of a new user who just wants things to work out
of the box.  Any experienced user can configure the desktop to how they
like it.  I want to make sure it is usable to those who just want to use
the desktop. 

> If people want to automagically start up things then they can have that
> option in the preferences. 

And if people don't want to automagically start things up now, then they
already have that option in the preferences.

> But this is a semi-automatic solution that
> will avoid all the familiar and annoying problems like:

There is no semi-automatic solution.  Its either on or off.  The rest of
the desktop will function the same way.

> - Burning with an app that asks you to enter a blank CD and then having
> another app start up in the middle of the burn. You don't *always* start
> a burn by sticking in a blank CD.

This is a problem with a solution.

> - Opening up the default burning software while you already have another
> one open in preparation for burning. While all software *should* be
> written to block access via hal, forcing that feature on all CD burning
> apps just so the default doesn't screw up is not entirely fair ...

It is perfectly fair.  If we want an integrated desktop with components
that work well together HAL and DBUS will get us there but that is
another story.  

> especially if they are also included in Fedora (past and present since
> supposedly upgrading Fedora between major releases is something that is
> "supported").

I don't get the reference to upgrading.  Yes we should add the
functionality to all CD burning apps in FC though I am not sure that
will happen this time around.

> Just my opinion.
Thank you.

--
J5