unity-design team mailing list archive

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 12:59 PM, Jo-Erlend Schinstad
<joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Den 03. mars 2012 02:27, skrev Andrew Starr-Bochicchio:
>
>> Adding a startup application is not something an average user would
>> want to do. Applications that have a reason to start with the session
>> should add themselves to that list. The "average user" task is to
>> enable or disable a start up application.
>
>
> I completely disagree with that. For instance, you might want to have IM
> available at all times. Or your email client, or web feed reader. Yes, it
> would be better if applications added themselves, but in any case, you would
> never want to auto-start a video-file at startup. This is no doubt a bug.
> When you want to add an application, only applications should be shown, not
> the recently used media files.
>
> Setting an application to start automatically is something anyone and almost
> everyone should want to do.

Also, let's keep in mind how Startup Applications presents itself at
the moment. Uninteresting startup applications are hidden from the
list to make it easier for end users to cope with, and by default I
think there are two items listed there. The only thing an end user
_can_ do is add an application.

The applications that can appear by default in Startup Applications
are there because of their .desktop files. They are listed with icons,
descriptions and full names. The underlying command is not visible
until you edit an item, and the icon is inferred from the command.

The easiest way to add an application is to drag its launcher
(.desktop file) to the list. This automatically adds it, along with an
icon. (Note there's a regression here, because it used to be possible
to drag from the GNOME Panel's main menu).
The immediately obvious way to add an application is completely
different: you have to manually enter a name and a command, and you
get a Browse button because you probably aren't looking for a command,
but a shell script.

I think this tool is pretty broken right now, because it seems to have
no idea who its audience is. Judging by recent changes, I am guessing
it aims to be a non-technical tool. I think technical users would be
better served with something else.

Dylan