SpecEnhancedPreferredApps

Revision 15 as of 2007-01-12 08:59:30

Clear message

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

Summary

This specification outlines how I feel the default (preferred) applications dialog should be.

Rationale

The current default applications dialog lets us choose our preferred apps for web browsing, email reading and terminal(-ing?), and I think it needs to be expanded.

There are many different filetypes with many different editors or viewers, and these need an easy way to choose the default application that they are used in. For example, there are filetypes such as pdf, torrent, txt and so on which have many different applications they can use.

Use cases

  • Fred is a new user who has downloaded the free software magazine as a pdf, and it instantly opens in Evince. This surprises Fred because he wanted it to load in his newly installed Adobe Acrobat reader. He is slightly miffed. No problem, Fred opens up the 'Preferred Applications' dialog in the aptly named Preferences menu and set pdf files to open with Acrobat. No problem.
  • Hubert is a windows and linux user, who has Microsoft Word installed through wine. One day he receives a letter as a .doc file. When he opens the file he is confused to see it open in OpenOffice and wants to make .doc files open in Word under wine. Using his inititive he trys to find somewhere where change it. After seconds he find the 'Preferred Applications' dialog and all is good.

  • Frederific has just installed a new fancy pantsy media player thingy, he wants to tell it to open mp3, ogg, flac, mov and mpg files. He would need to hunt down each of those file of those files and change each one before this, but now he can change them all in the same place. Saving lots of speed and energy, and thats what he's all about. Smile :)

Scope

This specification covers Ubuntu and Gnome.

Design

  • There should be another tab in 'Preferred Applications' to be used for assigning different mime types to different applications.
  • There should be a way to choose an application from the main 'Applications' menu, and also a button which lets the more advanced user find the program by finding the executable itself.
  • I've put together a mock-up of what it could be like, but I haven't yet worked out how to put include a way to choose an application from the Applications menu. The source (glade) file is in the bazaar branch below.
    • attachment:mockup0.2.png

Summary

I am proposing simple, centralised way for users to choose what program they want to open their files.

Rationale

At the moment users have no central way to choose what program opens their files, I believe this would be a very powerful feature. This would be very useful to everyone, especially those new to Ubuntu.

Implementation

This shouldn't be too hard to implement, as (if I understand it correctly) all that the new dialog would need to do would be to read from and write to the mime type database, and then have a gtk frontend coded around it.

Bazaar Branch

The branch is here: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~matt-medland/+junk/enhanced-default-apps

Have fun.

Comments

  • What would happen to the existing system of using right-click -> Properties -> Open With? Or the right-click 'Open with' menu? Three ways of doing the same thing might get confusing, would any method be removed? ---philbull

    • My opinion is to keep them all, as if someone has been using GNOME for a while they won't get disappointed that their way of doing something has gone. That my opinion, but it might not be the best. Smile :) ---MattMedland

      • Both Windows and Mac OS let you permanently change the program that opens a particular file from the Properties/Info window for that file. It would be odd if you couldn't in Ubuntu. -- MatthewPaulThomas

  • Could this be suggested as a change upstream? Might be worth contacting GNOME's [http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability usability-list] to ask what they think ---philbull

    • Yup, I was thinking about probably padding the spec out a bit, but I might as well ask what they think sooner rather than later. I'll contact them when I get home tonight. Thanks for the link. ---MattMedland

  • Do you want to provide a long list of all mimetypes? I remember older GNOME 2.x versions provided such a dialog which was a mess. I think providing an easy way to set the default app for all audio files, all video files etc. would be a lot easier to use.
    • I'm thinking of maybe categorising the mime-types within the dialog, so we would have drop down arrows of a few categories and then all the configuration done under them. I'll try to make a mock-up tonight which should show what I have in mind. ---MattMedland

      • Remember that most people have no idea what "mime types" are, and nor should they. So at least include human-readable names of each filetype. -- MatthewPaulThomas

  • This specification should be moved out of the "MattMedland/" namespace (and the Launchpad registration updated). -- MatthewPaulThomas

  • I don't see any good points for mime types inclusion in preferring apps. In gnome mime is file and file is mime so central editor breaks this model. We should remove this spec and create new one that make easier for user to change application of one mime . First two use cases in this spec don't need central app and third one assumes that you know which mimes you can change -- MiikaLaaksonen


CategorySpec