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One more feature to add, IMHO
by aurelius_barzano on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @00:36
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After educating myself on KOffice a bit (being locked in Windows world for now makes it hard to test) and having a tryst with my friend's Adobe Creative Suite 2 (bought recently for a web design studio) I'd say there is one thing KOffice would benefit from, and I guess it wouldn't be too hard to implement:
A honest summary view.
I fell for Adobe Bridge, honest. IMHO, that's one of the things that Adobe did right (overbloat in PS isn't one of them, personally I prefer 7.0, heck, even 5.5 to CS anyday) and it would be one more killer thing that would make KOffice stand out. What would it look like? I'd say cloning Kontact summary first would be a good start, only this time it would show things like recent documents, recent projects, maybe would also be tied to a file browser via Konq KPart AND would be the first thing user would see after starting KOffice in its entirety. Add to it the possibility of customizing the summary panels (like views in 3D Studio, for instance:
______________________
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|________| |
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|________| |
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|________|_____________|
or
______________________
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|___________|__________|
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|___________|__________|
(sorry for craptastic ASCII art, and it's mangled anyway - just add spaces), where each panel would show, for instance, recent files, recent projects, todos, file browser etc., et. al. Just like Kontact, most important things at a glance.
So, what would you people think? |
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Re: One more feature to add, IMHO
by Boudewijn Rempt on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @01:00
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A kind of web-portal like thing for KOffice? Could be quite a good idea to expand koshell to do this kind of thing.
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Re: One more feature to add, IMHO
by aurelius_barzano on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @13:06
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The whole idea is to give the user a way to remind oneself what he was supposed to do at a glance. Imagine this scenario: a user, annoyed due to the fact that it's Monday, weekend is over, comes back to work. Starting KOffice he sees the summary view with all recent files, todos, recently visited sites, projects running, all data necessary to continue working. Without leaving the Office shell, he may launch all necessary programs, heck, also programs outside the Office, such as web browser or communications system (by means of customizable toolbar or maybe a set of quasi-hyperlinks). In essence, KOffice remembers, what he was working on and adjust the Summary to reflect it, thus making those comebacks easier. Also, it would benefit people who have files they return to - a separate field, where user would put "favorite files" to have them just a click away would be also an interesting feature.
As for expanding koshell this way, frankly, I am no software engineer, so maybe I should not throw any ideas around, lest I show my ignorance, but I'd say koshell is, at least from what I have seen, more like a common framework, a container for component applications. I'd keep it that way, as, well, a sandbox of sorts, while building Summary module as an independent application, maybe not available without koshell, but still not merely a set of features for it.
Treating all structured apps like that would be a good idea. Heck, structuring similar apps might be a good idea. That would turn loosely connected programs into systems. A common shell for office programs, another for multimedia, another for the web, all applications available outside the shells, independent, but still ready to be combined into larger entities. For one thing, it would shorten start menus rather drastically. Each shell can be extendable with additional programs designed to fit, each program is able to use plugins, where necessary. And the user would just place, like, two or three shortcuts on his desktop and have everything, every bit of data within his grasp.
Just add a file indexing system like GDS or Copernic Desktop Search, and watch chaos turn into order.
By the way, since my knowledge of K programs is rather mediocre, is it possible to open multiple documents (spreadsheets, text files, images etc.) in tabs? That, if not implemented, would be a great idea. Or allowing split windows a'la Konqueror to make quick comparisons. I'd say apart from limited functionality in Word, there is nothing like that in commercial software. Though i might be wrong.
Anyway, I have a few ideas I'd like to contribute. I'm no programmer, have no idea how to code (might change that in the future), but when it comes to usability and similar stuff, maybe I could do something. Blast, I have a few ideas that need some good-looking mockups. Who knows, a free weekend...
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Re: One more feature to add, IMHO
by Jakob Petsovits on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @01:39
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KOffice includes the KOffice Workspace (also known as koshell) which does most of the things you just described. It has got a Kontact-like sidebar with all the KOffice apps, tabs for switching between documents, and a standard File menu including recent files. So, don't long for it, it already there :-)
I'm not sure if customized views would be such a great idea, though.
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