Menu Editor

[Harald Judt]

Am 05.05.2012 20:47, schrieb Raphael Groner:
> Hello,
>
> this mail goes to both, developers and users of Xfce.
>
> I am still interested in that thing with a featured and working menu
> editor for Xfce (or maybe not bound to a specific DE at all, this
> probably depends on the libraries being used).
>
> Alacarte is rudimentally supported by the applicationsmenu internel
> plugin of xfce4-panel. But Alacarte brings a lot of problems that can't
> be fixed on Xfce's site, as so far I understand the ongoing discussion.
> I won't list those well known issues here cause we have had this
> discussion again and again. Similiar discussion have been there around
> about other half-dead projects for an usable menu editor.
>
> Better let us look forward and more optimistically. My proposal would
> be to start a collection of wished features for a new Menu editor that
> can be nicely integrated into the Xfce philosophy.
>
> Can we take that point of a Xfce Menu Editor as a goal for Xfce 4.12? I
> appreciate any ideas about features for that new project. First, we
> need a good name. All other wishes are welcome as well. :)
>
> Best regards,
> Raphael

As for the features...

Or perhaps "how it should look like"? I have only seen screenshots of 
Alacarte, but those make it seem a bit uncomfortable to use. Maybe it's 
better to create something from scratch. So here are some ideas to 
support an efficient workflow:

* Menus/Submenus and applications in one tree?-view (WYSIWYG) where the
   menus can be collapsed/expanded. I find the Alacarte approach
   with the menu/item separation inflexible and confusing.

* Additionally, use an own area to the right or below the tree-view
   that shows the properties of the menu/application (name, command,
   path,...). One should not have to double-click the item in the
   tree-view and have to deal with an extra dialog to modify or see
   something. This would mean lots of tedious extra clicks.

* Add a new item via the context menu or the main menu at the place of
   the current selection.

* Drag & Drop of single and multiple items. Alacarte seems to have only
   cumbersome "move up"/"move down" buttons? Connect move up/down to
   shortcuts.

* Copy & paste existing entries.

* Search for and filter applications. Maybe one could use
   xfce4-appfinder to add new entries via drag & drop?

Harald

-- 
`Experience is the best teacher.'