A few minor problems with Trisquel 3.5

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akirashinigami

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The default desktop configuration in Trisquel does not include the desktop switching panel applet. However, we still have two desktop workspaces, just like in Ubuntu. Users can still switch between them by using the Ctrl+Alt+arrow keyboard shortcuts. It would probably be very confusing for a new user if they accidentally hit those keys and all their open programs disappeared. If we're going to keep the current desktop configuration for future releases, we should probably switch to having just one desktop workspace.

As far as I know, there is no easy way to configure a firewall in Trisquel. I think we should include a firewall program by default. Possibly gufw? There are probably others, but that's the only one I'm familiar with.

Going to System > Preferences > Main Menu, then clicking Revert alphabetizes the menu entries rather than returning them to their original state. I think it should either return them to their original state, or they should be alphabetized by default. Is there any particular reason that the menu entries aren't alphabetized by default?

Perhaps I'm being overly picky here, but I think some of the main menu tooltips could be improved.

The tooltip for "Log Out (username)..." says "Log out (username) of this session to log in as a different user", which strikes me as somewhat odd in a grammatical sense. It should probably say "Log (username) out of this session to log in as a different user".

The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet says "Perform calculation, analyze information and manage lists in spreadsheets." I think it should say calculations, instead. I know that when I use a spreadsheet, I usually perform more than one calculation.

The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Presentation says "Create and edit presentations for slideshows, meeting and Web pages." I think it should say meetings, instead of just meeting.

The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Drawing says "Create and edit drawings, flow charts, and logos." There's nothing wrong with this one except for the fact that it includes a serial comma while the others don't. I'm not going to argue for or against the use of the serial comma in general, but it should be consistent.

Also, the tooltips for the OpenOffice applications all end with periods while none of the other menu entry tooltips do.

PFDrew

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I agree on all of it, it's going for user friendliness, which isn't something that always occurs in a GNU/Linux operating system.

It's hard to figure out who to contact to get it fixed, and even then to have it fixed, as it isn't a priority to many programmers.

Maybe we should make a quality assurance group to fiddle around with things like this, I'd definitly join it, as it bothers me quite as well.

----- Original message -----
> The default desktop configuration in Trisquel does not include the desktop 
> switching panel applet.  However, we still have two desktop workspaces, just 
> like in Ubuntu.  Users can still switch between them by using the 
> Ctrl+Alt+arrow keyboard shortcuts.  It would probably be very confusing for a 
> new user if they accidentally hit those keys and all their open programs 
> disappeared.  If we're going to keep the current desktop configuration for 
> future releases, we should probably switch to having just one desktop 
> workspace.
>
> As far as I know, there is no easy way to configure a firewall in Trisquel.   
> I think we should include a firewall program by default.  Possibly gufw?   
> There are probably others, but that's the only one I'm familiar with.
>
> Going to System > Preferences > Main Menu, then clicking Revert alphabetizes 
> the menu entries rather than returning them to their original state.  I think 
> it should either return them to their original state, or they should be 
> alphabetized by default.  Is there any particular reason that the menu 
> entries aren't alphabetized by default?
>
> Perhaps I'm being overly picky here, but I think some of the main menu 
> tooltips could be improved.
>
> The tooltip for "Log Out (username)..." says "Log out (username) of this 
> session to log in as a different user", which strikes me as somewhat odd in a 
> grammatical sense.  It should probably say "Log (username) out of this 
> session to log in as a different user".
>
> The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet says "Perform calculation, analyze 
> information and manage lists in spreadsheets."  I think it should say 
> calculations, instead.  I know that when I use a spreadsheet, I usually 
> perform more than one calculation.
>
> The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Presentation says "Create and edit 
> presentations for slideshows, meeting and Web pages."  I think it should say 
> meetings, instead of just meeting.
>
> The tooltip for OpenOffice.org Drawing says "Create and edit drawings, flow 
> charts, and logos."  There's nothing wrong with this one except for the fact 
> that it includes a serial comma while the others don't.  I'm not going to 
> argue for or against the use of the serial comma in general, but it should be 
> consistent.
>
> Also, the tooltips for the OpenOffice applications all end with periods while 
> none of the other menu entry tooltips do.

flop

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Perhaps it is better to open one or more issues to report these problems.

AndrewT

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I'm under the impression that a majority of users never use the desktop-switching feature much. Let's do away with it entirely.

filologen
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I would consider that a very bad idea. I always use a setup with 6 desktops and use them in s systematic way.

AndrewT

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You would still be able to do this within the distro with no problem. But if the desktop switcher is not on the panel, it's not good to still have it enabled if a novice user accidentally switches desktops and can't find out how to switch back.

Luis Felipe López Acevedo
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2010/5/4 <name at domain>

> You would still be able to do this within the distro with no problem. But
> if the desktop switcher is not on the panel, it's not good to still have it
> enabled if a novice user accidentally switches desktops and can't find out
> how to switch back.
>

I'd prefer to have the desktop switcher, I found it very useful from the
first time I used a GNU/Linux system. Actually, I don't like the default
layout of the desktop in Trisquel, I like Ubuntu's better, including the
menu elements in alphabetic order.

--
Luis Felipe López Acevedo
http://introsmedia.tuxfamily.org/

akirashinigami

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Well, you can't please everybody. That's why it's configurable.

Luis Felipe López Acevedo
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2010/5/5 <name at domain>

> Well, you can't please everybody. That's why it's configurable.
>

That's true. But I think that changing the layout of the desktop elements
makes it confusing for users who read the documentation to learn how to use
the system. For example, if you read the section on "Using Panels" in the
documentation, you'd see that the descriptions there don't match the current
layout of Trisquel. I know people are not stupid and will find the things
they are looking for, eventually, but I think it is not good to have that
inconsistency.

--
Luis Felipe López Acevedo
http://introsmedia.tuxfamily.org/

akirashinigami

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Would it be possible to create some sort of desktop configuration templates, so that users could easily switch between the Trisquel defaults, the GNOME defaults, and maybe other configurations as well?