On Mon, 2011-05-16 at 09:51 -0400, Cosimo Cecchi wrote: > On Mon, 2011-05-16 at 13:42 +0100, Calum Benson wrote: > > On 16 May 2011, at 12:18, Luca Ferretti wrote: > > > > > Also, what about content handler/previewer? I remember this similar > > > feature on mac os provides a dedicated API and policy allowing third > > > parties to provide their own "previewers" (i.e. gimp should/could > > > provide the plugin to allow previewing of xcf files) > > > > On that note, one of the most useful things about the OS X equivalent > > (QuickLook) is that it comes with plug-ins out of the box for > > third-party apps that you don't necessarily have installed. > > > > In particular, this makes it possible to view the content of most > > simple .doc, .ppt, .xls files etc. without ever having to install any > > office software (Microsoft's or otherwise). It would certainly be > > great to see that functionality in GNOME, as I'm sure a lot of people > > (like me) only ever really use Libre/OpenOffice to read the occasional > > annoying .doc attachment. > > [ Note that office documents (both OpenDocument and MSOffice formats) > viewing is currently supported in Sushi by using unoconv(1) to convert > them to a temporary PDF and using the Evince plugin to view them ] > > Yes, it's currently possible for 3rd-party applications to provide > custom plugins, and they would basically be treated exactly in the same > way as a built-in one. > Though I'd ideally see plugins for the most commonly used formats all in > the main tree (git master actually has a pretty complete viewer set > now), and I'm not providing any kind of API warranty, at least for the > time being.
Speaking as someone who used to work for a fairly large ISV, a stable way to provide plugins would be nice. Of course, we should get all the common stuff built in, but we're not going to get all the vertical apps. I understand not wanting to lock yourself into an API early, but I think it's something you should keep on the radar. I don't know how your current plugin works, but it seems to me it could work the same way as our thumbnailers: install a script that takes an input file and creates a preview, in this case in any of a number of standard formats. Thanks, Shaun _______________________________________________ desktop-devel-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list
