I'm long winded I know, but I do have some ideas/feedback and I'd like
to know what others think.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:18:22 -0500, John W. Kennedy
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Peter Kupfer wrote:
> > I have about 30 files called test.sxw, but each is in a different folder
> > with a different title. So, now I am confused.
> 
> If they are in different directories, they have different filenames, by
> definition.
>From what I understand, filename is the name of the file (eg
"test.sxw") whereas the pathname is the location of the file (eg
"/home/joe/docs/directory1/" or "C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My
Documents\docs\directory1\"). So by (at least this) definition, you
can have as many files with the same name as you want provided their
pathname is different. For example:

Pathname      |      Filename
/home/joe/docs/      |      text.sxw
/home/joe/docs/directory1/      |      test.sxw
/home/joe/docs/directory2/      |      test.sxw
C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My Documents\docs\      |      test.sxw
C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My Documents\docs\directory1\      |      test.sxw
C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My Documents\docs\directory2\      |      test.sxw

In all of the above the documents have the same file name. Are you
saying that OOo displays the entire pathname and filename? (BTW,
1.9.69, from what I see, doesn't, it only displays the filename as I
described) But if this is the proposed solution (showing both path and
file name) then look at the following:

Example A:
/home/joe/docs/directory1/Important/Work/Required_Classes/FallSemester/Math/2250/PrenticeHallBook/Section1/Chapter10/TestStudyMaterials/ExampleTestQuestions.sxw
/home/joe/docs/directory1/Important/Work/Required_Classes/FallSemester/Math/2250/PrenticeHallBook/Section1/Chapter11/TestStudyMaterials/ExampleTestQuestions.sxw
C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My
Documents\docs\directory1\Important\Work\Required_Classes\FallSemester\Math\2250\PrenticeHallBook\Section1\Chapter10\TestStudyMaterials\ExampleTestQuestions.sxw
C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My
Documents\docs\directory1\Important\Work\Required_Classes\FallSemester\Math\2250\PrenticeHallBook\Section1\Chapter11\TestStudyMaterials\ExampleTestQuestions.sxw

Example B:
/home/joe/docs/example_file_name_that_is_supposed_to_be_really_long_and_self_explanatory_so_that_the_user_does_not_ever_have_to_fill_in_the_title_of_the_document_because_they_can_precisely_name_it_however_they_want_wherever_they_want_it_to_show_in_the_title_bar.sxw

In Exmaple A the two files there have a simple single character
difference (Chapter10 vs Chapter 11). However if the filename is too
long (see Example B as well) (as it would have to be on machines that
have lower resolutions) how would the user be able to tell what the
file was?

Personally I don't have a need right now to set document titles, but I
am not doing a lot of document editing either, and I can see how
useful seeing the title in the title bar could be.

In the above Example A you could set titles like:
Math 2250 S1 Ch10 Test Q Examples
Math 2250 S1 Ch11 Test Q Examples

Here it's easier to see the difference, wouldn't you agree (even
though it is still only one character difference it can make a big
difference *to each _individual_ user*. As it makes a difference only
between _individual_ users then the setting should be made available
in the preferences UI. Lots of different users, lots of purposes.

However I do see the need for simplification of preferences. I also
like the idea of the shared preferences. Perhaps a master preference
thing could be created (note created. This is a lot of work and
there's no way without some miracoulous pulling together of a lot of
people and a lot of hours spent, to complete this before april, when
OOo 2.0 comes out. Also note that it'd have to be in long before that
april deadline as freezes on new features occur before the next
release. Such a freeze may already be in place). Such a master
preference thing would allow a list of options easily editable. The
user editing those could choose to either change the (maybe password
protected) shared preferences or the user preferences in the master
preference UI. Perhaps a preference editor where Base ties into the
preference database?
Then the current preference UI could be dropped and a new one
installed that is very GUI with the fancy eye candy that many users
seem to prefer (I admit it's nice, but sometimes gets in the way).
This new UI would have the 10% (where did we get this number? out of
the blue?) most commonly used preferences in en easy to understand
well organized fashion hiding the complexity from the user.

I really like the shared preference thing by the way. With something
like that I could probably get group specific sets of preferences that
are applied based on WMI and group security settings through the
Windows Server 2003 further enhancing the likeliehood of corporate
adoption of OpenOffice.org.

Thanks for OOo,
Jacob

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