Browser-based file downloads (was: Re: [vox-tech] browser and mimetypes (I think))

[Karsten M. Self]

on Sun, May 08, 2005 at 07:54:23PM -0700, Bill Kendrick (nbs at sonic.net) wrote:
> On Sun, May 08, 2005 at 05:11:14PM -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
> > The other issues you may have to deal with:
> > 
> >   - Browsers apparently use the MIME type information concerning a file
> >     to figure out how to display it.  See above for the .desktop
> >     clusterfsck WRT GNOME.  Used to be something you'd manage w/in the
> >     browser.  Oh, except when they don't.
> 
> In KDE and Konqueror, this kind of stuff _is_ handled more globally,
> but then, Konqueror's KHTML display functionality lives elsewhere outside
> of Konqueror (such as in the tabbed browsing capabilities of the 'Akregator'
> news feed manager/fetcher).

I don't use Konqueror much -- its feel just doesn't work for me.  But...

Where KDE _does_ win is that while configuration _storage_ is
centralized, _access_ to the configuration tools is not.  Rather, you've
got multiple paths to essentially the same thing, and can configure,
say, proxy settings in Konqueror _without_ diving into the central KDE
configuration toolbox.  While Galeon now allows this, it's a bolt-on
that more-or-less opens the relevant GNOME control.

I've long suspected that this is an aspect of C++ design, where the KDE
configuration control classes are made accessible within whatever random
object actually needs them.
 
> And other applications have abilities to do HTTP, FTP and other kinds
> of downloading (such as KGet, obviously, but also pretty much any
> other KDE program in which you can open a file... feel free to
> download it over HTTP instead of pulling it off your hard disk ;^) )
> 
> Anyway, of course, KDE seems to do a reasonable thing.  When you go to
> "Settings->Configure Konqueror" in Konqueror, you get a fairly intuitive
> configuration window, and there's a big "File Associations" icon on the
> left.  Click that to bring up those specific options.

Oi.  *Massive* win.  GNOME's utterly brain-dead here.
 
> When you go to KDE's main configuration center, the "Control Center"
> (available from the "K" start menu), you find all of these same options
> stored in reasonable places, though not all buried together under
> "Internet & Network -> Web Browser"... again, because it's not _just_ the
> web browser that handles these kinds of things.

Right.
  
> So really, it depends on how you're going about it.  And to me, at least,
> it does seem to make sense.  Though, everyone seems to agree that the KDE
> Control Center itself is getting a little too overwhelming, and that the
> tree hierarchy and search options on the left aren't the best way of going
> about navigating your desktop environment's settings.

GNOME's got some neat navigation assists, however they're completely
hidden.  E.g.:  typing text in a dialog starts a little search thingie.
But you wouldn't know that unless you'd been told.  No context help.

Another KDE win:  much better on-activation feedback (in fact, too much
IMO).  I'm always launching five of stuff under GNOME becose there's no
indication I've actually managed to launch something.
 
> <snip>
> >   - As noted above, some sites (mostly corprate fsckups dependent on
> >     Java or Javascript) don't link directly to downloads, but to an
> >     intermediary page.  Sometimes it's trivially possible to determine
> >     the proper URL, sometimes not.  Worse:  d/l managers from Firefox
> >     and Galeon (GNOME) fail to provide the specific URL currently being
> >     fetched in a form that allows ready cut'n'paste to a terminal.  Or
> >     at all.
> 
> <sacrasm> It's called "progress"!  Now let's go buy another "solution"
> for $10,000...

*puke*


Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself at ix.netcom.com>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
    Yes, but how do you associate preferred programs for those MIME types?
    - Adam Hooper, demonstrating why GNOME is reinventing Unix.  Poorly.
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