Bug #10564

Single-item submenus in Applications menu

Added by alant 2015-11-17 10:30:09 . Updated 2019-08-18 08:19:17 .

Status:
Confirmed
Priority:
Low
Assignee:
alant
Category:
Target version:
Start date:
2015-11-17
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Code
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

In Tails/Jessie (90b7229) there are a few categories in application menu with only one item: “Programming” and “Science”. They should be removed.

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - Bug #11248: List applications that need more appropriate menu categories Resolved 2016-03-16

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2015-11-17 11:11:05

  • Subject changed from One-item categories in application menu to Single-item submenus in application menu on Jessie

I’m not opposed to see polishing efforts like this one, and will refrain from asking “what problem are you trying to solve exactly?”, but then please set up whatever is needed to avoid the following scenario:

  1. At time X, there’s only one program P1 in submenu C, so we move it to submenu D
  2. At time X+1, we install a new package that adds a entry P2 to submenu C

… which would have two unfortunate consequences:

  • submenu C reappears with one single item (P2);
  • P1 and P2, which logically should be in the same submenu, are in different ones.

… since if we let this happen, we’re in a worse situation than if we hadn’t done anything at all to start with. In other words, if we go this way, it can’t be a one-shot effort, and I’d like to see the corresponding maintenance cost be as low as possible.

Also keep in mind that with Additional Software Packages the two potential problems I describe above can occur (and we can’t do much about it). There’s also the potential for user confusion if we ship programs in different submenus that where they can be found on other operating systems.

#2 Updated by alant 2015-11-17 12:11:12

> … since if we let this happen, we’re in a worse situation than if we hadn’t done anything at all to start with. In other words, if we go this way, it can’t be a one-shot effort, and I’d like to see the corresponding maintenance cost be as low as possible.

I see 3 solutions:

1. keep the categories containing one item. This cost no work but look unpolished and menu navigation is suboptimal for most users.
2. move to another category in the “.desktop” for the software installed by default that would be alone in their category. This add maintenance cost when we add a new software, which doesn’t happen often.
3. remove the unwanted categories from the menu (removing their desktop-directory). This seems me doubtful as user-installed software would not be found where expected.

> Also keep in mind that with Additional Software Packages the two potential problems I describe above can occur (and we can’t do much about it).

Yes, but for the vast majority of users it looks more polished and navigation in menu is easier.

> There’s also the potential for user confusion if we ship programs in different submenus that where they can be found on other operating systems.

Right.

I don’t have a strong opinion on that, even if I think the current situation doesn’t look optimal for most users.

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2015-11-17 13:36:11

  • Target version deleted (Tails_2.0)

#4 Updated by sajolida 2015-11-18 00:47:41

Solution 2 looks fine but that’s low prio to me.

#5 Updated by Anonymous 2018-08-18 10:09:18

  • related to Bug #11248: List applications that need more appropriate menu categories added

#6 Updated by sajolida 2018-08-21 15:45:09

  • Subject changed from Single-item submenus in application menu on Jessie to Single-item submenus in Applications menu

Still the case in Tails 3.9.

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2019-08-18 08:19:17

In current Tails/Buster, there are 2 such submenus: “Programming” (poedit) and “Universal Access” (Dasher).