Bug 233359 - Allow to start Gwenview in Browse mode showing a custom directory instead of showing the Start Page
Summary: Allow to start Gwenview in Browse mode showing a custom directory instead of ...
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: gwenview
Classification: Applications
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: unspecified Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Gwenview Bugs
URL:
Keywords:
: 295153 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-04-05 16:50 UTC by RalphB
Modified: 2018-04-21 13:36 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

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Description RalphB 2010-04-05 16:50:43 UTC
Version:           2.4.2 (using 4.4.2 (KDE 4.4.2), Kubuntu packages)
OS:                Linux (x86_64) release 2.6.32-19-generic

I've been using Gwenview as an image browser and management tool since KDE 3.5.  As such, the Start Page offers no value.

In particular, since I've disabled History, I'm greeted with an almost empty page that has five icons crammed into the upper right-hand corner of the screen.  I always have to mouse over that list and click on Home.  This is annoying, as I navigate Gwenview almost entirely by keyboard.

Suggestion: Add an option to start in some configurable default directory (which could also be $PWD).

(Personal remark: Please, for the love of God, make Gwenview configurable!  I'm still missing customizations that Gwenview 1.4 had!  If I wanted no-options applications I'd be using Gnome instead.)
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2017-09-11 15:34:13 UTC
*** Bug 295153 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 2 null 2018-01-31 00:00:10 UTC
I'm still undecided on what to do here. There are two options:

1. Delegate setting an initial directory to show on startup to the .desktop file, by indicating a command line argument (i.e. WONTFIX the bug). Creating that custom launcher works just fine today, however with a small catch: You'd have to create a duplicate launcher / start menu entry in case you still want Gwenview to open when clicking on an image in Dolphin.

2. Make it configurable in the settings, just like in Dolphin. We could design it a bit simpler though, maybe via two radio buttons: "Start page" and "Custom directory" with a directory chooser button, defaulting to ~/Pictures. OTOH, it adds clutter and the "Places" tab on the Start page is not that bad either (I'd rather improve the usability of the Start page a bit).
Comment 3 RalphB 2018-01-31 17:20:23 UTC
Well, in the past 8 years I became kind of used to it. :-)

But in general, I would discourage command line arguments for *applications*, as they are kind of difficult to discover (and thus, useless).
Comment 4 null 2018-01-31 17:31:17 UTC
Well, they're not useless. I guess the question is whether we consider starting Gwenview in a directory an expert feature (for experts creating a custom launcher is a piece of cake) or an option so important for the regular use case we have to expose a setting in the GUI.
Comment 5 RalphB 2018-01-31 17:49:56 UTC
Yes, I see, it's up to you.  But when you create a command line option, how do you tell users about it?

I've never read the Gwenview manual (if there is one), nor did I check the man page (if there is one).  So how would I learn about this new option?

But I won't start a discussion here, this was just meant as comment. :-)
Comment 6 null 2018-01-31 17:56:38 UTC
> But when you create a command line option, how do you tell users about it?
$ gwenview -h
Usage: gwenview [options] url
  [...]
Arguments:
  url                        A starting file or folders

(Besides that, this is standard behaviour pretty much every app supports.)

I'll leave the Bug open for now. Maybe we get more opinions on the matter in the meanwhile or perhaps even someone sends a patch.
Comment 7 Huon 2018-02-22 02:53:51 UTC
I personally don't see this as necessary. As Henrick said, you can specify a folder as an argument, so you can create a custom .desktop file, script, or directly bind a keyboard shortcut. You can also right click a folder > Open with... > Gwenview in Dolphin.

I agree with Henrick in that it would be better to improve the start page.
Comment 8 null 2018-04-09 08:58:54 UTC
See also Bug 303631.

> maybe via two radio buttons
For extra convenience, we could even think about whether adding a third option to solve Bug 202411 could be worth the extra UI and code complexity.