Re: [be] How to sync with Paratext

[Dennis Drescher]

Hi Teus,

Teus Benschop wrote:
> Yet all of these programs have their data stored in their own hidden
> folder (.thunderbird, .mozilla, .Skype)...

Yes but my point was that for the average user the only reality exists 
in files they can see in an application like Nautilus. However...

> I believe that the model described above to protect the data is one
> that strikes a good balance between the needs of the novice user,
> security, and the needs of the advanced one.

I would agree and the issue of the average user accidentally deleting 
their data is real and for that reason I would agree that staying with 
the model you now have would be best. Maybe I should look at the 
documentation surrounding that subject and see if it could be improved 
to help average users find their data. (Of course I'd have to write it 
if it needed improvement. ;-) Plus, if you were to go to the one book 
per file layout that would make things easier too for end users to work 
with their data outside of BE, if they had to. For example I could link 
directly with my publishing system to the data in the .bibledit area 
with no problem if they were one book per file. BTW, it might might be 
good if you used book IDs as the file name, e.g. mat.usfm.

> Having said this all, I do like your idea of making it easier to
> "ln -s" to the new directory of the user's choice where he will
> store his data, and invite you to submit a task for that.

Well, now that I think about it, it may not be the best idea if we want 
to protect the user's data from accidental deletion. "ln -s" just helps 
bring the data out where the user can delete it easier. :-( If you 
delete a linked file with -s it kills the original too.

I think more thought will need to go into this. I think we should 
explore data portability issues at some point as well (moving a project 
from one system to another with a single file). For now, all things 
considered, I'd be glad if BE just used the one book per file model and 
had good documentation to find the data if the user had to sync with an 
external application.

Thanks,

Dennis



> Hi Denis,
>
> When the topic is about ease of use for the computer novice, one can
> notice that programs like Thunderbird, Firefox and Skype are good
> examples of programs that new users will easily master, even on Linux.
>
> Yet all of these programs have their data stored in their own hidden
> folder (.thunderbird, .mozilla, .Skype). It seems therefore that the
> hidden location of their data files is not a hindrance for ease of use
> for novice users. The key here is that all three programs mentioned do
> not normally need the computer user to have access to their data. All
> their data is operated through the menu. The advantage of using hidden
> folders is that is is not easy for a computer user to erase this data by
> accident. If for example Thunderbird would store their data in the
> folder ~/thunderbird, then the data would be visible in Nautilus. It
> would take a simple press on the Del button to loose all the data. In
> order to give better protection to the data, many programs have decided
> that on Linux they store it in hidden folders. It takes much more effort
> in these case to loose the data by accident.
>
> Bibledit too has decided that normally users do not need to access its
> data, so it was protected by putting it in hidden folders. In
> Thunderbird if one wishes to save an email, one has to use "Save As". In
> Bibledit, similarly, if one wishes to save the USFM files, one has to
> "Export" these.
>
> I believe that the model described above to protect the data is one that
> strikes a good balance between the needs of the novice user, security,
> and the needs of the advanced one.
>
> Having said this all, I do like your idea of making it easier to "ln -s"
> to the new directory of the user's choice where he will store his data,
> and invite you to submit a task for that. By default Bibledit will then
> store its data hidden so protecting it, but if the advanced user wishes
> to take the risk, and knows what he is doing, well, let him have the
> option to do so. Thunderbird too allows the user to change the location
> where it stores the data. And yes, if book files are needed, rather than
> chapter ones, (and I do see the point that you make), pls. go ahead to
> submit this task too.
>
> Thanks for the points your brought up, and reading thus far...
>
> Teus.