File Extension Madness

A heated, bloodey battle was fought on irc over how the 'save as' dialog
deals with file extensions with many varied opinions on how to do it.

Dom likes it as-is (right?), in that if you save a file as 'my.doc' yet
select the type as '.abw', that the file should be saved as a .doc
without bothering him. Everybody (seemingly) agreed that user
preference is ultimately what counts, but that this could lead to some
problems for Ms. Joanna Secretary or Rev. George Bloggs.

Imagine Joanna saving an AbiWord document as a .doc, and sending it to
clients who can not open it, or poor George making a trip down to the
printers to sort out the weekly Church newsletter, only to miss evening
Mass because the printers could not open the file (*sigh* they use
Windows). Surely they are more representative of the target audience
for AbiWord - the technicially illiterate who just want to write their
documents in peace without having to worry about files not working for
one reason or another.

Suggestions:

1. A polite warning when it occurs, a dialog saying:

-----------
You have given your document a file extension that does not match the
type of document you are saving. This could prevent other applications
from correctly viewing your document. Do you want AbiWord to amend the
file extension?

[] Do not show this dialog again

No | Replace and Save | Append and Save | Cancel
-----------

2. An option in the save dialog:

-----------
[] Amend File Extension to match Document Type
-----------

There was a strong consensus about the OOo approach of appending the
file extension regardless of user preference. Also, Dom expressed a
concern about AbiWord getting in his way. Since both the options above
are 'one time only' hits, I would hope he considers them as unobtrusive.

Of course my wording above may be the preverbial pile of stinking manure
and more approach wording should replace it.

-- 
- Charlie
Charles Goodwin <charlie@vexi.org>
Online @ www.charlietech.com