Re: [Audacity-quality] Save Project warning.

[Steve t. F. <ste...@gm...>]

On 13 November 2013 07:42, Gale Andrews <ga...@au...> wrote:
>
> | From Steve the Fiddle <ste...@gm...>
> | Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:43:22 +0000
> | Subject: [Audacity-quality] Save Project warning.
>> On 11 November 2013 21:37, Benjamin Drung <bd...@de...> wrote:
>> > On Mo, 2013-11-11 at 14:09 +0000, Steve the Fiddle wrote:
>> >> On 2 November 2013 13:00, Steve the Fiddle <ste...@gm...> wrote:
>> >> > The current message when saving a project is:
>> >> >
>> >> > "You are saving an Audacity project file (.aup).
>> >> >
>> >> > Saving a project creates a file that only Audacity can open.
>> >> >
>> >> > To save an audio file for other programs, use one of the "File >
>> >> > Export" commands."
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Strictly speaking this is not correct.
>> >> > You are not just saving "an Audacity project file (.aup)"
>> >> > You are saving "an Audacity project (.aup file and _data folder)".
>> >> >
>> >> > Many new users are oblivious to the presence and importance of the
>> >> > "_data" folder, which frequently leads to destroyed projects (when
>> >> > they "clean up" after saving a project).
>> >> >
>> >> > Steve
>> >>
>> >> Suggested new wording for the warning:
>> >>
>> >> "You are saving an Audacity project as a
>> >> project file (.aup) and project data folder (_data).
>> >>
>> >> Only Audacity can open an Audacity project.
>> >>
>> >> To save an audio file for other programs, use one of the "File >
>> >> Export" commands."
>> >
>> > +1
>> >
>> > --
>> > Benjamin Drung
>> > Debian & Ubuntu Developer
>>
>> Do we have consensus for this enhancement?
>> Do I need to put it onto bugzilla or can -devel pick it up from here?
>
>>
>> Steve
>
> My 2p - I don't object to pointing out the separation of AUP and
> _data folder.  I suggested this a few years ago, prompted by
> Koz, but he wanted the dialogue title to say "Warning - You are not
> saving an audio file." to emphasize that part of the problem.
>
> That may be too much, but it could say "Warning - You are saving
> an Audacity Project" then not repeat that in the message text.
> It may have more impact.
>
> Otherwise I would take the message further.
>
> "You are saving an Audacity project. Do not move, rename or
>  delete the project's .aup file or  _data folder.
>
> Then as suggested.
>
> Can we be bold and instead fix the cause of the problem Steve
> mentions - make a unitary file format:
> http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Proposal_Unitary_Project ?
>
> Not of course for 2.0.6 - but within the next few releases?
>
>
>
>
> Gale

The current message is factually incorrect because you are not 'just'
saving  an AUP file. Many users are unaware that they are also saving
a _data folder, so i think that we have to spell that out.

-1 on adding "You are not saving an audio file" - if the user reads
the message then I think it should be enough to tell them what they
are saving without also telling them what they are not saving.

-1 on saying "do not move" in this message. If we say that here then
we should also say that for compressed projects, but in the manual we
say: "this may be useful for sending projects to others."

+1 for at least investigating the possibility of a unitary project
format, but until such time as we have that, the Save Project warning
needs to at least be factually accurate.

Steve