Take control of your applications menu.

[bbjimmy]

open /boot/home/config/settings/deskbar
Right click the menu folder and select [Create link] [Current folder]
rename the link to menu_entries

Now you have a Deskbar menu that works the way BeOS did.

[clasqm]

Mmmm, yes, I get a completely empty menu structure in which I can create folders and such. Weird, that just creating a symlink would create such a total change in the Deskbar.

So now the question is whether the ability to customize the Deskbar is worth having to do everything by hand. I'll have to think about that. I have QuickLaunch tied to a hotkey and that is how I start most programs these days.

Is this a bug or a feature, anyway? ;-) If this is not a bug that will one day be fixed, then it leaves open the possibility of writing an alternative menu setup utility.

[bbjimmy]

This is supposed to be a feature, and the menu utility idea is on my mind as well. I am still mulling over the what and how of it.

[clasqm]

I just don't understand the Haiku devs' insistence that everything must be thrown into one big Applications menu. In the apps on my repo I make use of the Dektop applets and Demos menus whenever I can, but Applications still scrolls off the screen.

You can actually create subdirectories off Applications when you create the HPKG. I sort of accidentally did that when I packaged ekit - of course that was when OpenJDK was still working. Also a recent update to QT4 put a submenu in my Applications menu. Now I'm not advocating a free-for-all, but Haikudepot does have existing categories
Games
Business
Audio, etc
BBJimmy, Lelldorin, what do you think? Between the three of us we control a lot of apps. If we started using Haikudepot's own categories in the menu, we could bring some sanity to Applications. It means going back to our apps and updating from say 1.0-1 to 1.0-2 and so on. Perhaps start with Games?

[bbjimmy]

Once I get enough stuff to categorize, I was thinking the same thing. I am starting to place a rem statement in the .packageinfo file so that the categories will be automatic for repo website. ( it is generated by the script that updates the package directory. ) Adding the folders to the applications menu seems appropriate. +1 from me.

[clasqm]

Well, It's done. All the apps on my repo now follow the scheme described above. If you use apps of mine, do a 'pkgman update' to see the effect.

I'm considering writing a utility to create links in those subfolders for the standard Haiku apps, and optionally anything else the user wants in there.

[clasqm]

Started eating my own dogfood, loading all my own ports into a clean installation, and then I promptly ran into some errors. Oh, well ...

[Zaddy]

I appreciate that idea of using idea existing Haikudepot categories for better organization. Has anyone made progress on developing such a utility yet?

[bbjimmy]

I appreciate that idea of using idea existing Haikudepot categories for better organization. Has anyone made progress on developing such a utility yet?

I haven't tried it, but Besly Software Solutions has menusorter. one needs to add theit repo. see https://software.besly.de/