[Thunar-dev] Proposed preferences for Thunar

[Erik Harrison]

On 7/1/05, Biju Chacko <botsie at xfce.org> wrote:
> Brian J. Tarricone wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Biju Chacko wrote:
> >
> >>Benedikt Meurer wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Jaap Karssenberg wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>IMHO if you make it look like the gtk filechooser make sure it
> >>>>behaves consistent with it. For the user it is very confusing when
> >>>>things look the same but behave differently. Besides, if the gtk
> >>>>people found this behaviour intuitive enough why disagree with them?
> >>>
> >>>A valid point indeed. Botsie, what was the point to do otherwise, I
> >>>don't remember? ;-)
> >>
> >>I don't exactly remember either. My main crib with the Gtk chooser
> >>location bar is that it is very easy to get confused with where exactly
> >>you are in the directory tree. Compare:
> >>
> >>* Read the name of the last button
> >>
> >>With
> >>
> >>* Scan the buttons (and scroll if necessary)
> >>
> >>* Locate the button in the pressed state.
> >>
> >>* Read the label of that button.
> >>
> >>IAC, I don't think we should blindly assume that the GTK folks are
> >>somehow smarter than us.
> >>
> >>Consistency should be a criteria only when basic usability of all
> >>options has been established. To put it crudely, why screw something up
> >>just because the GTK guys have screwed it up already.
> >
> >
> > I agree with your point, but I guess I just don't find it confusing at
> > all.  Usually there are very few buttons in the pressed state, and
> > pressed vs. non-pressed is very obvious to the eye (well, this is
> > theme-dependent, but I haven't seen a theme where this is ambiguous to
> > me).  Also, if you navigate to a new directory (not using the buttons),
> > I believe the button bar makes sure the button for the current directory
> > is visible.  If this isn't the case, then I think this would be a fine
> > improvement over GtkFileChooser (that is, fixing something the GTK guys
> > have screwed up already ^_^).
> 
> 
> Actually, 'confusing' is not exactly the right word. Probably a better
> way to describe it would be to say that the GTK location bar presents
> too much information in such a way that it slightly obscures the most
> commonly needed information.
> 
> The most common case "what is the $CWD?" should be be clearer or more
> obvious than it is in the GtkFileChooser.
 
The common case is that someone decends a few folders and then needs
to jump back up, either to check something up higher, or renavigate.

In the prior case then the GtkFileChooser behaviour is perfect.
Otherwise, in 90% of the cases, the user will never be fighting to
figure out the CWD.

So, I think that the lack of consistency is more problematic than the
extra milliseconds of cognitive overhead to determine the CWD.


> 
> -- b
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-- 
"This brings me back to a time where I had no worries. 
All I needed to do was watch Perfect Strangers."
-Erik