[Thunar-dev] Interface thoughts

[Erik Harrison]

Yeah, I know everyone has an opinion, but here is mine anyway.

I'd like to point out that I'm looking for a file manager, and haven't
found a good one yet, so I'm looking for something I can _use_. My
usage patterns are much like Jasper's. I'm specializing in Interaction
Design and Human Computer Interaction, and my final paper for
graduation here is going to be file managers.

First off, I just wonder if anyone has taken a look at or had the
opportunity to use the NeXT file manager? If you've used the OS X
Finder, then you've used it's wimpy brother. You can see some
screenshots and explication here:

http://www120.pair.com/mccarthy/nextstep/intro.htmld/Workspace.html

It's not perfect, and it's UI isn't quite consistent with other apps
in the GTK+ world, but it's well thought out and powerful.
Particularly the way it displays the current path. This simultaneously
acts like a back/forward/up/history like system, while also providing
an easy way to do stuff that some file managers make hard, like doing
drag and drop with the current directory. Double clicking on a folder
in that "history bar" takes you to that folder, but preserves the
history, until you decend into a different folder, much like a
browser. This is not only the most powerful history tool I've used in
a file manager, it is also probably the easiest to learn.

I'd also like to point out that spatial and navigational models are
not incompatible in the same file manager. Spatial is very easy to
learn and to do basic tasks with. It also (Like Brian and Steve Jobs
pointed out) makes the user the janitor. The most recent version of OS
X puts both models in the Finder, and then makes the moronic mistake
of making the navigational mode default.

If you have a "New Window on open" option, and the ability to disable
all the toolbars, then you can make a spatial file manager without
sacrificing users like Jasper, Brian and me. Just make those the
default
-- 
CAPS LOCK: ITS LIKE THE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
-Erik