[Thunar-dev] Interface thoughts

[Erik Harrison]

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 22:26:11 +0100, Benedikt Meurer
<benedikt.meurer at unix-ag.uni-siegen.de> wrote:
> Erik Harrison wrote:
> > 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.
> 
> So you're about to become a Human Interface Designer? If so, why didn't
> you told us earlier? :-)

I just found the list ;-)

> 
> > 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
> 
> Thank you very much for not complaining about spatial within the first 3
> paragraphs, that was very bracing to read. ;-)
> 
> And thanks for throwing in the nextstep idea (Francois came up with that
> earlier, but somehow it got lost).
> 
> I've seen that in Aqua Finder already (tho as you said, the new Finder
> is a wimpy toy, where the apple people could not decide about what they
> want), but somehow I failed to see the usefulness in the Browser view
> (which is what the nextstep file manager is popular for). On the other
> side I never tried to use/get used to it, so cannot comment on it (yet).
> 

I really don't like the browser view. It demos cool, but is really
just a poor replacement for a treeview.

> For those who haven't used the nextstep file manager: There's an OSS
> clone called FSViewer (tho, very unstable).
> 
> > 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 think, especially the history is very consistent with the new
> GtkFileChooser UI.
> 
> > I'd also like to point out that spatial and navigational models are
> > not incompatible in the same file manager.
> 
> I think the best example here is ROX, which tries to combine both
> worlds, and fails (yeah, I know, it works for geeks, but that wasn't the
> point here).

ROX mostly fails because of it's bizzare resize behavior.

Honestly, I'm not pushing the idea that hard, but I think it can be
made to work easily, if the spatial camp is loud enough. The
likelyhood that toolbars will be optional seems high, and the option
to always open a new window seems common. I'm just talking about
defaults.

> 
> > 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.
> 
> I dunno what to say about Aqua Finder afterall. While I can use it
> (which doesn't tell anything), I don't think Apple did a good job with
> that hybrid. They should either fully adopt the old Next FM or stay with
> the Classic Finder UI. Just my 0.02€ tho...
> 
> > 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
> 
> Sounds like ROX to me.
> 
> Benedikt
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-- 
CAPS LOCK: ITS LIKE THE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
-Erik