[Thunar-dev] Some UI Ideas

[Adam Scheinberg]

Hey everyone, 

I'm new to this list, so please forgive me for not being complete up
to speed on the conversations so far.

I have used many different varieties of Linux for several years, and I
really believe that XFCE4 is a great environment.  One thing I'd like
to chime in on, as an end user more than anything else, is the spatial
metaphor.

I know it's been debated into the ground in most places, and I'm sure
you have addressed this as well, but I'd like to throw my support
behind a browser interface vs spatial.  Spatial interfaces, while
there are many who can argue for them, are counterintuitive and NOT
what the majority of people want.  Frankly, I find that since the
introduction of the new GTK+ file chooser and the introduction of
spatial nautilus, Gnome is unusable for me.  But not just me -
everyone I know who uses Gnome.  Only of the people I know online have
people responded positively, and even there, many of them too dislike
it.  I write for osnews.com, and of audience is a "love-it-or-hate-it"
bunch.  That's not good - you shouldn't alienate half of your target
with a simple decision.  You should default to the least disliked.

I've a fan of Rox and the way it works on the new FreesBIE like CD.  

Some things I really enjoy in a file manager: 
1. The ability to preview text files in the icon, and preview audio with a hover
2. An easy-to-add address bar.  Not everyone loves them, but I don't
think the idea of browsing should be separated from the fm.
3. The ability to easily mount and browser remote systems via SSH,
FTP, NFS, and SMB.
4. A "smart" view.  It should default to icons for a folder with only
a few files, but list view when you're browsing a folder with lots of
files.  If I choose a specific view, like "Detailed," it should
remember that for that folder.
4a. A simple, clean, small list view that shrinks down for directories
with lots of files and subfolders.  In Gnome and KDE, when I browse
into a huge folder full of mp3s, it doesn't layout in a simple compact
way.  One thing about most Linux DEs is that everything always feels
so damn big, from KDE's kicker to Gnome's huge file icons.  It would
be nice if it felt as compact as when I'm using Windows.
5. When you traverse up the directory structure, it should, a la Rox,
blink around the folder you just exited.  This may not be useful when
moving from, say, /usr to /, but it could help if you're going from
~/downloads up a level - because you might have directories called
~/torrents, ~/gift, ~/media, etc.

Anyway, just wanted to pipe in a few thoughts.  Apologies if they are
re-hashes.

Adam


On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 15:27:23 +0100, Benedikt Meurer
<benedikt.meurer at unix-ag.uni-siegen.de> wrote:
> Jens Luedicke wrote:
> > Biju Chacko wrote:
> >
> > | * When you DnD a file to a folder in the icon view and hold it there
> > | without releasing the mouse key, what should be the correct behavior?
> > | (a) do nothing
> > | (b) open up a new file manager window showing that folder
> > | (c) navigate to that folder.
> > |
> > | a is least confusing, but is also least useful.
> > | b is more consistent with a spatial metaphor
> > | c is more consistent with a browser metaphor
> >
> > [x] b
> 
> I think ROX's 'Directories spring open'-feature is confusing for a
> navigational file manager. Personally, I'd be fine with either b) or c).
> 
> I agree with Botsie that it's important to be consistent here. If we
> choose b) then every folder DnD operation will open a new window, no
> matter if its performed on the location bar, the main view, the
> shortcuts sidebar or the treeview sidebar.
> 
> Benedikt
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> 


-- 
Adam Scheinberg
ascheinberg at gmail.com