[Thunar-dev] Classic UI

[Todd Schiller]

Hi, I'm new to the list and have a few comments about the current debate:

ARGUMENTS FOR PATHBAR:

(1) for novices, it looks a lot friendlier
(2) it is easier to backtrack

ARGUMENTS FOR LOCATIONBAR:
(1) for novices, it is easier to be able to take a directory, and then 
navigate quickly to that directory, say if they are reading a web howto 
and would like to navigate somewhere

(2) for others, it can be much faster to just type in the directory name 
especially if there is name completion

(3) when a directory is cluttered with other directories, name 
completion may be easier than finding another directory

Overall, I can think of situations in which I would like to use each 
interface. This may be out of the question, but would it be create a 
hotkey combo to switch between a location bar and the pathbar? That 
would allow advanced users to be able the gain the functionality they 
want when they want it and allow novice users to choose the design that 
fits them the best. Or, I think it would be nice to have the path bar on 
the bottom and the location bar on the top (I'm sure many will object 
saying it would be too cluttered). You could kind of make it so it is a 
seperate pane to the right of the short cuts pane and under the folder view.

As for the last comments about the difference between a manager and a 
web browser, I'm not so sure if there is one (or a least a big one). In 
both cases you are trying to navigate a structure that can often be very 
complex... we can imagine a cluttered website full of links just as we 
can a directory cluttered with folders and files.

I am very interested in helping with the development of thunar. Though I 
have little experience with interface design and programming, I believe 
I could help with the lower level things such as hashing, etc. I don't 
know quite who to contact with these aspirations, so I just figured I'd 
post them here.

Overall, I think its shaping up to be a great looking file manager.

Just my $.02

Todd Schiller