[Thunar-dev] Location Bar ala Firefox

[Benedikt Meurer]

Brian wrote:
>> I'd really like to avoid having the location bar as a toolbar item 
>> (we've seen that before and it does not fit the current UI). But I 
>> think I have a mockup that'll make the location bar addicts happy as 
>> well:
>>
>> http://www.xfce.org/~benny/tmp/thunar-alternative-bar-20050320.tar.gz
>> http://www.xfce.org/~benny/tmp/thunar-alternative-locationbar-20050320.png 
>>
>> http://www.xfce.org/~benny/tmp/thunar-alternative-pathbar-20050320.png
>>
>> Atm, you can toggle it through the View menu. In the final version 
>> this should be a preference somewhere in the settings dialog.
> 
> So what does that mean for the view shown here? Will this sort of thing 
> still be an option?
> http://www.xfce.org/~benny/tmp/20050319-thunar_go3.png
> 
> That's my favorite mockup so far. I'd hate to loose it.

In the new mockup, it'll popup a separate 'Open Location' dialog.

The Firefox-like location bar on the bottom is a cool thing, but aside 
from the wow-effect, it adds very little usabilty currently (and 
introduces a11y problems).

Btw. I don't consider 'window clutter' a valid argument against the 
separate dialog. The dialog will open centered on the main window; and 
if your window manager's focus management is not totally b0rked (like 
'focus exactly under pointer' in kwin), you'll have no problems using 
the dialog - in fact, you already do so with GtkFileChooser, so don't 
tell me it's impossible. :-)

I think both solutions have their specific advantages and disadvantages. 
Popping up a dialog makes it more obvious to users, as that's the way 
he's used to. The Firefox-like way - if done right ;-) - is nice, since 
the location bar is associated with the main view (or should be 
associated with the main view).

The issues with the firefox-like way (talking about 
http://www.xfce.org/~benny/tmp/20050319-thunar_go3.png):

  * How to associated this visually with the main view?
  * What about different themes?
  * What about the close button?
  * What about spacing (the current frame border width makes it look 
very busy)?
  * What about a11y? E.g. people with motoric disabilities may run into 
trouble with the focus-out handling.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a cool feature, but the cool-factor is 
less important than the usability-factor. So atleast the issues 
mentioned about needs to be addressed first.

Ideas? Suggestions? :o)

greets,
Benedikt