Re: [Usability] Killing Views Part 2 - The return of the Usabilty study

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Fri, 2003-05-30 at 18:08, Mark Finlay wrote:

> There is no real benefit to viewing a text file or image in nautilus
> AFAICT, but there are definately drawbacks, and as that usability
> study shows, it causes user frustration and confusion.

When reading thru a bunch of files or snapshots, it can be rather useful
to not have to micro-manage windows.  One thing I've thought might help
out is, if you're in the read-only view of an image/text-file, put a big
clear "Edit With..." button on the toolbar.  Thus, I could open an image
in Nautilus, and if I decide that's the image I wanted, click Edit
With..., select GIMP, and then let the rather long startup for GIMP
proceed.

Perhaps the best thing is to simply have the file types capplet let the
user select whether they prefer an inline viewer or separate viewer. 
I'd only prefer certain file types to be viewed inline, and then only
beacause it's way too much trouble to use separate windows, or too slow
to open a separate app for each item; the Nautilus view might be less
user friendly, but it solves the problem.

> 
> I don't want to start another holy war. But I would love to get a
> response from the nautilus maints for or against this. The rest of us
> can argue to we go blue in the face, but if the maints aren't listening
> then there is no point.
> 
> Thanks for you time,
-- 
Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>
AwesomePlay Productions, Inc.