Re: GNOME "Save as" dialog - defective by design

[Emmanuele Bassi <ebassi gmail com>]

On Wed, 2007-03-28 at 12:21 +0200, Tomasz Sterna wrote:

> > > Users expect all the file manager functionality from the dialog, so
> > no, "users" don't expect this. and nautilus is a file *manager*, that is
> > an application to move, copy and generally view the file system; at
> > best, it could replace an *open* dialog.
> 
> Oh yes, they do.
> Don't you want to be able to create a directory to place the file you're
> saving in? Or rename/or move away a file to make place for the file
> you're saving? Most users do want at least these two functionalities.
> And they want it to behave the same way as in their file manager.

"most users"?  where?  do you have *any* usability study or even tests
that demonstrate the need to move/copy files when saving another file?

> And when these works, they expect all the other functionality of file
> manager to be there. "It looks like Nautilus, it works like Nautilus,
> but copying is broken... Why?"

because it's *not* nautilus. it looks very different from nautilus, it
doesn't at all work like nautilus and, above all, it shouldn't work as
nautilus. the users aren't using nautilus: they are using an application
and saving a file.

what's more important: no platform GTK+ runs on has a file dialog which
behaves like that; win32, os-x: they all have a file selector dialog
which doesn't at all work like their file manager applications.

> > > We have it all coded in Nautilus, so why cannot we just use it?
> > well, because nautilus is way above the stack and gtk+ is way below it?
> 
> This doesn't prevent the dialog to show GNOME mime icons in it.
> We could use the same technique. When there is Nautilus running - use
> it. If not, provide user with a bare plain GTK+ dialog.

and provide something that looks completely inconsistent depending on
the platform?

> > > There should be a "save as" mode in Nautilus.
> > and pray tell, what would such "save as" mode look like?
> 
> Same as "navigational" mode, with added name field and "Save" button.

this would be completely inconsistent with every setup running a spatial
nautilus. last time I've used nautilus 'browse' mode was during the 2.8
release cycle, and just a couple of times.

> > I have a better idea than executing an external command that works only
> > on GNOME:
> 
> Is this gnome-devel-list? :-)

you are proposing to change GTK+. this goes beyond GNOME, as GTK+ is
meant to work on more than the GNOME platform.

ciao,
 Emmanuele.

-- 
Emmanuele Bassi,  E: ebassi gmail com
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B: http://log.emmanuelebassi.net