re: Another view on file dialogs.

["Michael T. Babcock" <mbabcock fibrespeed net>]

Everyone: Go through the message archives to about spring, 1999 and read up
on our excessively long app-centric vs. document-centric thread.  That's
some good background.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dylan Griffiths" <Dylan_G@bigfoot.com>
To: "Gnome GUI list" <gnome-gui-list@gnome.org>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 2:13 AM
Subject: Another view on file dialogs.


>         Just in case I've not caused enough of stir, where's another way
> entirely that obsoletes (or at least, greatly reduces the need for) file
> dialogs.   That is, the environment where you are always working with the
> DATA, not with the programs.
>         Example: excepting games and other programs you "use," have a
> common "New file" dialog which lets you pick the type and then loads the
> appropriate program for you (talk about ease of use!), or an "Open file"
> dialog which indexes your data with meta-info (added user notes, etc) to
> allow easier finding (rather than always resorting to the hierarchical
> directory tree).  Way more docu-centric, and where Win95 seemed to be
> heading (before MS decided that we needed to be "web centric" for some
> unknown reason).
>         People don't think about the tools, just the job.  Why force them
> to think of the tools?  Why force them to LOAD hammer, then open
> /toolbox/nailbox/nail_file and get_a_nail -one -now, and then
> perform_hammering --with=nail --force=7?  Why can't we have the interface
> equivalent of, "I'm going to be putting a picture on the wall, give me a
> hammer and a nail so I can work" ?
>
> Having a central place that lets people work with documents, and which has
> meta-data search capabilties -- that would be revolutionary.  And it
> shouldn't be too hard, either, as all we do is add a small applet and some
> code for dealing with the meta data.  From there, we just add hooks to the
> various file dialogs.  We could make the entire user experience working
with
> data to get a job done, instead of making a program perform an action in
> order to get things done.
>
> Think about it.