Re: First UI component needing replacement.

[Rodd Clarkson <r clarkson sportingpulse com au>]

Hi All,

I'm assuming that the open files dialog should be similar to the save
file dialog.  This said, I'm concerned that the new save file dialog
would limit the range of the open file dialog.

One of the most frustrating limits currently in (almost??) every file
open dialog I've seen is the limitation placed on opening multiple
files.  You are always limited to multiple files in the current
directory.

Should we consider merging the tree style pane (which I think is very
nice) with the file pane to create a system where multiple files from
different directories can be opened.  When saving, you would simply
select the directory you wish to save to and off you go.

If I'm not making myself clear (I don't think I am yet ;-] ) the best
example I can think of is the ftp mode in the new mozilla.  So, if you
can, check it out.  When you ftp a site it displays a list of
directories at the ftp site.  If you click once on a directory, it opens
the directory displaying the contents.  If you double click the
directory, it makes that directory the new foundation for the tree
view.  You can open multiple directories in a single window viewing the
contents of all directories at the same time.  It's quite a nicely
thought out system, which (could) allow you to select multiple files to
open, and also would make sense when saving files to.  It involves a
single pane view (instead of one for tree and one for a single
directory) and whilst it would be different to what we are used to, it
has some distinct advantages.

This would also create a single, consistent view for all actions
involving files (saving or opening) and would make navigation throught
the file system simpler as you wouldn't need to switch between panes so
much.


Rodd Clarkson


>       For the first component to be replaced, I have decided that the horrible
> son-of-Motif GTK+ file dialogs must go.  I have made a mockup of a proper
> file dialog, available here:
> http://www.thock.com/Dylan/new_dialog.jpg
> 
> Here are my explanations for the changes/widget layout:
> The file listview and directory treeview are split so that people need not
> page through all the directories (as in the Win9x common file dialogs), but
> neither are they given the equal size (since file names tend to be larger
> than directory names).  Both should show colour icons to help indicate the
> MIME/special (links perhaps) type of the files listed.  Presenting a small
> graphic with each item in a list allows the opportunity to provide
> additional information to the user, without sacrificing valuable screen real
> estate. 
> 
> A recently used directories box has been added, saving people retyping
> commonly used directories.  Obviously, the contents change based on the
> application as Gnome could store the information in a section of the app
> specific ini files stored in ~/.gnome (or the newer Gnome data storage
> planned for v2.0).  Also, resizing of the dialog would be saved, but as a
> global variable (in a Gnome config, not an app specific config like the MRU
> directory listing).
> 
> I've also tweaked the buttons.  I replaced the "cancel" button with the
> "close" button, since "cancel" will not rollback any operations performed in
> the dialog on any systems I have ever seen.  Added are a rename and new
> directory button.  This allows the user to rename old files when saving new
> ones, as well as creating new directories to store new files in quickly. 
> This simple addition can a lot of time for the user.  The buttons included
> underlined letters to indicate the keyboard accelerator to use (meta + the
> underlined letter) to active them without tabbing to them/using a mouse.
> 
> Besides just layout, there is a behaviour problem with some common file
> dialogs that we need to stamp out.  The Motif dialog that Netscape 4.x ships
> with is a great example of a badly behaved dialog.  If I shift+click on a
> link to get the same as dialog, but wish to save in another directory, I
> lose the file name when I change directories.  Why?  This makes no sense.  I
> have to browse to the intended target directory, close the dialog (without
> saving), shift+click again, and then I get both the target directory and the
> proper file name.  No dialog or program should be designed in such a way to
> increase the number of actions to get the desired results.
> 
> Comments?
> 
> -- 
>     www.kuro5hin.org -- technology and culture, from the trenches.
> 
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> gnome-gui-list mailing list
> gnome-gui-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-gui-list



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http://www.sportingpulse.com.au

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