[autocompletion] Re: GTK New file selector

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

On Sun, 2003-03-23 at 12:49, Uri David Akavia wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> I have noticed the discussion on the new file selector, and I would like
> to join in with my opinion, purely as a user. If I'm reiterating what's
> been said, please forgive me.
> 
> My suggestion is for the autocomplete/shell-completion debate.
> How about having something like a cross between Nautilus' URL bar and
> Galeon's URL bar?
> specificly, I am suggesting that 
> 1)typing characters would bring a combo-list with the completions
> (GALEON)
> 2)pressing TAB ONCE would autocomplete (and perhaps filter the files
> shown) (NAUTILUS does so once it is a definite match)
> 3)pressing TAB for the second time, without making any other changes
> would cycle through the elements of the window (like Windows).
> (NAUTILUS)
> 
> (3) can be varied by changing the number of presses needed to get it to
> cycle - people in love with shell completion can set it to a negative
> value (so it never cycles), people from the Windows world can set it to
> zero (so it always cycles) and the default could be one, so that people
> can enjoy both worlds.

I had a similar idea a few days ago, but after having implemented
nautilus-style autocompletion for my file-selector test-bed,
I'm not so sure it's a wonderful ideas.

There are a couple of problems with nautilus-style autocompletion:

 A) For users who can't see the completion-selection, the tab key
    sometimes not leaving the entry might be confusing. 

   (Though if you have actual accessibility technology in place, 
    you probably want it to interact with completion in a more
    sophisticated way.)

 B) More importantly, from my perspective as a devoted tab-key-banger, 
    there is a fairly serious problem with "escaping" from the
    entry.

    Say I have:

     /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS
     /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES

    When I want to go to SRPMS, I type /usr/src/redhat/S<tab>. 
    Unfortunately, there was no completion started from the 'S'
    so I end up on the next widget and it takes several more
    keystrokes to recover.

Thoughts:

 - To me, having reliable completion is more important than
   having "familiar" completion. 
 
 - The main problem for me with the Windows/Mozilla/Galeon
   completion dropdown for me is the fact that the down arrow 
   requires taking your hand off the home keys. 

 - I could see making a configuration option to make the
   entry in the filesel behave like the GtkFileSelection
   entry ... you need Control-Tab to get out, but then
   again config options are essentially evil for things
   like this. It would be best if we could find something
   that works well for everyone.
   
Anyways, deciding UI details is not really what we should
be doing at this point. Hopefully once we have some
working stuff for people to play with, we can get some 
productive work done on the UI.

Regards,
                                   Owen