Usability of the GTK+ 2 file open dialog

[Peter Eckersley <pde cs mu oz au>]

Hi...

this is just an observation as a user (it's been a long time since I did
any coding with gtk), but I've found the usability of gtk applications
has decreased markedly since they started using the gtk2 file open
dialog.

Although it now supports some limited matching and completion, it's a
far cry from the the excellent "shell emulation" approach of its gtk1
predecessor (tab completion, ~ expansion, wildcard matching, selection
or filtering depending on whether you've matched one or more files).
Even after having spent some time trying to learn it, I find the gtk2
approach much slower, more awkward, and unpedictable.  Different
behaviour modes spring up all over the place, some of them implement
some shell conventions and not others, etc.  I regularly find I have to
give up and use the mouse, or I find the file and think I've selected
it.  And then, I realise that I have to press enter again.

I for one would pay $50 to anyone who can implement a configuration
option somewhere in gtk2 to globally switch back to the gtk1 version.

Is anyone else equally frustrated?

-- 
Peter Eckersley
Department of Computer Science   &                  mailto:pde cs mu oz au 
IP Research Institute of Australia             http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~pde
The University of Melbourne