Re: Usability of the GTK+ 2 file open dialog

["Dov Grobgeld" <dov grobgeld gmail com>]

Actually, for me at least the annoyance level is too high. I often
have lots of files in a directory and not being able to search for or
filter them easily is one of the things that is really bothering me. I
wrote a small enhancement request to bugzilla:

   http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=334100

to add a firefox like search bar. But with all the complaints I've
seen of the current FileChooser, that may just solve part of the
problem.

I feel that one of the real problems with the current design is that
there is no natural place to add additional functionality. Consider
e.g. the right mouse button click for turning on hidden files. It is
really a hack!

One possible way of solving that in a meta-way would be to add a
menubar on top of the filedialog. By having contents similar to the
following:

   Go:
      Location - Ctrl-L
      Home directory
   Bookmarks:
      Add bookmark
      Bookmarks:
   View:
      [x] Hidden directories
      [x] Size
   Search:
      Find
      Filter

(the exact details would have to be worked out). That would open a
whole new dimension for extension.

I don't believe that that kind of options is confusing for a newbie.
After all, they manage to use a browser, that has functionality
similator to the above.(And at least in firefox we power users can
always do About::config and turn on almost anything).

Right now, I feel that functionality is just too crippled.

Just my thoughts.

Regards,
Dov

On 3/25/06, Michael Torrie <torriem chem byu edu> wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-03-25 at 16:33 +0000, Nate Nielsen wrote:
>
> > A poor assumption. The people who are happy won't be complaining on a
> > mailing list. gtk-list must have hundreds of subscribers, we could just
> > as easily assume that all but 10 or so are 'okay' with things.
>
> To assume that the silent majority are happy with things is an equally
> poor assumption.  And even further to assume that the majority of gnome
> users (who aren't on the list and just use arbitrary distros) are happy
> with things because one cannot hear their complaints is probably not
> correct.
>
> I'd say that the file selector is just good enough that it works for
> most people (it does let people save and open files!), even if it
> happens to annoy them.  The annoyance level is just not high enough to
> really effect any kind of massive rethink or relook (I fall into this
> category; I would hack the code if I was annoyed sufficiently).  Windows
> annoys most people frequently yet they still use it.
> >
> > That said, this thread had some good results. A few good points were
> > brought up, and agreed upon. I'm sure when those are implemented, the
> > file selector will be that much better.
>
> Agreed.
> > Cheers,
> > Nate
> >
> >
> >
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