Re: [Nautilus-list] Tree View

["Arlo Rose" <arlo eazel com>]

Hi Ty,

I'd like to take a moment to address your points as a Human Interface
designer who has indeed done user testing in this area.


> 1. the tree view is be definition a navigation gui
> component.  including files in the tree view doesn't
> make any sense.  if it did, user testing would have
> told use so years ago.  and by your thoughts gui
> designers would have put tree views on both sides of
> the splitter :)

User testing does indeed show that showing files in the tree view is
important.  In a recent study done at Eazel, we found that users looked to
the tree view as a place to get a files from other folders when another
window is not available.

Also, keep in mind that other platforms use tree views extensively, and have
always shown files and folders together.

Finally, the reason we don't have our list view be a tree view, is purely
due to time constraints.  Upcoming versions of Nautilus will feature a fully
hierarchical list view.


> 2. there is no or little value add to including files
> in the tree view other than cluttering the view.

The value added is that a user can get to a file from a directory that
they're not currently in.  This means that while they're buried in some
directory, they can easily access any file they have permissions for and
copy, view, open, edit, or delete it... without having to physically go to
that directory to perform those actions.


> 3. we shouldn't confuse users the functionality of an
> already established component.

We've already found it to be useful to the user to have files shown during
user testing, about the only thing that confused them about Tree view was
where their home directory was versus the root of their drive.


Cheers,
Arlo Rose