[Nautilus-list] Nautilus Performance

[smaclean ns sympatico ca (Stuart Maclean)]

Hi,

I thought I'd give some feedback regarding some performance issues I
percieve with Nautilus. 
With the current build and previous builds I have found Nautilus too
slow to work with files; it is much quicker
to work from the command line.  Below are some perceptive benchmarks -
nothing scientific.

I am running the latest nightly (Feb 17 12:02:53).

Computer configuration:
-Celeron running at 450Mhz
-256MB Ram.

Nautilus Settings which appear relevant:
-Use Nautilus to draw desktop - ON
-Show Count of items is - OFF
-Show Text in Icons - OFF
-Use smother graphics - OFF

Performance Issues:
-Opening a new window (when nautilus is already loaded). 
When opening a new window from the desktop or File-> New Window it takes
roughly 6 seconds for the windows to initially appear and another 25
seconds or so
for the excessive CPU utilization to stop.  Until the CPU utilization
stops, the window
is pretty much un-responsive. 

-Changing directories
Changing into directories containing just a few files and any number of
directories is instant
however, changing into directories with approximately 200 files (3
directories) it takes 5 seconds 
for the files to initially appear and another 10 seconds for the CPU
utilization to completely stop.

-Thumbnailing images (which haven't already been cached)
Just a general comment: it takes too long to display the thumbnails of
images around 500k or more
in size.  Windows ME is quite fast at this particular operation (perhaps
something to shoot for ;)

-Web browsing
It takes quite a bit of time (up to 20 seconds) for even simple webpages
to be displayed because of the time it
takes to load the mozilla component. I suspect there isn't a whole lot
that can be done about this however for 
comparison sake, the gtkEmbed test application in the mozilla sources
takes only 1 second or so to load.

-Location text box
Minor performance issue here: backspacing lags more so than textbox
widgets in other gnome applications. 
Not a big deal.

-Backgrounds and Emblems
Takes about 5 seconds to load the first time; thereafter it loads pretty
much instantly.  Also, a small bug comes to mind
here.  When one wants to add a new pattern and selects it from a
different directory than the default 
(/usr/share/pixmaps/tiles/), the directory isn't saved in the drop down
box (so when a user goes to add another
tile then have to browse or type the directory in again).

The two most important performance issues in my mind are the opening of
new windows and changing into directories
with large numbers of files. 

Two other non-performance related questions/thoughts:
Are the notes indexed by medusa? I really like the "notes" feaure. I
have a digital camera and save the images into
directories based upon events like Valentines day.  I use the notes to
write descriptions of that day and the images
taken.  I use the camera a lot so naturally I have lots of images and
therefore it would be nice to be able to search 
based upon the descriptions in the notes for directories.  If the notes
are indexed, it would be nice to be able to 
search just the notes.

Also, currently, one cannot "tab" into the location box - is this
intentional? The keyboard is a much faster device
for navigation IMHO so it would be nice to have some keybinding to get
into the the location box. 

Thanks for listening and keep up the good work!

Regards,

Stuart MacLean