Re: [Nautilus-list] Suggestions

[Ben FrantzDale <bfrantzdale hmc edu>]

On 04 Jun 2001 11:35:46 -0400, Abe Fettig wrote:
> Hello all.
> 
> I've only been on this list for the past couple of weeks, so sorry if
> these issues have allready been discussed.
> 
> I'm a web applications programmer, building dynamic websites mostly in
> python with various database backends.  I've been using linux as a
> full-time desktop OS for the past 2 years.  Like many linux users, I
> don't need to use a GUI file manager, but I value eye candy enough to
> use one ;-).  I've been using nautilus ever since 1.03 came out, with
> it's greatly improved config options.
> 
> Anyhow, before nautilus I was using EFM, the enlightenment file manager
> that's now being rewritten to integrate with the upcoming enlightenment
> 0.17.  There are a few features from EFM that I _really_ miss:
> 
> * wildcard selection.  In EFM, typing *.py would select all the python
> files in a directory.  This seems like something that could be added to
> Nautilus without taking away from it's user-friendlyness.

I'm also a former EFM user. I agree this was a great feature. (Aside
from the fact that EFM was at least 10x the speed of nautilus.)
 
> * shell commands. Probably the biggest thing that EFM had going for it
> was that you could just type commands right on top of the GUI.  What you
> were typing would show up in a translucent window over the tops of the
> icons, and then you could hit enter and the command would run, in the
> current directory.  So if an EFM window had focus you could just type
> "vim file.txt" and it would run. (You could also set handlers for
> commands you typed in, so that anything that started with 'www.' would
> be handled by mozilla. THAT was cool - on an empty desktop with an EFM
> root window, you could just type "www.slashdot.org", and a browser would
> open.)
> 
> I know that adding this type of feature to nautilus probably would be
> confusing to new users.  But for advanced users, being able to quickly
> run a shell command in the current directory is a very common need.
> Maybe with some brainstorming, we could come up with a nice clean
> implementation of this feature that wouldn't be confusing to newbies.

I've heard rumor that there are plans to encorperate the type buffer
idea of EFM into Nautilus.

> * font and color management.  In EFM it was really easy to set fonts,
> images, and background colors.  Just right click a ttf file and pick
> "set as default view font", or right-button-drag it to a directory view
> to use that font for that directory. Likewise with image files and
> backgrounds.  Whether or not this would work in Nautilus debatable.  But
> one feature that I do think makes sense would be being able to
> right-button-drag an image to the desktop to set it as a background
> image.
>
> Other than my EFM experience, there's one other config options I'd like
> to see in Nautilus:
> 
> * Seperate "use smoother graphics" into "use smoother images" and "use
> smooth fonts".  I would love to have translucent icons but still use my
> standard GTK font.
> 
> Hope this is helpful.  Thanks for the great work!
> 

All good suggestions. This is mostly a ``me too'' email, but for those
working on Nautilus, EFM is/was really something. If you can find the
sources for it and get it working, it's a different approach to file
management with some great ideas behind it.

--Ben