[Nautilus-list] directory content cache idea

[christian glodt ist lu]

Hello,

In somewhat bigger directories, the icon view takes
quite some time to stabilize the display of all the
icons. I think this happens because the view is
re-layouting the icon positions and sizes as the
directory contents are discovered.

IMHO, the view would be much more usable in big
directories if the layout was done more quickly and
if icons were drawn directly in their correct size
and position.

Directory contents are loaded asynchronously and
incrementally. This is probably a gnome-vfs matter,
and is generally a good thing.

However the initial display of icons could be sped up
if directory contents did not drip into the view,
always causing an expensive and ugly re-layout.
A solution to this may be an on-disk directory contents
cache. It should contain the files and sub-directories
contained in a directory, along with their mime-type.

Displaying directory contents would first get the list
of files/dirs in the directory from the cache (preferably
first the items that will be visible immediately).
Then it would be checked if the files in the list
obtained from the cache still exist. From this point
on, the files can be displayed, while the cache is
updated in the background, and new files (not known to
the cache) are brought in conventionally.

Along with the directory contents and mime-type, the
cache could also contain icon sizes. The number of
relayouts could probably be reduced significantly.

The cache could also return the items in the optimal
order for display, thus simplifying the layout logic's
task.

Maybe some of this is already implemented. I don't know.
I just thought I would share my ideas. Maybe they will
be useful.

Christian Glodt

P.S.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a sidebar containing
all the mountpoints from /etc/fstab, allowing to mount/
umount devices with a single click and letting me jump
directly to them? Is anyone working on something like
that?