Re: [Nautilus-list] New show hidden/backup files patch

[John Sullivan <sullivan spies com>]

"Show Hidden Files", by itself,  with no checkbox next to it, is 
ambiguous. Does it mean "If you select this, the 'show hidden files' 
action will take place, and hidden files will appear", or does it mean 
"This is not checked, therefore hidden files are not currently showing"? 
There is no way to tell.

The way to make this not ambiguous is to use two menu items, one of 
which is always checked, like "Show Hidden Files" and "Don't Show Hidden 
Files". (I must admit I am infatuated with the idea of a menu item 
labelled "Hide Hidden Files".)

However, I strongly recommend not making it two menu items in this 
particular case, for two reasons:

1. It's not important enough to take up two menu items.
2. Nautilus already has a bunch of "Show Toolbar"/"Hide Toolbar" type 
menu items that toggle between the two verbs.

To fit in with the rest of Nautilus, it should use a toggling-label menu 
item, as Darin suggested. Alternatively, all of the current 
toggling-label menu items could be switched to use checked menu items. 
It would be silly to mix them. But they're all going to be ambiguous in 
either case.

John

On Friday, February 15, 2002, at 12:20 PM, Jim Knoble wrote:

> Circa 2002-Feb-14 14:51:12 -0800 dixit Darin Adler:
>
> : I'd also like to have this be a "Show/Hide" menu item that changes
> : its text, rather than a "Show XXX" that has a check box next to it.
>
> Gaack!  Bad idea.  Menu items with polymorphic labels are inherently
> confusing.  When the menu item reads 'Show XXX', which state does that
> mean?  That XXX is already shown, or that XXX will be shown by choosing
> the menu item?  Not only that, but, because the label changes, it's
> more difficult for a human to scan the menu for the item i think is
> called 'Show XXX', but right now happens to read 'Hide XXX'.
>
> Using checkboxes in front of a menu item that acts as toggle not only
> clearly shows the state of the item, but also shows clearly that the
> item is a toggle to begin with (and won't, for example, 'Show Hidden
> Files' in a new window or sidebar panel).  This is exactly the sort of
> thing that checkboxes are for.
>
> --
> jim knoble | jmknoble pobox com | http://www.pobox.com/~jmknoble/
>
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