Re: Nautilus' context menu

[Julien Olivier <julo altern org>]

Just an idea: why not merge "scripts", "addons" and "open with" ? For
example, for a JPEG file, you would have an "Actions" sub-menu with the
following actions available:

 Edit with GIMP
 View in Gthumb
 Add to archive
 Rotate
 Use as desktop wallpaper
 Stretch icon
 Rename

What do you think of that ?

Le jeu 12/06/2003 à 02:43, Eugenia Loli-Queru a écrit :
> The screenshot Mason sent earlier (it hasn't appeared in the list yet
> possibly cause of the attachment's size ) made me think about the top level
> menu of Nautilus (no, this is not an "addon" discussion ;-)
> 
> Havoc was telling me some time ago that there should not be more than 10-12
> items per menu, as users can't comprehend the options with a quick glance
> (something that is imperative on a good UI). The current menu (after Mason's
> patch hopefully makes it to the main CVS) has... 16 items when
> right-clicking on a folder/file. This should be improved and get down to
> 10-12 items.
> 
> My logic is that the obvious options (e.g. top level menus and other easily
> accessible controls) should _only_ do the absolutely important things, and
> not more. Advanced functionality should only be accessible via other methods
> that users will discover as they go along (or when they decide to actually
> read a manual).
> The "less is more" philosophy that Gnome is pursuing is similar to MacOS,
> OSX, BeOS and Windows as they also always allowed the absolutely important
> options to be easily visible by the newbie and nothing more. With the
> current situation, if you try to move all these menu options to a newbie,
> you scare him away, even if these options are dead simple. The visual
> complexity of the menu itself with all these (simple really) options don't
> help in the psychology of a new Gnome user. The UI should be both
> accessible, simple and unbloated, and at the same time to have "backdoors"
> for the advanced user to do his stuff his way.
> 
> Mockup here: http://www.osnews.com/img/3721/nautilus.png
> Explanation of the mockup above:
> 
> 1. Get rid of the "Open in New Window". I must say that this option is the
> only one of the rest 5 that I took away that I am not sure of and I require
> more input. On the other hand, it is bad enough to have three "Open"
> functions crammed there. It is confusing at first for new users. I am _not_
> saying that this function should go away. It should either move to the
> "Extensions" folder as an addon, or it should simply get invoked by the
> third mouse button, as you do when you open links to new tabs/windows on the
> web browser. In other words, hide the option ("keep it simple") but make
> sure the functionality _is_ there via one of the two methods mentioned
> above.
> 
> 2. Merge Scripts and Addons under a new name that is easy to understand.
> "Services" or "Extensions" are good for me, but most of you are better than
> me in the english language, so please pick a name. :D
> Yes, Scripts are not the same as addons, but the user doesn't need to know
> that, they have similar functionality anyway. Allow both the traditional
> nautilus scripts and the addons to run from the same submenu, transparently
> (in case you want to keep the Script functionality that is).
> 
> 3. Get rid of Rename, and please adopt the Mac and BeOS way of renaming a
> file. Click once (or slowly twice) and rename the file. If you want to
> rename more than one files, the user should use the included with Nautilus
> "Bulk Rename" addon, as shown in the other mockup the other day
> (http://www.osnews.com/img/3721/gnome.png). I can understand that people
> will get too emotional about removing Rename from the menu, but if the addon
> thingie takes off, you will going to end up having a "bulk rename" on the
> addons folder, and a rename menu on the top level menu. Not good. I suggest
> to let the user rename a single selected file either via clicking on the
> filename or the properties dialog and let more complex renaming functions to
> be made via the "Bulk Rename" addon.
> 
> 4. The stretching icon business have absolutely no place in the top level
> menu. It is not like we are playing with our icons all day if we have
> nothing better to do (we got Solitaire in this case :-) Just create an addon
> for this functionality, with a nice and small gui, in where you can also set
> the size you want for _all_ the files shown in the current directory (when
> nothing is selected), or for the selected files. In fact, this can also go
> to the "Properties", but no way in the root nautilus menu as it is now.
> Personally, I am fond for an addon for this functionality, to set the size
> to all icons on a certain dir, while when you have selected 1 or few files,
> the same addon will allow you to change their sizes (or get them back to
> normal size).
> 
> And yes, addons can have more than 20 items after a few months if the idea
> takes off. And this is why at this time we might need an "Extension Manager"
> which will list for you all the addons with a checkbox next to them, and the
> user should be able to easily enable/disable (show/hide) addons via it. And
> this is another reason why these .server files might need some extra info in
> them (that is, if you are going to keep these .server files instead of
> another way that helps the easy show/hide functionality).
> 
> Your thoughts?
> 
> thanks,
> Eugenia