Re: Nautilus epiphany integration & file transfers

[Raphaël Slinckx <raphael slinckx net>]

On mar, 2005-06-14 at 21:28 +1200, Matthew Thomas wrote:
> > This has advantages:
> > 
> > -Operations related to a folder only show up in that particular folder
> > (goes along with spatial mode)
> 
> That doesn't work if the destination is closed. For example, you're at a 
> cybercafe, downloading stuff to your USB key. You don't want anyone who 
> happens to be walking past to see the existing contents of the key, so 
> you have its window closed. At the same time, you still want to know the 
> moment the copying is finished, because you don't want to pay for a 
> minute longer than you have to.
> 

Well i know this is just an exemple you provide to show why the progress
popups are useful, but i don't think it is a good example.

First, you can hide the folder but the download progress shows the names
of the file being transfered, which is an equivalent leak of privacy if
that's your concern. Of course you don't have thumbnails, but you still
have file names, like goatse.jpg which is still annoying.

Second, it is a very minor use-case of nautilus, since all cybercafés
use windows anyway :P . Minor use-cases should not come in the way of
enhancements..

> > -No annoying un-closable popup for each transfer you start, they don't
> > scale up.
> 
> As long as they close by themselves when finished, and as long as the 
> Show Desktop button exists, I don't think this is an issue.
> 

This is a non-solution, imagine you have gimp opened, and some other
apps, you do a long file transfer in the background, and that annoying
transfer popup is there you can't hide it since it would hide all
windows, you can't really do anything about it. Beside that popping this
transfer window just attract the user attention to an unimportant task,
distracting them from they want to do, they just feel forced to watch
the file transfer happen. 


> >...
> > - For every file transfer (not only download) show something, a progress
> > bar, the icon changing from grey to color progressively, a pie filling
> > up, on the particular icon representing the file. That way you can have
> > a precise feedback for the progress of that file.
> 
> Excellent idea. (Internet Explorer for Mac, iCab, and Safari have been 
> doing this since 2000.)
> 

I need help with this, since i suppose emblem are not really a good
solution, since they appear in the emblem chooser and haging 10 emblems
for downloading would show 10 emblem, that's not good. Maybe modifying
the cell renderer or seomthing else. Just guide me i'll do it.

> >...
> > - Provide a context menu item for an "active file" proposing to cancel
> > the operation on that file (deleting it would result in the same thing)
> 
> Most people don't use shortcut menus, so you would also need a toolbar 
> button somewhere. But Nautilus windows don't normally have a toolbar, so 
> where would you put it?

You don't need a toolbar for that. To cancel a download just delete the
file ! That's a nice and clean solution.

Pause and resume buttons should be abolished, nobody uses them, they
expose a nasty implementation problem of distant file transfer which is
bad. 

Just ask around, every time i get the same answer "I do not use this
personally, but i suppose some people do", funny isn't it ?

> 
> If "Downloads" was a special folder in Nautilus for all downloads to 
> appear (or to be symlinked during downloading if they had been directed 
> somewhere else), it could have a custom, always-visible toolbar 
> providing Stop and Resume buttons. See the second half of 
> <http://mail.gnome.org/archives/usability/2005-April/msg00017.html>.
> 

I like that, but this would be a second step i think after all this get
sorted out..

Raphael.