Re: Actions to take when copying/moving duplicate files

["Kristoffer Lundén" <kristoffer lunden gmail com>]

On 1/25/07, Calum Benson <Calum Benson sun com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-01-24 at 10:03 +0100, hirumono email it wrote:
>
> > Oh yes, a way to set a split view would be fantastic! It might look too
> > "old-fashioned" for newbie users, but it allows for such a clear vision of
> > source and destination locations that the Explorer-view will never grant!
>
> Apart from the initial setup required, is it really any better than
> putting two windows beside each other?  If so, why?  (Genuinely trying
> to see if we're missing a usability trick here...)

There's at least a lot of convenience lost without split view, a few examples:

* Setting up the dual window is cumbersome, it means opening two
windows, resizing and placing them, maybe removing sidebar if it gets
in the way or takes up too much space on a smallish screen.
* Lost focus/hidden windows problems when having more windows open
* Shortcut commands for copy/move to the other place, both keyboard and mouse
* In fact, being able to use the keyboard easily to select/copy/move
files would be nice. I don't know how to select non-continuous files
w/ keyboard (usually space in splitviews, enter to activate) and
CTRL-C, ALT-TAB, CTRL-V isn't nearly as convenient as say "F5".
* Working in or keeping track of more than one directory, even if the
other is a subdir is common enough when doing any kind of work.
* Hard to: diff or synchronize directories, find duplicate files
(might be power users?) With split, that's a very natural command to
have.

I'm making do with Nautilus these days, so these are just a few things
I remember without checking. For just browsing one single directory or
smallish cleanups, it works. For any larger maintenance, it gets
cumbersome. It's probably worth noting that for just about anyone I've
worked with, you do well without split until you've tried it... :)
Everything is possible without it, but it makes life a lot easier when
you have it.

A counter-question: is there any usability problems with an optional
split view, or is it just "if we don't need it, don't implement it"
(which is a good principle, of course)?

-- Stoffe


--
Kristoffer Lundén
✉ kristoffer lunden gmail com
✉ kristoffer lunden gamemaker nu
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