Re: VisualIDs: `thumbnails' for folders

[Joshua Judson Rosen <rozzin geekspace com>]

"Natan Yellin" <aantny gmail com> writes:
>
> Joshua Judson Rosen <rozzin geekspace com> wrote:
> >
> >    http://scribblethink.org/Work/VisualIDs/visualids.html
> >
> > I think that they've identified the heart of the problem, and
> > developed a solution, pretty brilliantly.
> >
> > What do you think?
>
> Thanks for letting me know about that. The technique that they describe is
> quite different than anything else I've seen before but it looks very
> interesting.

What's particularly interesting is that they actually did
usability-testing, and found that the system was remarkably effective;
you've probably read that part of the essay by now, though :)

If you'd like to actually *try it out* and see for yourself how it
works, I've been working on an implementation for Nautilus:

        http://www.hackerposse.com/~rozzin/chronicle/VisualIDs/0

Actually, it's more general than that--there's a library, a
command-line utility, and patches for several versions of Nautilus to
enable use of VisualIDs wherever thumbnailing isn't possible (and if
no custom icon is set, of course).

There are still some rough edges (e.g.: there are a some details that
I haven't quite figured out how to implement yet, and the API needs
some cleanup--I've initially developed it to mirror the API used in
the essay, for the sake of making it understandable by someone who's
read the essay, but the essay's API really is much more oriented
toward pedagogy than direct application), but the basic functionality
has been present for a few months now, and I and my test-subject
(er--wife...) have been using it routinely.

I like it, of course; and my wife likes it, but I'd love to hear what
other people think :)

-- 
Don't be afraid to ask (Lf.((Lx.xx) (Lr.f(rr)))).