Re: [Usability]Nautilus tree sidebar / location field

[Reinout van Schouwen <reinout cs vu nl>]

Hello Sunnanvind,

> > 1. Why is a transition path from web to CLI desirable?
> It might be, for some. I love CLIs,

You'll have to agree with me this is not much of an argument. ;-)

> formatting. I personally prefer to type the file name than
> search-n-click, even though I've tried both. This revelation of the

Well, me too, as long as there's autocompletion available. But that's not
the issue here.

> dig the Nautilus "scripts" folder. All those are sweet things - but
> knowlegde about those things stem from the CLI. I might even go as far
> to say that the CLI is the mother of all customizability and
> script-like creation.

I can agree to all that, but I really doubt a location bar is essential
for inducing users to explore the CLI, if that even were a goal of the
GNOME project.

> I might be surprised. I'm a pretty emotional person who gets surprised
> easily. How many percent of current browser users don't know that?

You got me there, I only have the anecdotical evidence of my own
experience with inexperienced computer users, no percentages.

> > 3. How does a location bar within the Nautilus window make typing paths
> > any more obvious than a location bar provided by an applet?
> "Because it's easier to find and to connect visually with file
> browsing" - is that a good answer?

Granted, though if the applet<>nautilus interaction worked two ways, the
applet would always reflect the path of the nautilus window that last
gained focus and the user would get another cue that those two relate to
each other.

> so I won't *complain* if this is what happens, but I don't see why the
> location bar must be killed at all costs when it's benefits are so
> big.

You're overstating things. The location bar mustn't be killed at all
costs, but I'm trying to make a cost/benefit evalution of moving the
location bar out of individual Nautilus windows. So far, I've seen more
benefits than costs but that might change.

regards,

-- 

Reinout van Schouwen			Artificial Intelligence student
email: reinout cs vu nl			mobile phone: +31-6-44360778
GPG public key http://www.cs.vu.nl/~reinout/reinout.asc