Re: [Usability]MM's new Gnome file dialogs

[Daniel Borgmann <daniel liebesgedichte net>]

Hmm, maybe...
What you forgot though, is that you can simply type in a name and drag
the icon to the place where you want to save it (like your desktop or an
open filemanager window) or just select a folder from the folder options
box and hit save. Both methods are a LOT more convenient than navigating
to the directory you want to save in in the tiny folder frame but both
methods are made less convenient by your ordering because it pushes the
folder frame right into my face. :)
The only thing I don't like about this latest MM design is that I have
to move my mouse so far to reach the Save button after typing in a name
and selecting a folder from the bookmarks (until I want to drag the
icon). So I guess I would still prefer if the "Show Navigation" toggle
would hide the entire location window. It could save it's state, so
people always using it could leave it open, while people usually not
using it could leave it closed most of the time. Or maybe someone can
find a better solution. Another idea might be to move the "Home | Add |
Show Navigation" buttons below the folder frame but then the down arrow
besides "Show Navigation" wouldn't make much sense anymore. And both
would be inconsistent with the open file dialog. :/

BTW, am I the only one who doesn't like this indented "Location" string?
Daniel
 

On Mon, 2002-10-07 at 03:41, Mark Nelson wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> First I would like to say that I'm very happy to see that people are
> looking at improving gnome's file dialogs, and that I've really
enjoyed
> seeing MM's progress and hardwork!  I think he's done a really good
job
> with them, and I hope that he continues to work on them until they are
> in gnome.  I do think there are a couple of changes that could be made
> to make the layout of the dialogs a bit more user friendly though. 
The
> biggest problem I have with MM's current ones is the placement of the
> file controls ("Save As", "Emblem", "File type") over the Location
> controls.
> 
> According to Jeff Johnson's "Gui Bloopers", the layout of the controls
> should follow four criteria:  Dominant reading order, Frequency of
use,
> Relationship to other controls, and User expectation.  
> 
> Dominant Reading order:
> 
> In MM's save dialog, the first editable controls an english speaking
> user will encounter are the file controls.  In some cases, this is a
> problem.  You may not know what you want to name your file until after
> you've decided the location where it will be saved.  In MM's dialog
for
> example, a user would first enter a file name, choose the emblem, file
> type, and finally choose a folder to save the file in.  If that folder
> contained a file of the same name as the one being saved, it would be
> necessary to return to the "Save As" field and change the name.  If
the
> file controls instead were placed under the location controls, the
user
> would first choose a folder, and then specify the file name (with the
> any additional knowledge gained by having chosen a folder first). 
> 
> Frequency of Use:
> 
> There is an arguement for having the "Save As" dialog box at the top
of
> the folder.  An english speaking user will encounter the "Save As"
entry
> box as the second control in the dialog (the file icon being the
> first).  This will save them from wading through other options if they
> only want to name the file and save it.  I personally feel this isn't
a
> very strong arguement though, due to the next criteria.
> 
> Relationship to other controls: 
> 
> In MM's dialog, the closest controls to the "Save" and "Cancel"
buttons
> are the Location controls.  If the last thing you do is to specify the
> folder where you are saving the file, this makes some sense.  In cases
> such as the one listed above, it becomes less useful.  Placing the
"Save
> As" field so far away from the "Save" button requires a lot of extra
> mouse movement every time you want to save a file.  Even if you only
> want to enter a file name and hit the "Save" button, you need to
travel
> from the top of the dialog all the way to the bottom.  In cases where
> the last thing you do is use the location controls (say for
overwriting
> another file), having the file controls above the "Save" and "Cancel"
> buttons only moves the location controls vertically about 64 pixels.  
> 
> User Expectation:
> 
> Basically all major windowing systems besides OSX have placed file
> controls under the location controls close to the "save" and "cancel"
> buttons.  For users coming from Kde, Previous versions of Gnome,
> Windows, MacOS Classic, and other OSes, having the file controls at
the
> top is going to be unexpected.  
> 
> If people are having trouble visualizing this, I've made an image
> comparing MM's current dialog on the left, and a revised one on the
> right:
> 
> http://gandalf.psych.umn.edu/~nelson/images/file_selector_compare.jpg
> 
> Thanks,
> Mark Nelson