Re: [Usability]Nautilus and GNOME 2 feedback

[Frederic Crozat <fcrozat mandrakesoft com>]

Le jeu 10/10/2002 à 12:20, Roberto Rosselli Del Turco a écrit :
> After using GNOME 2 as my desktop for some time, I must say it really 
> shows the efforts of the developers. IMHO, though, there are lots of 
> little fixes that could improve it. In particular, I'm sticking a little 
> longer with my good old Gentoo filemanager because Nautilus is not 
> fulfilling all of my needs. Here's my take on it.
> 
> Note n. 1: constructive criticism ahead :)
> 
> Note n. 2: desktop box is an Athlon 1.2, 512 Mb RAM, 40 Gb hd, running 
> Mandrake Linux 9.0.
> 
> ### Nautilus ###
> 
> Nautilus 2.0 was a pleasant surprise: much faster then previous
> incarnations, and as gorgeous as ever. It still lacks some
> functionality, though:
> 
> - when opening a folder with lots of files, especially if opened in
> List view, it would be nice navigate using the keyboard to track files:
> e.g. if I press the d key the first files beginning with d would
> show, and so on;
> 
> - it is not possible to split a window in two different panes, à la
> Konqueror;
> 
> - file information is limited: is there a way to show owner and group?
> or is it preferable not to show these informations to the newbie?

Use the properties dialog to see these 

> - the Nautilus desktop still lacks the ability to order icons in a
> grid, which was possible in GMC, and the related Align icons right
> click menu item;
> 
> - you can't rename icons on the desktop (unless your Home dir is the
> desktop; of course you can if you edit the .gnome-desktop files, but 
> that's a different story), or in a window with Icon view;

You can.. Just tested here..

> - when there's no default viewer, Nautilus simply informs the user
> that, well, he/she can't view that file: this is frustrating, it
> should at least offer an "Open with..." option; note that this
> happens with .zip files too, I can't imagine an (ex-)Windows user
> reaction discovering that he/she can't open his zip files...
> 
> There are still lots of little quirks and inconsistencies to work out:
> 
> - I changed from Two clicks to open files to One click and then to
> Two clicks again: now every time I double click on a file the same
> viewer is launched twice;

Works here..

> - clicking once on a file name while in List view you can directly
> rename it, but this doesn't happen in Icon view, and of course it
> isn't possible with the One click to open files option;
> 
> - when using the Tree view in the sidebar, Nautilus will tell you
> that a folder with files is empty if you chose to only show folders;
> 
> - Alt + Arrow up isn't a very convenient shortcut to move to the
> upper directory: why not use Backspace?
> 
>    [As a little aside about this last point, I tried to use
>    gconf-editor to see if it was possible to modify shortcuts as in
>    GNOME 1.4, a feature I really miss: after playing a little with a
>    promising-looking key (to no avail, unfortunately), I decided to go
>    back to the previous configuration and chose the "Azzera chiave"
>    right click option: I wonder what the original english menu item
>    says, because it simply deleted the key, while I expected a sort
>    of Revert action!!!]
> 
> - MIME types/Default viewers handling would deserve a separate
> analysis: in short, while I consider myself a fairly advanced user, I
> found it to be difficult and not very intuitive;
> 
> - renamed files aren't automatically moved to their proper place if
> the initial letter has changed;

What do you mean by "proper place" ?

> - drag'n'drop works perfectly with some applications (e.g. I can drop
> and mp3 file in XMMS playlist window), but doesn't with other ones
> (e.g. I can't drop a text file in gedit window);

I work on gedit if you drag the file on the toolbar part of gedit, not
on the text part..

> - I don't know if this is specific of my Mandrake 9.0 setup, but often
> removable media cause problems with Nautilus: icons disappear from the
> desktop, the application freezes trying to open an already ejected
> media, the cd is ejected and then put back in in half a second, etc.;
> possibly a supermount problem?

Probably a supermount bug :((

-- 
Frederic Crozat
MandrakeSoft