Re: [Usability]Nautilus and GNOME 2 feedback

[Dave Bordoley <bordoley msu edu>]

Thanks for the comments:

On Thu, 2002-10-10 at 06:20, Roberto Rosselli Del Turco wrote:
> 
> - 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;

known bug

> 
> - it is not possible to split a window in two different panes, à la
> Konqueror;

I'm not personally a big fan of this feature though a column view like
in macosX would be nice.

> 
> - 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?
> 

It's not really a newbie issue. I'm assuming you are referring to the
list view here. Its conceivable that the column headers could be
configurable via the preferences, but we would need to consider the
relative benefit of such a preference vs. the extra cost of including a
more complex ui. I personally don't think we should do this but ideas
are always open to discussion.

> - 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;
> 

known bug, someone just needs to go ahead and implement it :(
would be nice though...

> - 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;
> 
hmm works for me...

> - 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...
> 

This whole ui is sort of broken and could use some love...just need to
work it out i guess.

> - 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;

I remember this bug, i don't have time to search the bug database for it
now, but i believe it was fixed a while ago.

> 
> - 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;
> 

imo click to rename is a bad feature and should be removed, neither
windows or the mac has a good implementation of this feature. Right now
there are api issues i believe with removing the click to rename feature
in the list view, but i believe gtk will address these in the 2.2
release.

> - 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;
> 

yeah i tried to get this changed, but the bug was closed as
notabug...sigh..

> - Alt + Arrow up isn't a very convenient shortcut to move to the
> upper directory: why not use Backspace?

alt+up i think is the most obvious and consistent shortcut. backspace is
pretty hidden and not very intuitive, perhaps it could be added as an
alternative hidden keybinding.

> 
>    [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!!!]
> 

gconf editor is not really meant to be used by end users, it is more of
a power user toy, so use it at your own risk..

> - 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;

Yeah this still needs some love...

> 
> - renamed files aren't automatically moved to their proper place if
> the initial letter has changed;

this works when using arrange mode, but won't work on the desktop, since
it uses manual mode.


take care

dave