[no subject]

   2. The name of the destination folder, since one likely cause of an
accidental replacement is dragging something into the wrong folder.

Stated in the mockup, as well as contrasted against the source. Note:
There is no indication as to which one is the source and which is the
destination. A simple arrow leading from source to destination may well be
sufficient to make that point.

Also, it's unclear what "open" refers to, file or folder?

   3. Whether the item being replaced is of the same type as, or a
different type from, the one I dragged.

Unless we're dealing with a situation where file extension is not an
indicator of file type, the proposed mockup deals with this. However, a
situation where the file has an identical extension but a different type
should be considered also. I don't actually know how linux handles file
type identifiers. Is it on the same principle as Mac, by a four-letter
identifier? Or is it more the DOS/Win approach, using the file extension?

   4. Whether the item being replaced is older or newer than the one I
dragged.

The information is displayed in the mockup, but it isn't in the best form.
It takes time to compare the two dates, and it's also relatively
irrelevant as to what the exact date is. In most cases, what the user
wants to know is which file is more recently changed. I propose simply
using "older" and "newer" in all instances when a date comparison occurs.
That will also take care of the significant digit problem (current mockup
doesn't account for a work in progress being backed up every few minutes).

The exact date can still be accessible through either a tooltip (bad idea,
IMO), or through a "more information" button, a la "more search options."

The referenced article makes an excellent point, however: The differences
between the two files may not be immediately visible or visible at all in
a thumbnail window. If there was a way to run a quick comparison of the
two files and highlight the differences with a high-contrast box in the
thumbnails, I'd be a lot happier.

Dan



On Mon, 7 Jul 2003, David Adam Bordoley wrote:

> This dialog that you suggest seems uncanndily similar to the windows
> longhorn dialog criticized by mpt[1] a while back. I'll let the article
> speak for itself. Also in nautilus we use folder not directory, but thats
> the least of the issues really here.
>
> dave
>
> [1]http://mpt.phrasewise.com/2003/03/09#a476
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