[Usability] Re: Patches improving tree view (multi-root and auto-follow)

[Roberto Rosselli Del Turco <rosselli ling unipi it>]

Jürg Billeter wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-06-11 at 14:54, Alexander Larsson wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 2003-06-08 at 16:07, Jürg Billeter wrote:
> >
> > This implementation uses a tab on the left of the tree, while the
> > previous patch[1] someone worked on used multiple root elements. These
> > have various pros and cons:
> >
> > tabs on left
> > pros: 
> > * You only see the dirs from the specific root, avoiding confusion.
> > * Its easier to locate another root. You don't have to scroll around   
> > looking for it.
> > cons:
> > * Wastes more space horizontally.
> > * Two levels of tabs can be confusing. Also makes keynav more
> > complicated.
> > * The tab can only have an icon, not any descriptive text, that wouldn't
> > fit.
>
>
> I've made a mockup of a new variant where two cons can be removed (ok,
> the first just converted from horiz. to vert.) and it doesn't look
> konquered *g*. Please have a look at it and tell me what you think about
> it. IMO it doesn't look that nice ATM, but that could be improved.
>
> Screenshot:
> http://www.bitron.ch/linux/nautilus-2.3.3-tree-2-ss.jpg


Your efforts are commendable (really! :), but the problem looks hard to 
solve IMHO. Basically, you're merging together two "lists": the usual 
Nautilus taskbar and a new multiple root list, which takes the place of 
the "tree" element in the taskbar. This will *inevitably* lead to a 
waste of space and usability problems.

A possible solution could be leaving the Tree element as it is now, i.e.
adding an expandable icon for every root under the folder currently
pointing to / and some separators to make things more clear. Icons 
should be a little bigger, too, to improve legibility.

But I wonder if it wasn't time to reconsider the elements composing the
current taskbar, reducing and rearranging them, especially if something
sensible comes out of the preview/view/edit thread (where were we with
that?): the History element is already present in the Go menu, the
Emblems element could be a special root item (just an idea), Notes and
Information could be merged and also work as a Preview for text and images.

In the end, the Taskbar (Sidebar?) could be reworked to accomplish two
basic tasks: tree navigation and file info/preview. At that point it
would be easier to find the right way to switch between the two.

Ciao

--
Roberto Rosselli Del Turco      e-mail:	rosselli at cisi.unito.it
Dipartimento di Scienze			rosselli at ling.unipi.it
del Linguaggio			Then spoke the thunder	DA
Universita' di Torino		Datta: what have we given?  (TSE)

  Hige sceal the heardra,     heorte the cenre,
  mod sceal the mare,       the ure maegen litlath.  (Maldon 312-3)