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

[Jürg Billeter <j bitron ch>]

On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 10:43, Roberto Rosselli Del Turco wrote:
> Jürg Billeter wrote:
> > 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
> 
> 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)
> 
> 
> 
> 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.
Yes, honestly I don't like my variant - as it is now. But sometime even
a not that good idea inspires someone to create something much better.

> 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.
Perhaps it's finally really the best solution but I don't want to miss a
trial. Perhaps we could make the root nodes in bold text or something
like that.

> 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.
I like the idea but it's surely not that extensible anymore (if you have
a hard limit of two sidebars).

Jürg