Re: [Usability] File Chooser Dialog

[Magnus Bergman <magnusbe algonet se>]

On Wed, 01 Oct 2003 13:40:46 -0500
Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu> wrote:

> On 19 Sep 2003, Magnus Bergman wrote:
> > On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 16:52:57 -0400
> > Rodney Dawes <dobey free fr> wrote:
> [...]
> >> Things like metadata,
> >> compression level, etc... are very much so.
> >
> > Metadata, yes. It is a part of the document and should and should be
> > set in the editor for the document. Compression level on the other
> > hand is something I consider to be a part of the saving process
> > rather than to the document. Is your opinion that it should be set
> > in the document properties?
> >
> >> File type is not, and if
> >> you would have looked at the mockup, you'd see that it provides a
> >> place to choose that. I think you are very confused as to what
> >belongs> where, and didn't even look at the mockup. I sent fair
> >warning about> such.
> >
> > Then I looked at your mockup it wasn't clear to me that there was no
> > way to add extra options. My opinion is that there should be
> > possible for applications to add extra widgets. But only widgets
> > related to *how* to open/save particular files. And these widgets
> > must always be placed below the file name entry. See my proposal for
> > more information.
> 
> Before you axe the option of adding extra widgets to the file chooser,
> let me point out that it's not just for loading and saving.  Dia for
> instance uses it for exporting to a number of formats, in which case
> the parameters certainly are not part of the document.  Things like
> PNG picture size/PPI/whether to embed fonts/what version of a format
> to use, etc etc. Just about any option that you see in printing
> dialogs and probably some others for other file types.  Removing this
> flexibility just because the few examples you've thought of can be
> handled in other ways is not good design. 

You replied to the wrong guy. I'm the one who shared your opinion. =)

But I claim that all additions (including the ones you mentioned) are
all related to *how* the file is saved, and therefore they should
always be placed at the bottom of the dialog since it's the last
decision for the user to make. Please tell me is you have any objections
to this and the reasons for them.