Re: [Usability] File Chooser Dialog

[Magnus Bergman <magnusbe algonet se>]

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 16:52:57 -0400
Rodney Dawes <dobey free fr> wrote:

> Il ven, 2003-09-19 alle 14:59, Magnus Bergman ha scritto:
> > What is considered to be extra crap?
> 
> Lots of things.
> 
> > Is a preview extra crap?
> 
> You obviously didn't look at the mockup I sent, or you'd see that it
> takes care of the issue where people shove previews in odd places in
> the dialog that drastically affect the dialog's size and/or layout.

I most certainly looked at it (I've read each and every post related to
to the file chooser both here and at gtk-devel). Actually I liked it
more than most (since we both seem to be part of the "less is more"
school). The only thing I really didn't like was the placement of the
file type drop down (my opinion is that it must be placed above the file
list). There were also a few that was against my personal taste, but I
have no (or at least quite few) argument for them being wrong.

There are two places that I don't consider odd: to right (for LTR
locals) of the file selector and below it. But due to the layout,
placing it to the right of the file selector is the only sane one.

I guess your point is that thumbnails makes previews unneeded. I read a
post in another thread with that opinion, but I don't remember if it was
from you. Personally I prefer to have a preview in some cases. But in
most cases it's useless and should be hidden. But if I make few examples
of situations there I find it useful and you can suggest alternatives
that are at least as good, then you have convinced me.

> > Are options for how to open or save a file extra crap? I believe
> > that such options are needed. If they are not placed in the dialog,
> > then the application needs to show an additional dialog for those
> > options. Do you consider that to be better (I don't)? Another
> > alternative is to place those options among the applications
> > preferences, but most users will probably not find it and make use
> > of it then.
> 
> Depending on the options, yes, they can be crap.

Yes, you are right about that, they *can* definitely be crap.

> 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.