Re: [Usability] Proposal for Spatial Nautilus: Shelf Location

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004, Thorsten Seitz wrote:

> Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 18:41:35 +0200
> From: Thorsten Seitz <thorsten seitz web de>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] Proposal for Spatial Nautilus: Shelf Location
>
> Once upon a time I wrote a file browser for BeOS which had the concept of a
> "Shelf". When thinking about it in the context of spatial Nautilus it
> occurred to me that it could be generalized and integrated very smoothly with
> the notion of spatiality. So I'd like to make the following proposal:

I have read about the shelf idea before, sounds interesting
I did a quick search on Freshmeat for projects that implement the concept
http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=shelf&section=projects
and found an example file manager written in Motif
http://freshmeat.net/projects/xplore/
http://freshmeat.net/screenshots/12093/

I did some quick searching but didn't find a Gnome/Gtk application that
implements the idea, I thought there might be one already.

Interestingly it is sometimes described as an enhanced clipboard, with
mulitiple file objects on it.
Have you considered how the Shelf might be differnt from a window
showing a clipboard containing mulitple objects/files/scraps?

> Imagine a special URI location shelf:/// which is commonly called "Shelf" in
> the UI.

/me resisting the urge to rant on this topic again

Please No.
Absolutely not.

There must not be anymore 'protocols' created, it is a bad bad idea.
Everthing is a file/folder, doing otherwise breaks things.

I am not in anyway excluding the idea of the Shelf creating a new URI is
an absolute non-starter.  I can look up the reasons previously given if
you want but I think it would be better for us to look at the idea and
leave the implementation details until later.  I hope I have managed to
politely express my strong objection.

The Shelf does seem like a good way to manage more complicated file
management and I expect it could be added on to the existing
setup and evaluated without getting in the way.

I am sure you will get plenty more replies on Tuesday when people return
to work.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/