Re: [Usability] Getting rid of Open and Save entirely?

["Curtis C. Hovey" <sinzui cox net>]

Since we are going to have the conversation again, I'd just tersely
restate my positions again and make a small addendum,

File Open and File Save operations are two separate dialogs.  [If it
were possible to make the dialog be aware of its context, it should
display the open or save operations without being explicitly called in
the code.]

GTK and GNOME Desktop require different FO/FS dialogs.  GTK doesn't have
a desktop (though we could assume there is one).  GTK's FO/FS dialogs
may only have HOME and some bookmarked locations.  Without a desktop,
GTK must handle directories well.  In usability tests, users have
difficulty navigating more than 7 options with more than 3 levels deep. 
While super users have made complex directories, users don't interact
well with them.  the GTK dialogs must work well in the user's smaller
model of the directory structure.  Solutions for long and deep trees are
for super users--they too need a good dialog, but it isn't necessarily
the same one the regular users have.

I don't think GNOME needs a FO dialog.  I use nautilus to open
documents, and drag-and-drop to open files in an existing application. 
In the singular case of epiphany (which doesn't permit DnD), I type
ctrl+o, then drag the file to that dialog.  Gnome apps need only display
a Nautilus browser window instead of introducing a new set of rules in a
dialog.  

File save is a problem, because GNOME has a rich set of information that
no dialog can contain.  I think nautilus should display the temp file in
a virtual location.  The user can rename the file, emblem it, set
permissions, and drag/C&P it to another location.  In a document-centric
world, we create the empty document first.  Others will protest, but we
do get a clean document, and put it on our desk before we write in the
real world.

When Nautilus can do filtering the app should set Nautilus to only show
the file types the app can handle.  Better still, when gnome-search is
restored, the application can open the nautilus window and show all the
files the app can handle, sorted by most recent access.  Odds are the
user will see the file he wants at the top of the list without
navigating.  Search also permits the user to set additional criteria to
restrict the list size.  That beats the snot out of any file open
scenario.

-- 
__C U R T I S  C.  H O V E Y____________________
sinzui cox net
Guilty of stealing everything I am.