Re: [Usability] Two proposals for file-selection

[Ryan McDougall <ryan mcdougall telusplanet net>]

On Sat, 2004-03-06 at 09:34 -0500, Curtis Hovey wrote:
> On Sat, 2004-03-06 at 02:41, Julien Olivier wrote:
> > (snip good idea)
> > 
> > > I really would like to know what do you think about the usability of
> > > this, and the applicability to GTK/GNOME file selectors
> > > 
> > 
> > Hi Daniel.
> > 
> > I think your proposal is very near to my idea of an ideal file way to
> > find files in a file chooser. However, I have an even more radical
> > solution: why not simply show all the user-accessible files matching a
> > given mime-type in one list, sorted on mime-type-specific metadata
> > fields ?
> > 
> > For example, when loading music, you should see all the music files on
> > which you have read access, and this list should be sorted the same way
> > it is sorted in rhythmbox (by artist/album/genre). A "search" entry
> > would be great too.
> > 
> > That way, you can get rid of the directory structure entirely.
> 
> Medusa does this--you can get just such a list with msearch-gui.  Medusa
> has a lot of flaws (indexing, restricted to HOME, ...), but providing
> the file-open dialog with a fast and complete list of files is one of
> its goals.
> 
> I'm currently working on a metadata daemon which will provide a more
> accurate view of the file system through simple queries.  It will
> provide the file-open dialog with a list of files that can further query
> to see a subset.
> 

I think we all agree that a meta-data rich environment is the most
desirable outcome. There are lots of projects with this goal in mind,
such as medusa, and Seth's storage (yes the same guy who made the file
chooser UI wants to add something like what you propose).

More dramatically microsoft's new OS will include system wide support
for a meta-data database called WinFS implemented with a stripped down
MS-SQL server

http://longhorn.msdn.microsoft.com/lhsdk/winfs/daovrwelcometowinfs.aspx

I have a friend at MS whose used it who claims its very cool.

Cheers,
Ryan