Re: [Usability] About the history side-panel

[Kalle Vahlman <kalle vahlman gmail com>]

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 13:33:38 +0100, Maurizio Colucci
<seguso forever tin it> wrote:
> >Also, the history function has (I'd say) limited value in
> >spatial,since folder juggling is not so big issue when the folders are open at the same time
> >
> I don't agree. Keeping folders open 1. clutters the taskbar, and 2. they
> are not sorted by recent access, which makes it difficult to toggle
> between two or three locations.
> 
> (Taskbar grouping is no solution IMHO: it does solve (1) but not (2),
> and introduces a new problem: it always takes two clicks, making it
> difficult to toggle between nautilus and another app)

I'm the wrong person to comment on point 1, since I haven't used the
taskbar in my home system for ages, but I find it difficult to imagine
what else the taskbar is supposed show if not the tasks you are
currently working on (juggling the folders for example).

Point (2) is valid, but I was really thinking that the folders would
be also visible at the same time. Point (2) can be "side-stepped" by
using alt-tab btw (which does sort by recent access).
 
> >Location history plugin sounds like a reasonable solution, that would
> >be useful to both models but not intrusive to either.
>
> But the question is: should it be implemented as a dropdown-list (panel
> applet) or as a global sidebar that is always visible?

Well, if the global sidebar means one per window, then it's not an
option for spatial mode since it would needlessly duplicate the
history for every window. As for a permanent on-screen panel, those
always require space. That space almost always is taken from the
active task which is not good in my opinion (I have only one panel at
the minimum sensible size for this reason).

A dropdown-list would take the least amount of space when passive, and
wouldn't show me the history when I'm not interested in it.

-- 
Kalle Vahlman, zuh iki fi