[Usability] About the history side-panel

[Maurizio Colucci <seguso forever tin it>]

While programming my file manager (http://onefinger.sf.net), I 
discovered that a side panel containing the recently used locations 
greatly improved my productivity. I believe the reason is that a big 
part of my time is spent navigating between the folders.

Then I discovered that NONspatial nautilus contains something very 
similar: the side panel has a "history" mode which greatly improves my 
navigation speed. At first my jaw dropped, then I discovered the history 
panel was much more limited than OneFinger's:

1. The list cannot be narrowed to show only the bookmarked locations. 
Then you are forced to provide a separate "bookmarks" menu. On the other 
hand, if you provided a button "only show bookmarked folders in history 
panel", you could get rid of the "bookmarks" menu. IMHO this would be a 
major unification and simplification.

2. its history items are not first-class citizens: they can only be 
entered; I may want to delete, or move, a folder which I see in the 
history. Currently it is very difficult to do that. I have to click not 
the folder, but ITS PARENT. There's something wrong with this concept. 
There is another reason to make the items first-class citizen: see below.

3.  Only folders appear in the history. This is a needless restriction: 
you could put RECENT FILES in it too (opened with any gnome 
application). Then, add a button to "only show files in history panel". 
This would be IMHO another major feature and unification. It would not 
be possible until you make the history items first-class citizens.

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Of course, these suggestions only apply to nonspatial nautilus. Adding 
the panel to spatial nautilus would violate the spatial paradigm, 
because it would contain items that are not in the current location. 
However:

1. you are already violating the spatial paradigm: spatial nautilus 
contains links to places that are not related to the current location.

2. The pros may defeat the cons. Currently if I use spatial nautilus I 
have no way to quickly get to a recent folder, or to a bookmarked folder.

3. such a panel could be made external to nautilus, this preserving 
consistency.

Take care,

Maurizio