Re: [Usability] About the history side-panel

[Maurizio Colucci <seguso forever tin it>]

Maurizio Colucci wrote:

> 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.

I forgot:

4. The history list (when visible) makes the toolbar buttons "back", 
"forward" and "up" useless. You could remove them from the toolbar. 
Another simplification. :)

Mau