Re: [Usability] Proposal to solve some drawbacks of the current spatial implementation

[Karim Nassar <Karim Nassar NAU EDU>]

I love this idea. If for some reason it gets shot down, could I suggest
a File->Close Child Folders option as well as close parent for all the
same reasons? (NOTE: I am still in 2.6, in case it already exists ;-)

\<.


On Mon, 2004-10-25 at 05:07, Maurizio Colucci wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Although I agree with the principles of spatiality, there's something I 
> don't like with the actual way the spatial paradigm in GNOME is 
> implemented. The problem is two-fold, depending on your style of usage:
> 
> 1. if you do not use middle-click or similar technique, the problem is 
> that you get a proliferation of open windows, most of which are useless. 
> This makes it more difficult to switch between windows in the 
> window-list. (Of course, periodically closing useless windows by hand is 
> a non-solution --- it's like doing your own garbage collection; it's 
> simply something you would not want to do.)
> 
> 2. OTOH, if you do use middle click, you don't get a proliferation of 
> open windows, but you are forced too decide too early whether the 
> current folder must be closed or kept visible. This is annoying because, 
> when you have an objective in mind which you are pursuing (like reaching 
> a precise window), you don't want to have to think about secondary 
> issues like whether the intermediate windows must be closed. That 
> decision must be postponeable.
> 
> I am proposing the following change, which solves both problems in one shot:
> 
> In the gnome panel, add a global dropdown button called "recent 
> folders". when clicked, it simply pops up a menu with the most recently 
> visited locations, SORTED BY LAST VISITING TIME. It is GLOBAL because it 
> contains locations visited from ANY nautilus window; it is not relative 
> to one window. If you select a folder from the menu, a nautilus window 
> relative to that directory is opened (or brought on top if already opened).
> 
> What is interesting about this solution is that it solves both problems:
> 
> 1. It solves problem 1 because, although there will still be many open 
> windows in the window-list, nonetheless it will be easy to switch 
> between windows, because of the sorting: the useless folders will 
> quickly end up in the bottom of the "recent list", so you will rarely 
> have to look at them. Almost always, you'll only have to scan the first 
> few items in the list (tested).    Especially, continuously toggling 
> between two windows (a very frequent operation) is trivial with the 
> "recent list" but terribly difficult with the current wnidow-list.
> 
> 2. It solves problem 2 because you can always use only middle click, yet 
> quickly reach a recent folders. So you are no more forced to an early 
> decision about the importance of intermediate folders.
> 
> -----
> 
> Then, optionally, in nautilus, you could swap the behavior of middle 
> click and left click (i.e. default to "close parent window"), since 
> there would not be a reason for left clicking anymore (or at least it 
> would be very rarely needed). This would make sense because if you only 
> introduce complexity, without removing any, you are not really doing a 
> simplification.
> 
> ----
> 
> In case you want to try this paradigm, a working implementation can be 
> found in the file manager http://onefinger.sf.net.
> 
> I am very interested in exactly what problems do you think this 
> navigation style could have. (I have been using it for months and I 
> still can't find a drawback.)
> 
> Maurizio
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