Re: [Usability] Interacting with open folders

[John Keller <jkeller matchbox fr>]

Maurizio Colucci wrote:
> Samuel Abels wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 2005-02-10 at 17:16 +0100, John Keller wrote:
> >
> > > (And, as Steven said in a parent message, the "File" menu would make 
> > > sense for the current-folder options.)
> >
> >
> >
> > Perhaps it would be more intuitive to label that menu "Folder". I know
> > the HIG generally recommends to have a "File" menu, but IIRC we came to
> > the same conclusion when discussing the presence of a "CD" Menu in
> > CD-Related applications, so this would follow the line. It's also more
> > logical.
>
>
> Excuse me gents, probably I am missing something, but... why are you all 
> talking about modifying the menu?

Well, I was also talking about an icon in the title bar as a drag proxy, 
but that was clipped out... :-)

> The actions in the "edit" menu act on 
> the SELECTED files. So all we need is a way to allow the user to SELECT 
> the container, in addition to the content. Then the current menu would 
> work unmodified.
>
> Currently you can only select the content and not the container. That is 
> the problem.

Well, yes and no. The "application : document" model doesn't translate 
well to a file manager. But it still is an "container : object" model, so...

The "Edit" menu is for items contained within. The primary menu ("File" 
or "CD" or whatnot) is for the container. Typically. I'm not referring 
to th HIG for this, only experience across many platforms, so I accept 
the possibility of being wrong for Nautilus.

What do you do when you need to create a new folder? Use the "File" 
menu. Did you have to select anything?

Ergo, same for the properties for the current open folder window.

- John