[Usability] spatial mode (was Nautilus: maybe a GtkFileChooser like UI?)

[Thilo Pfennig <tp alternativ net>]

Am Dienstag, den 14.06.2005, 23:45 +0200 schrieb Michele Cella:

> (Not mentioning spatial mode here. I've never switched it off since its 
> introduction but I must admit that often, when I need to do something, I 
> click the File Browser launcher in my panel and start browsing.)

I have lately came to a new opinion about this. I think "sometimes"
spatial mode is great and sometimes I hate it.

1. Spatial mode is especially frustrating on smaller screens, because
open folders cover each other.
2. Spatial mode is especially fine with often used folders that are deep
in hierarchy. I would say they could be considered Bookmarks or
Favourites.


I depends heavily on what you want to do. And I think the right
direction is not: What mode is good for all work, but what mode do we
need for what kind of work?

I personally do not like the old file-browser to be selected via right
click. I think this is a good workaround but it is not intuitive in any
way.

I could imagine to have one file-browser that people in Windows XP do
know as the "Explorer" on the desktop. This icon could be called
something like "Browse for content" (not a good name). On the other hand
there could be the "Open Location". I also liked the idea to have
special settings per content. I think a good start would be to give the
users some standard folders in which he organizes pictures or music.

I think here the old "file-browser" and content organiszers like F-spot
meet! There is a difference between navigating folders (spatial) and
organizing content. But moth methods do mix. Also folders mighht contain
a mix of content like a picture, a movie, text,... 

There is also a third level that handles the content itself. I don't
mean displaying or playing the media, but working wit the media. i think
organizing and showing the content should be one level. The third level
for me would be applications like Gimp, Abiword, Avidemux, Audacity.

So to make my point clear i would mention:

 1. navigational level (Nautilus with spatial mode)
 2. organizing media ( F-Spot, Rhytmbox, Easytag, Gthumb,...)
 3. Working with the media.

That said it should also be clear that organizing media means that
content is not always structured via classic folders. And there is also
a difference between classic usage for home users:

 * image collection
 * music collection

and a developer for instance who has a deep directory structure. I think
that the right aproach would be to think in projects instead of in
files, directories and applications.

The organizing of images for example should be seperated in:

 * importing new images (camera, web, network)
 * organizing images (content orientated, including licensing!)
 * work with the images
 * exporting or structuring: the last step would allow users to export
specific images to special places: usbstick, desktop, Flickr,...


I think that there is not much sense allowing the user or asking him
where to put images. I think that GNOME should have default places. But
I think about them more as virtual places then as necessarily real
folders. Those places could also be distributed via many computers or
file systems, depending on how they are organized. The user can share
these content The user could give his images licenses (like CC). These
sharing rules also could be used by peer-to-peer programs.

My point is, that I do not think that the innovation comes from
presenting and navigating a file and directory structure. The innovation
comes from the added value of content. 

Organizing files is a very time-consuming task. I would love to see
Gnome going in the direction of helping people organize their content
and help them to interact, share, communicate. I think that the classic,
spatial interface can also be present as an application that many people
will seek, but we should target the new generations who have their first
contact with the computer. Being not a popular as Windows could benefit
GNOME as we do not have to take tens of millions of users with us. 

I think some applications like F-Spot are very nice, but as long as they
are only applications and not an integral function of GNOME they will
not make the difference.

I see the biggest distinction between the Windows/Macos world and the
GNOME/Linux world in that here all applications tend to be friendly and
do not try to dominate each other. GNOME could be less and more than
today. It could be the interface for everything we do on the computer
while at the same time we do not have to worry what application we need.

It's always funny to watch MacWin users while they are in desperate
search of simple software having to deal with Shareware, serial numbers,
registrations, update fees, etc. I do not think that i the future it
will still be important to have application heavyweights to conquer the
Windows Apps.

I think this new Nokia thing using GNOME shows some directions we will
see. I also think that some things might go faster than we think.We only
need to go in the right direction. ;-)



Thilo

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