Re: [Usability] spatial mode (was Nautilus: maybe a GtkFileChooser like

[Matthew Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

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

This is why I suggested that normal window vs. browser be a mode
remembered for each folder
<http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170546>.  So you can switch
to a browser for those folders and hierarchies it's appropriate for,
without having to decide ahead of time, and without having to repeat
your decision every time you open the folder. (Those people who prefer
using the browser all the time can set browser as their preferred view
for / and ~/, and if they start browsing from either of those places
they won't see any spatial windows.)

>...
> 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,... 
>...
> 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.
>...

It would be nice if we had a collection manager rather than a file
manager, where plug-ins could integrate to provide specialized functions
for particular types of files. For example, an image management plug-in
for your "Pictures" search folder would add a timeline, an image
manipulation toolbar, a pane listing search subfolders, and extra fields
for each item (e.g. "Date created" and "Resolution"). The rest of the
interface -- Send To..., Move to Trash, Emblems, Zoom In/Out, and so on
-- would be exactly the same as for a normal folder.

-- 
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/