Re: [Usability] Faded File Extensions

[David Christian Berg <david sipsolutions net>]

> > > Hiding the extension is not always useful. I often need to know, if an
> > > image is a jpg or a png, or -- even more important -- maybe even an svg.
> > > All these have a preview and I very much appreciate that.
> > > So I'd think that hiding the extension should be an option which is on
> > > by default, just like it is on win or mac. If the extension is hidden,
> > > the tooltip should show the extension and the sniffed file type.
> >
> > Really, the icon should be doing that for you. You should also be giving
> 
> Not in thumbnail mode they dont.

Thanks, Alan, that's exactly the point.

> > the files distinct names, not just relying on the extension for the sake
> 
> Blame the user, of course it is the users fault.  Why didn't I think of
> that?

If you have the same image as .png and .jpg, there's no point in giving
it different names, is there? If I have my business card as an svg and a
pdf, why give them different names??
In these cases the most reasonable thing to do is to rely on extensions
or for that part on some other indication of the format. But as for now
there is no other indication granted as soon as you have thumbs turned
on and thumbs help you finding, what you're looking for.

> > of spotting it quickly. Such a case of course is why it'd be an option.
> > There are no tool-tips in Nautilus AFAIK.

Hmm, ok, fair point, but I do think, that there must be a better way.
As for tool-tips: it's not quite perfect, I agree...

> > > As for renaming it should just work as it does right now. I love this
> > > behaviour! The extension should be shown but not selected, now matter if
> > > showing extensions is turned on or off.
> >
> > Of course. I was implying that. I love it too.

:-)

> I'd like undo in Nautilus to make it easier to rollback any such
> 'mistakes' but it is a much harder problem to tackle.

Me too, but I don't see it coming anytime soon.

> > I've had ZIP files get MIME'd as MP3's, so there's little chance that
> > extensions will be going away anytime within the next (ironic quote
> > time) 10 years.

Just stumbled over a very similar problem: I create a Scribus document
(.sla) and it was by default opened using gedit. So I switched the
default to Sscribus. Then I created a text file (.txt) and wanted to
open it. Well, it was by default opened with Scribus. That was quite the
mess.

I'll keep thinking about this.

David