Re: [Usability] copy file dialog

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2007-09-20 at 17:50 +0100, Calum Benson wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-09-14 at 20:48 +0000, stimorol chewing gun wrote:
> 
> > I'm new to this group. Maybe you already spoken about it, in this case sorry.
> > 
> > I just think, it may be cool to have these features.
> > 
> > When you copy a lot of files with the gmone interface you have one dialog by batch.
> > 
> > Maybe we can group them like in Beos. (see the screenshot)
> 
> I guess the first question (for any new feature, not just this one)
> would be "why"?   The multiple progress bars take up more screen space,
> so the use case would have to be quite common and compelling.
> 
> When you copy multiple files at once (to the same location), aren't they
> usually copied one after the other anyway to avoid disk thrashing?  So
> wouldn't you usually still see just one progress bar at a time anyway? 

Furthermore, while per-file progress bars could be useful when
copying a small number of large files, I think the majority of
lengthy copy operations involve moving a large number of small
files.  Think of copying your music directory to a USB stick.

For that sort of operation, I really doubt you want to see a
bunch of progress bars appear and disappear.  All you really
care about is the total amount of time the entire copy will
take.

On Fri, 2007-09-14 at 20:48 +0000, stimorol chewing gun wrote: 
> Maybe we can put a � pause button �, sometimes it can be usefull.

Having a pause button, though, could be very useful.  I can
imagine lots of scenarios where you're copying a huge folder,
it's a quarter of the way through, and it's slowing down your
system.  You want to check your email and the show times at
the local cinema.  You don't want to cancel the whole copy.
You just want to pause it long enough to do what you want to
do.  Then you'll start it back up when you go to the movies.

And again, you'd just want to pause the entire copy operation,
not individual file copies.  Otherwise, you'll be doing some
crazy clicking.  Pause.  Crap!  Pause.  Crap!  Pause.  Crap!
Pause.  Crap!  Pause.  Crap!  Pause.  Crap!  Pause.  Crap!

--
Shaun