Re: [Usability] New dialog for handling file conflicts in Nautilus - UI review request

[Cosimo Cecchi <cosimoc gnome org>]

Hey Calum, first of all thanks you and everyone else who answered for
the feedback! :)

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 12:40 +0100, Calum Benson wrote:
> On 24 Apr 2008, at 08:01, t_w_ freenet de wrote:
> 
> > So I think for images, almost everyone's firsts tep would be to hit  
> > that
> > disclosure triangle ...
> 
> If that were true, maybe it could just be expanded by default for  
> images.
> 
> However, I'm not sure I necessarily agree.  Most of the time, when I'm  
> copying or moving files, my intention is to replace any conflicting  
> files.  I'd never look at the thumbnails in those cases.  I can't even  
> remember the last time I started a move/copy operation without  
> realising there was going to be a conflict, and then had to make a per- 
> file decision once the operation was in progress.

This is true, but the dialog also applies with single file operation,
and, especially if you use List/Column view (where thumbnails are tiny
or not used at all), it can be good to show it so that the user has an
instant feedback of what's happening. Also currently the dialog is coded
so that if there's no thumbnail available, the regular file icon will be
used. I think this adds a little bling to the dialog, and also makes it
clear from the first sight that something about conflicting files is
going on. So I would be for always showing thumbnails. 

> >> - You get the choice to rename either the original file or the copy.
> >> Maybe this is overkill, but it doesn't affect the rest of my comments
> >> either way...
> >
> > I don't think it's overkill. But you could have 2 entries (and Reset
> > buttons), no radio buttons.
> 
> Maybe, that just makes the GUI logic a little more complex-- you'd  
> probably want to disable one entry while they were typing in the  
> other, and then it may not be obvious (even with the Reset button) how  
> to enable the other field again if they changed their mind.
> 
> Or you could just allow them to type names in both fields, I guess,  
> which would rename both files, but that doesn't seem like a  
> particularly useful thing to allow.

Offering the choice to rename both files sounds really a bit
overkill/cluttering the UI to me, but if we want to do that I think the
best solution would be hiding two checkbox-activable entries under the
expander and not mess with enabling/disabling widgets.

Also, note that the "Skip" button should be sensitive to the "Apply to
all" checkbox (that is different from Cancel, as it would only skip the
files which are conflicting), so I would leave that at the end of the
dialog.

Summarizing what we've achieved so far:
- Display better text messages, and make it clear which file is
older/newer.
- Avoid displaying file type (maybe we could display it only when it's
different between the two files?)
- Pre-fill the rename entry(-ies?) with the current name and select it
until the extension.
- Merge the Replace and Rename buttons and add a Reset one.

I will try to adapt the code to this and will post some updated
screenshots soon :)

Cheers!

-- 
Cosimo