Re: [Usability] Better Visual Cues in Nautilus Tree View

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Sun, 2009-01-04 at 17:24 +0000, Ross Burton wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-12-27 at 11:30 +0100, K. Starojitski wrote:
> > When you browse Nautilus Tree View, there is no visual indication 
> > whether a directory has any subdirectories or not without clicking on a 
> > little triangle first. And then you get that really ridiculous "(Empty)" 
> > text if there no subs ... How can it be Empty if there are files in there?
> > 
> > The Tree visualization pattern is so well known that i wonder how 
> > Nautilus devs could overlook this one.
> > 
> > Removing triangle next to childless directories is the standard and 
> > intuitive way.
> 
> I believe the reason is that finding out if a folder contains subfolders
> can be very slow on remote links, so it is done on demand.  IIRC,
> Windows XP does this too.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, it's been years), Windows shows
the expander symbol for all folders, but after you click the
expander and it determines there are no subfolders, it just
removes the expander symbol.

On the one hand, Nautilus's approach is a constant and ugly
reminder of an implementation detail that nobody really wants
to look at.  On the other hand, my recollection of Windows'
behavior could be completely overlooked, leaving the user
waiting for something that will never happen.  I don't know
if that's a real problem or not; it's just wild conjecture
on my part.

--
Shaun