Re: Nautilus Sidebar

[Ryan Paul <segphault sbcglobal net>]

I like the idea of an interface that changes dynamically to reflect
actions available for the selected element, but I think that the panel
is a better place for this than a nautilus sidebar. It would be nice to
have a context sensitive toolbar sort of thing embedded in the GNOME
panel that would change depending on which application is active and
what item is selected. Would making it a universal panel thing be an HIG
violation? Having application functionality accessible somewhere other
than the application window might be bad usability mojo.

Potentially, it could show the most frequently used menu/toolbar items
for the active program, or if you select a specific item it could also
show the right-click menu options for that item. In a recent thread, I
remember somebody saying something about users not being aware of
features available on right-click menus, so this could really enhance
usability in that sense and expose more functionality to the user.

In Windows Vista, the file manager has a toolbar that changes to show
contextually relevant operations. When I select a text file while
browsing a folder in Vista, that toolbar changes so that it has an
'open' drop-down menu with a list of applications with which the file
can be opened, a print button, an e-mail button, a share button, etc. It
really makes the system functionality a lot more accessible to users
that don't know it's on the right-click menu.

I could imagine programs making actions available via d-bus for this
feature. That would make it possible for developers to create
alternative interfaces that can take advantage of it in addition to a
panel applet. This is probably a bit too ambitious for the GNOME 2
series, but maybe something to think about for GNOME 3?

Also, the nautilus information panel already has buttons with
application actions, maybe it would be beneficial to build on that for
the short term? It looks like those buttons in the info panel only show
'open with' actions for the current directory. Maybe the information
panel should be improved to also show the 'open with' operations
associated with the selected file as well as the current directory?

As long as I am rambling about Nautilus interface stuff, I'd like to
suggest that proper right-click support be added to the buttons in the
location/path bar. Say that I want to open the parent folder in a new
window. Rather than having to go to the parent and then select 'open in
new window' from the file menu, I want to be able to right-click it in
the path bar and select 'open in new window.' Is there a reason why this
hasn't been done yet? Maybe implementing that would be a good way for me
to start getting involved in GNOME development?

-- Ryan

On Sun, 2006-06-25 at 16:47 +0100, Who wrote:
> On 6/25/06, Olafur Arason <olafra gmail com> wrote:
> > The problem is that this is ends up being just ignored, I have asked
> > countless windows user whether they use this feature of explorer
> > they respond that they hadn't noticed it. It is better to have single
> > purpose applications. That being said it could be useful to have
> > and optional sidebar thing that had big noticeable and distinct
> > actions. Intelligence is key here, less is more.
> >
> > Olafur Arason
> >
> >
> 
> I think that it failing to be noticed is a problem with the default
> configuratins, not with the tool itself.  Perhaps we can think of some
> way to make it more discoverable - like a context menu item that says
> 'view more options in sidebar' when the sidebar isn't shown, does
> anyone have any other ideas?
> 
> I fully agree that 'less is more' :) I think we want to provide really
> relevant actions/files/information.
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-- 
Ryan Paul <segphault sbcglobal net>