Re: File selector UI proposal

[Artur Brodowski <bzd astercity net>]

W liście z pią, 12-09-2003, godz. 00:29, Michael L Torrie pisze: 
> - If there are more than 10 or so folders in the directory, you won't
> see any file until you scroll down.  Many users could find it confusing
> when they don't see any files.  With a file folder view and a file view,
> you don't ever have this problem.
i know that gnome users are used to two pane view, but in my opinion
single pane is easier to understand and use. my wife always finds it
confusing to click on two different panes, she says scrolling is more
intuitive - that was the main reason i used single view :)
maybe alphabetical sorting would work here?

> - the Pickbox at the top of the dialog has always been useless, in my
> opinion, for anything but determining where you currently are.  A
> windows-style "look in" combo box might be better so you could have the
> best of both worlds and be able to type in a path and press enter
i think it is usable, something like 'recent shortcuts', but mostly
i'd agree - combo box would probably be much better. although i'm not
sure how it would support tab-completion.

> - What would the "More" button do?  I can guess, but it's not a very
> obvious thing.
agreed. this is supposed to be a dropdown list of user-defined shortcuts
/bookmarks, i'm working on it to be more obvious.

> - The shortcut buttons would take up less space if they were layed out
> horizontally above the file list view.
this is a good idea, along with removing pickbox it could look something
like this:

NewFldr|Rename|Del|  |Desktop|Home|Cdrom|MyBookmarks V|AddBookmark|     
                                        (dropdown list) 

+---------------------------------------+   +---------------------+
|  Folders/Files                        |   |  (Preview)          |
   ...                                         ...
+---------------------------------------+   +---------------------+

+---------------------------------------+
| /home/bzd/   (combo box here)       V |
+-------------------------------------- +

> Until the API is sorted out, I think designing the widget visually is
> kind of counter-productive until we know what we want from it.
this is a reply to Owen's request - i cannot help with discussing API,
since i'm not that deep into GTK programming, so i thought i'd just
post some ideas. it's easier to discuss users' needs when you can
actually see things.

what i think is essential for fileselector is
1. basic file managing stuff (new folder, rename and delete should be
enough) - since lot of times people want to create folders for new 
saved files. buttons are imho better than context menu (like in
Windows)
2. shortcuts - at least most frequently used locations like ~/ and
~/Desktop, but it would be nice if one could define /filesdownloaded
fromthenet bookmark, wouldn't it? also it wold be great (i have no idea 
if it's implementable though) if you could bookmark a directory with
D&D.
3. not along with HIG, i know, but it has to be flexible and comfortable
_also_ for power users - showing hidden files and filtering is a must.
it could be hidden by default - i discussed it with one of my friend,
who knows Gtk better, and he proposed GtkExpander:
http://m00se.neostrada.pl/gtk_mockup/

i'll try to use some of your hints and post an update.

best regards,
artb.
-- 
only so many songs can be sung with two lips two lungs and one tongue