Re: File selector UI proposal

[Krzysztof Luks <m00se iq pl>]

On pią, 2003-09-12 at 12:49, Artur Brodowski wrote:

> 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'm that mysterious friend that Artur mentioned :)

Regarding 2 panel vs. 1 panel discussion I think that:

1. New file selector shouldn't be too much different from the current
one, so that users that already have experience with GTK will feel
comfortable with 2.4. That's why I think 2 panel design is better.

2. With 2 panel layout it's immediately obvious which are files and
which are directories. For *me* it's one of very few bright points of
current file selector. This can of course be made configurable,
e.g. in .gtkrc (so Artur's wife can have her one panel layout ;)), but
I don't think it's worth the hassle of implementing such feature.

3. Alphabetic sorting (in  1panel design) sucks IMO. It only makes it
more difficult to tell folders from files.

4. Remove '.' and '..' entries from directory list. For details see
below.


"The Pickbox at the top of the dialog".
I use this feature very often mainly as a replacement for 'up' button
and because there are no bookmarks/favourites/shortcuts in filesel
currently. Having these two features in place we can remove the
'pickbox'.


Tree vs. list in directory panel
Don't use trees. A tree with several 'branches' expanded can easily make
finding anything in it very hard (scroll and scroll and scroll...).


Icons and thumbnails
They're good in nautilus. But when scaled down so that they fit in list
rows they become unreadable and certainly don't help in distinguishing
between file types.


"Advanced" features
I think that the "show hidden files" checkbox and file type chooser
(filter) can be safely put inside GtkExpander.

File management buttons
These should only appear in save dialog. If you feel you must put them
in advanced section.

File type chooser and file name filter.
I was talking about that with Federico on IRC yesterday. I think that
having several 2-3 predefined options is not enough. IMO it should also
be possible for user to specify file name pattern (simple shell-like
pattern matching should be enough). In short use Gtkcombo instead of
OptionMenu.

Other features such as type ahead find, tab-completion and such are not
part of GUI design. I would welcome both of them though.

I will put updated design that includes above points ASAP on
http://m00se.neostrada.pl/gtk_mockup/



-- 
[Krzysztof Luks]
[kluks<at>iq.pl]