Re: Gnome 2.6: What were you thinking?

[Raul Acevedo <raul cantara com>]

Andy Ross wrote:

 >  > > Now, where would you put the setting?  I mean in which control panel?
 >  >
 >  > File Management Preferences, either Views or Behavior tab.
 > 
 > Even better, how about making the traditional browser an entry in the
 > top-level application menu?  It could be called "Browse Filesystem",
 > so that no one could possibly miss it.

The only problem is that calling it with any reference to "Browse" is
confusing.  To me, "browse" is what Nautilus does in either spatial or
browse mode.  It makes more sense to call it "New window per
directory".

I do think it is a confusing paradigm to have a functional distinction
between "browse" and "spatial" when really they are the same function,
and in fact work almost identically, save a couple of minor differences: 

1.  Spatial has a new window per directory.  This should be its own
    config setting as above. 

2.  Spatial doesn't have a toolbar.  This can be configurable as a menu
    entry under "View" along with "Side Pane" and "Location".  This
    should be configurable regardless of spatial mode.  (It's confusing
    that it's not settable right now.)

3.  Spatial has a button pop-up on the lower left location bar for the
    current directory hierarchy.  Just always have that in the Location
    bar, though I might move it to the right side so it's less out of
    the way for those that don't like it.

So, with two simple menu entries and a basic UI modification, the whole
spatial/browser distinction disappears, and everyone can have the best
of both worlds, or anything in between.

Yes yes, I'm yet another luser thinking he's got all the answers...  :)
But seriously, what do you guys think?

Raul