Re: What I think spatial nautilus needs

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Thu, May 27, 2004 at 01:27:57PM -0500, Shaun McCance wrote:
> On Thu, 2004-05-27 at 07:14, Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> > 
> > Bookmarks have no place in the spatial Nautilus menu, because there's 
> > no relation to the represented folder. (Having Places there is a mistake, 
> > IMHO).
> > Having shortcuts and the ability to put arbitrary folders into the panel 
> > would make for nice bookmark functionality.
> 
> "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
>   ???Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be carful with your little minds!

> People, generally, will understand that the window for /home/foo and the
> window for /home/foo/bar are the same type of window.  If there are any
> actions for the file manager application, I think most people would
> expect to see them on those windows.  People are getting way too caught
> up with the metaphor, and they're losing sight of what's useful.

I thought people were expected to think of a spatial Nautilus window 
not as filemanager but _the_folder_.
But you're right, strictness shouldn't hurt usefulness.


Besides being related to the represented folder another criterium has 
to be relation to Nautilus itself / not having another place to be put.


> But if we want to be consistent and get rid of Places and not provide
> bookmarks, then we should also remove the following:

> File -> Open Location...

Well, it at least starts with the current path. But it would be better 
to have a global Open Location, that works with paths und urls like 
Run Application does (which could be combined/replaced with it).
Could go under Actions.


> File -> Connect to Server...

Actions menu? Having it in all Nautilus windows is so arbitrary, if you 
think about it. Who would expect it where it is now?


> Edit -> Preferences

Direct relation to Nautilus, affects how every folder will be 
represented. Could be only in Applications->Desktop Prefs, 
but it's a nice shortcut ;-)

> Help -> Contents

Other matters of consistency. Where else would one find help 
for just that type of window ...

> Help -> About

See above


Back to Places:
All what is listed there already has nice representations 
elsewhere. Except CD Creator, which would make more sense handled 
like app with its own file format (somewhat comparable to Fileroller).
Places would still make sense as menu besides Applications and Actions.

The Places are realy fixed bookmarks.
The problem I have with all the calls for bookmarks:
For local files using bookmarks is all about building an additional 
flat listing or rather flat hierarchy for already organized files 
and folders. Wouldn't it make more sense to better organize stuff in 
the first place than building another, additional structure?

I'm not strictly against bookmarks. But they make more sense on a  
global level (panel).


---
Thorsten Wilms