Re: RFC: On-line Content Filtering of directories

[Nate Nielsen <nielsen-list memberwebs com>]

Diego Gonzalez wrote:
> I have implemented a new feature for Nautilus, it is a way to filter the
> contents of a directory, right now it only works when Nautilus is in
> spatial mode. If there is interest in it, it can easily be extended to
> work on navigational windows.
> 
> I have created this feature to overcome a problem that i'm having as a
> consequence of using the spatial mode: when i started to use the spatial
> mode, i found it incredible anoying to have deep hierarchies of
> directories, as a consecuence i reduced them, this meant in many cases
> that i got directories with a lot of files, and altough i have long
> meaningful names for many of them it is quite hard to find a file in
> there. This patch allows me to quickly search the contents of a
> directory for files that match the string entered.

I've been following this discussion for a while, and stumbled across an
idea. A random thought, but there's a chance it may inspire a solution.

- Bring files that match the filter to the top of the nautilus window.
- Put in two headings: Files matching 'xxx' and Other files. By
  'headings' I mean like the old XD2 control center. Or I believe WinXP
  has headings like this in certain explorer icon views.
- Perhaps make all icons in 'other files' translucent.
- All files remain selectable.
- The filter could even be persistent (fits nicely with spacial)

Problems:
- Needs refinement to work with list view.
- Doesn't work in 'Manually Arranged' mode, but that's a given for
  any filter.

Cheers,
Nate