Re: File/Folder selection area in list mode.

[Bogdan Butnaru <bogdanb gmail com>]

On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 7:06 PM, John Keller <gnome johnkeller com> wrote:
> John Keller wrote:
>> Bogdan Butnaru wrote:
>>> Wouldn't it be reasonable to accept drops anywhere on a Nautilus
>>> window, including outside the list? Except for the address bar, which
>>> might accept text, nothing else in the window seems to have a need for
>>> specific drops. So I should be able to drop files on the toolbar and
>>> have them copied inside the directory.
>> Well, there is one class of object inside the window that should be a drop
>> target: the icons in the list. ;-) Sub-folders and applications, for
>> specific examples.
> And I realize now, after finally replying to your email, that you might have
> been suggesting that the window/chrome become a drop target for the folder
> that the window represents as an addition to being able to drop on objects
> within the list.

Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to say; sorry for not being more clear.

IIRC Windows' Explorer has three drop areas: the address bar accepts
text or URLs, the explored folder contents accepts files and folders
(delegating them appropriately if they fall on icons, e.g. something
dropped on an application will be passed to it, on a folder will be
moved/copied inside), and on the chrome (ie, anything else except what
I already mentioned and perhaps the window decorations) which is
equivalent to dropping on the current folder's icon.

(I'm not 100% sure I saw this in Windows. It might have been another
file manager, but I haven't used anything much except Nautilus and
that one, and the gesture feels very natural to me, to the point that
I regularly notice Nautilus doesn't do it. It's as if the mind says
"where to drop this? not on the folders inside, so why not on the
folder's window itself?" — but of course that might just be learned
behavior, even if it's still here after half a decade of not using
Windows. Another interesting feature on Windows is that you can drag a
window's icon (the one in the upper-left corner of the decorations) on
other windows, and it works as expected; for instance, dragging a
folder's icon on a terminal pastes the path.)

> I think that'd be fine, if technically possible (not sure it is in X). But
> it's still important that the user has a target area in the list area, even
> if it's filled with icons that are drop objects themselves. Mac has always
> had it, Windows has it, probably others I haven't used. Users expect it, and
> it presents (typically) a large target area, regardless of allowing drops on
> the surrounding window chrome.

I've got nothing against that in principle, of course. Although I
don't remember this from Windows; in large-icon mode you can always
drop between them, but in list mode I seem to remember you could drop
something (without putting it inside things) only if wrapping &
scrolling happened to leave an empty part in the window. I have used
Mac only a little, but it's true I don't remember ever having this
problem.

-- Bogdan