Call for vote: Nautilus use Browser view for fedora 11

[Joonas Sarajärvi]

2008/12/20 Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>:

> Can someone who likes (even tolerates) spatial mode describe why?  I'm
> completely baffled as to why anyone would prefer windows left open all over
> the place randomly instead of just explicitly opening ones yourself in
> places where you want them.  For me, it is _always_ extra work to close the
> unwanted windows compared to opening the ones I want.

I have used Nautilus in spatial mode as my main file manager for a
couple of years.

I like the spatial mode because:

The interface is very clean and simple. There are no toolbars or tabs,
just the actual files that I am interested in.

The folders open where I left them the last time, also retaining their
settings. I can have a bigger window for directories with lots of
stuff or where I want to have a bigger zoom level to make better use
of the preview images, or a smaller window for others.

Drag and drop is easy, but I don't think this is the best thing about
spatial mode. It's just an adde bonus.

Things I don't like in spatial mode:

Tendency to create create lots of windows.

What I can do to avoid opening a hundred and one windows?

Use shift-click or middle click to close the parent folder's window.

Use the bookmark feature of Nautilus.

Set common 'root' directories, like your homedir and to list mode
(ctrl+2) and use the tree to navigate to your target without opening
new windows at all.

Use Gnome's session management to have your desired directories
already open when you need them. Less navigating -> less windows. This
of course doesn't work for those who switch the task they are doing
all the time, but it certainly works for me.

Plan your home directory's contents so that you don't have too many
levels of directories there. This also doesn't work for everyone, but
it may suit some.


What could Nautilus developers do to make spatial mode more useful?

Nautilus' spatial mode sucks worst when I need to get to a specific
directory that I don't happen to have a shortcut available for. Making
it easier to 'get to places' would greatly make spatial mode more
useful by avoiding the need to surf through a lot of dirs, while
possibly leaving a long trail of windows behind.

For example, make a global Gnome shortcut that would open the dialog
that Nautilus currently displays when I press Ctrl+L in it. Also try
to make the dialog easier to use by offering more visual cues and
keyboard shortcuts. I think the deskbar applet can be used to do this,
at least to an extent, but I haven't used it much lately.

Also, it would be nice if I could easily get rid of the windows I have
happened to create. A shortcut for closing all the Nautilus windows
would sometimes be nice. Other potential targets for shortcuts could
be to kill the all the other Nautilus windows but the one I currently
have focused, or maybe only the parent directories of the currently
focused directory.


I think that spatial mode is very useful as it is, but is also has
potential to be a lot better and easier and faster to use.


Somewhere it was mentioned that all the other major distros have the
browser mode as default. However, I think at least Debian has spatial
mode as the default mode for Nautilus.

-- 
Joonas Sarajärvi
muepsj at gmail.com