VDQ : search "/" how with FC4's GUI??

[Ben Steeves]

On 7/7/05, Tony Nelson <tonynelson at georgeanelson.com> wrote:
> At 5:53 PM -0300 7/6/05, Ben Steeves wrote:
> >On 7/6/05, beartooth <beartooth at adelphia.net> wrote:
> >> But your report seems at variance with what I see, or the way I understand
> >> something. If I change the default "Home" under "Search for Files" to
> >> "Other," I just get a list of files in /home/btth (my userID's home
> >> folder)
> >
> >That's where is *starts*, but if you click on "Filesystem" on the
> >left-hand side (where you can define your own shortcuts if you want by
> >clicking Add, by the way), you can direct the search to any point on
> >your filesystem.
> 
> Clicking on Filesystem only selects the list cell.  One must double-click
> to do what single-clicking should do, show the contents of the item in the
> right pane.  There is nothing useful to do with a selected list item.

Sorry, yes, I meant double-click.  Double-click to "do" something is a
GNOME standard and I'm so used to it I don't even think about it any
more, which is why I missed that.  There *is* something useful to do
with a selected left-pane item, though: remove it from the shortcuts
list.  Of course, you can't remove the defaults (above the dividing
line), but you can remove your own.

> >-- without even the .files, nor any way of displaying them
> >
> >Try right-clicking on the file list.  While you're at it, try typing
> >the first few letters of the file or directory you're looking for...
> 
> The only thing that accepts right-clicks in this dialog is the file list on
> the right, and that menu has only one item.  That item should have been a
> button, but perhaps the author was being cute in hiding the command to show
> hidden items.  As usual for right-clicks, nothing indicates that a
> right-click is useful, nor that it is useless everywhere else in the dialog.

I agree with that -- the "show hidden files" option isn't discoverable
and it should be switched back to being a checkbox.

> >-- much
> >> less files like /etc or /usr. I don't even see a way to go up to /home and
> >> back down to /home/backups (which I created, and scp'd stuff into as btth)
> >> instead of staying in /home/btth.
> >
> >That should be obvious given the hints I've given you so far :-)
> 
> It isn't obvious.  

Sorry -- I must learn that sarcasm doesn't filter through email very
well.  The smiley was meant to signify that it's not *really* all that
obvious.  I was agreeing with you more than disagreeing...

> To go down the directory hierarchy, double-click on a
> right-pane folder (directory) entry. 

That's actually wrong.  You double-click on a left-pane *shortcut*
entry.  Those aren't directories.  There's no directory called
"Filesystem", and no directory "home"... there's *your* home
directory, which is /home/whatever, but that's not quite the same
thing.  Ditto "Desktop".

> To go up, click on one of the folder
> names listed above the right list.  If the folder names won't all fit,
> there will be scroll buttons on either side.

Yes, I rather like the folder buttons metaphor rather than editing
paths by hand or keeping track of where I am in an up-down hierarchy,
but you say tomato, I say tomatoe. :-)  I must say, it's never been
immediately obvious to me what the arrow buttons in some other file
requestors meant.  At least all the components of the GNOME requestor
*that you can see* are obvious, even if there are a few hidden
behaviours.


> It isn't obvious that this dialog, unlike many others, is resizable. 

I guess that depends on what theme you're using.  It's perfectly
obvious in my theme.

> It
> may be more convenient to use if it is wider, able to show more of the open
> folder hierarchy across the top.  Move the mouse to an edge of the window,
> to where it turns into a bidirectional arrow, and click and drag to resize.

Yes, that's a metacity standard user behavior, is it not?

> The number of UI problems with this dialog is at least as large as the
> number of visible plus invisible UI items.  Oww.

Well, I wouldn't go that far.  I can pick out equally distressing UI
problems with nearly every other filesystem requestor I've ever used. 
The biggest UI problem with the GNOME file requestor is the "show
hidden files" thing.

-- 
Ben Steeves                     _                    bcs at metacon.ca
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