Ars has reviewed GNOME 2.20. "GNOME 2.20 was officially released last week after six months of development. The new version includes strong incremental improvements that contribute to a better user experience and provide more flexibility and integration opportunities for third-party software developers."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-06-29
I've seen so many times people screw up their files making non undoable changes inside a file selector.
I don't think it is a good reason. It is no difference with the file manager. Any users can screw up in file manager either.
Besides, it's contrary to the principles of the gnome hig: a selection dialog should not be able to influence things outside of its scope.
What is the difference with 'Create Folder'? Isn't it influence outside? or something that I don't understand?
Having a way to quickly open nautilus on the current directory
Not all users (include me) are using Nauitlus or file manager. When he creates a new file and somehow he wants to rename old file and use that old name for new file. It is wasting time to open and jump in file manager.
Member since:2007-09-24
Member since:2007-07-25
Member since:2005-07-06
Well, I for one think that having file managing functions inside the file selector is bad and wrong.
Oh please. What on earth do you think you're doing when you open or save a file? This is just silly.
I've seen so many times people screw up their files making non undoable changes inside a file selector.
Like what? This is just sensationalist, 'users are stupid', BS. If you have reusable components in your integrated desktop then you're going to be able to get consistent and familiar file operations wherever you are.
It's certainly not uncommon for someone to try and save a file, open the save dialogue and think "Oh dear, I want to put this in a separate folder" or open an open dialogue and think "Oh dear, I made a typo saving the file, so I'll change it". You shouldn't need to open another application to do what you want. If your main file manager is able to do that then you should get that functionality for free without anyone needing to code it in or complain about it. It should just happen.
Same for thumbnail support. If your file managers do it then your file dialogues should get it for free.
Besides, it's contrary to the principles of the gnome hig: a selection dialog should not be able to influence things outside of its scope.
What says that this sort of functionality is out of the scope of a file dialogue?
Having a way to quickly open nautilus on the current directory, I think, would be a good compromise.
How on Earth would having an extra step and having to deal with another application make things any better?
I'm sorry, but this is just lunacy.
Edited 2007-09-25 22:15
Member since:2005-07-07
Member since:2005-11-14
Oh please. What on earth do you think you're doing when you open or save a file? This is just silly.
When you open or save a file, you're not renaming or deleting a file.
An open or save dialog is not a dialog for doing all kinds of file managing operations, which is what the original poster intended to say I think. Stop playing dumb.
And this is not a "user is stupid" problem, this is a user hazard that can happen to anyone, stupid or not.
Like what? This is just sensationalist, 'users are stupid', BS. If you have reusable components in your integrated desktop then you're going to be able to get consistent and familiar file operations wherever you are.
Exactly, but "being able to" doesn't mean "have to". There's an HIG for that. This is a power against usability problem again.
It's certainly not uncommon for someone to try and save a file, open the save dialogue and think "Oh dear, I want to put this in a separate folder" or open an open dialogue and think "Oh dear, I made a typo saving the file, so I'll change it". You shouldn't need to open another application to do what you want.
And why you shouldn't?
Why shouldn't you run a file managing application to manage your files?
Why should a "file open dialog" or a "file save dialog" transform into a "file renaming dialog" or "file deleting dialog" (with all the user error this will create)? Just because you can?
Now that's silly!
For years, you could do everything with everything in FOSS desktops, and they were deemed unusable and bashed for that.
Now Gnome tries to go away from that, has even a HIG, and you bash it again? Besides, I'm pretty sure you're aware of the reasons behind that design decision, but it's just a case of you not agreeing with it.
But if you want it to change, I agree your best way to change this behaviour is to bash the current one.
If your main file manager is able to do that then you should get that functionality for free without anyone needing to code it in or complain about it. It should just happen.
That's nonsense. Why it should? And that is no justification for it to happen.
Same for thumbnail support. If your file managers do it then your file dialogues should get it for free.
This I agree more with, but that still doesn't mean it's a desirable behaviour. I can see the point in a image manipulation application, I can't see the point when you're dealing with text documents. IIRC, recent GTK+ filechooser API allows you to implement it in your app if you want, but doesn't force it.
Which is much better than your resource hogging solution. If you mean they should implement it in Nautilus and put a checkbox configuration to have this or not in your file dialogs, then I agree it would be a good thing.
What says that this sort of functionality is out of the scope of a file dialogue?
The answer was in the sentence: the HIG.
How on Earth would having an extra step and having to deal with another application make things any better?
Because it's a validation step that you really know what you're doing, as renaming a file in a open or save dialog should be a hidden functionality, right?
These are file operation dialogs, not file managers.
Member since:2005-07-06
I agree with you as long as we are talking about file selection dialogs. But not if you are talking about save dialogs, here it is already possible to create new folders. If you can create them you certainly should be able to rename them, e.g. if you make a typo.
If you can rename folders, why shouldn't you be able to rename files. E.g imagine you are downloading an image from the net, you name it house.jpg, then you find a similar image and want to give both images descriptive names. E.g. house-south-side.jpg and house-west-side.jpg or you may want to create a folder named house, and move the images into it. You shouldn't need to open Nautilus for this.
As for messing things up, opening Nautilus gives the user even more possibilities to mess things up.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Member since:
2005-11-14
Well, I for one think that having file managing functions inside the file selector is bad and wrong.
I've seen so many times people screw up their files making non undoable changes inside a file selector.
Besides, it's contrary to the principles of the gnome hig: a selection dialog should not be able to influence things outside of its scope.
Having a way to quickly open nautilus on the current directory, I think, would be a good compromise.