Paul writes: “I’ve written an article, containing _mockups_ of an idea I’ve had for the Gnome desktop.
It’s called Scoop, and it’s an idea for a container widget, to act as a “System Sidebar” on a users desktop.
You can see the writeup here.” Update: Paul writes: “I’ve updated the article with more ideas, and added a link to my Gnome AutoManager proposal, which can be seen here.”
Scoop: Idea for a System Sidebar for Gnome
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
if this (or Dashboard) were to be included in GNOME I hope it’s as an option and not out of the box…i’m not really a fan of the desktop space waste…maybe if i had a widescreen monitor, but not on my 15″ (1024×768).
This is actually a fair point. Most people are still either on 800×600 or 1024×768 (I personally run at 1600×1200).
Now, such an addon should have the option to auto-hide, but still, it just makes the desktop feels “heavy” and “loaded”.
Yeah, the idea is for it to be an optional component, but one what would increase productivity – not hinder it.
For example, having Scoop enabled means the amount of popups you recive from applications like Gaim, ephy, nautilus, would reduce considerably(there’d be no need for them).
nice idea, cant wait to see if it gets implemented!
Just my opinion:
While scoop is a good idea & a good name, you might want to think up a different name. Google for scoop & hit #2 is scoop, a HTML collaborative backend for kuro5hin.org like how slashcode is to slashdot.org. Name collisions don’t help to get an idea accepted.
Gotta love The Appleseed Cast
I like the idea of a shared statusbar, no need to switch windows to check the status of some progress. But the problem is as always, not all apps will use it, making it inconsistant and somewhat confusing to the end user.
Putting the downloadmanager into the sidebar seems like a natural step. It should host all kind of file-transfers, both incoming and outgoing from all apps I think.
I don’t see a lot of revolutionary ideas here (been tinkering with these thoughts myself for the past five years), but it’s nice to see it written and sketched down .
Looks pretty smooth. Would be quite useful, and lord knows I need more things on my 3840×1024 desktop to make it look ‘lived-in’. I realy like the idea of status bars being off to the sidebar.
I’m sure certain pop ups like gksu where it needs the root password wouldn’t go to it, but it’s a nice feature.
Now some things just aren’t right to begin with, and are absolutely insane to copy. This would fall under both categories.
Instead of having a side bar for scoop, wouldn’t it be more effective if scoop’s functionality became a part of the gnome pannel/notification area/special applet. The idea is poweful, but the side bar concept needs to be revised. If it could be integrated seemlessly into the gnome pannel, or the notification area, or as a special applet that can be enable or disabled, I think gnome has another winner on their hand.
Medusa, Storage, Utopia, Dashboard, and now scoop. Longhorn is in trouble. 😉
Seems to just be an inferior replacement for dialog boxes. Except now they are forced onto the side and they take up screen space whether they exist or not. People can just ignore them forever. Since everything in the sidebar has the same weight, the error message and the weather will draw the same attention.
Another problem is it puts a horizontal restraint on items that really hurts usability. How many columns can you squeeze into that sidebar? Not enough for a download manager. You cartainly need more for a save dialog.
However I do like the idea for the drop off zone. But I think it should be called “The Dropbox”.
thats a top idea, throw some ideas around between people, refine it, work on it, talk about implementation and itegration issues, and a real winner could emerge.
nice proposal mate!
yeah, I agree…Dashboard is a bit more powerful, but if you took the system messages and moved them into Dashboard, the rest from scoop would make a nice addition to the applets that can be loaded…heck, Dashboard can load applets right?…
if this was an applet and could be used everywhere in gnome, then it would be even more useful since you could use it in the Panel, if you did not want Dashboard, or in either the panel or dashboard if you liked both but had a preference for the applet placement.
copy from where? MS didn’t come up with that idea you know.
sidebars are excellent IMO if rightfully used. though I think that the size of the bar should be as small as possible. The BeOS Deskbar is just about right IMO, it works for fairly low resolutions. But a resizable one would be to prefer.
The various filemanager/browser sidebars aren’t that great though, I’ll give you that.
well, dialog boxes that aren’t critical hurt usability. fact. (/david brent). You click a link in a webpage with ephy, and a popup appears telling you this is a secure server. here’s what you have to do:
1. stop reading.
2. grab mouse and move it to OK button.
3. read the page.
wouldnt it be better if
a) no popup appeared at all(good – but this information is important to some people)
b) a message creeps into an already existing ui on your desktop. this (imo) is better than current behaviour because all you need to do is glance to the side of your desktop, see ephy just sent “This server is secure” message to Scoop, then carry on as usual.
Eugenia has posted articles in the past saying something along these lines(and i agree) that permanent screen real estate is better spent when it’s horizontal, not vertical.
so it’s better to have panels down the side of your screen, not along the top. however, current panel design doesnt allow for this as it’s not very well implemented(look at the gnome window list on a vertical panel for example – unusable).
as stated in the article, a popup would be better if it’s critical for the app to continue processing the command(like a saveas popup box, for example).
as for the name of the app and components – they’re not important to me
Why do GNOME and KDE constantly seem to copy each other? I mean its all well and good having two desktop environments, but they should strive to be individual, not just implement the same thing in a different way. It just bogles my mind how simular the two are for being two different projects and its bothered me for a while. Just seems to lead to wasted effort in my view.
This is not in any way me thinking the two should merge or something, after all choice is good. I just wish the choice wasn’t just “which toolkit is better?”. This is the only difference I see between the two. Neither is more “user freindly”, although some would disagree – however to me it just seems like GNOME simply just doesn’t present as much to you, which doesn’t constitute being more freindly in my eyes, it simply means it takes longer to find what I want.
If anyone thinks the difference stretches to more then simply “which toolkit is better?”, please enlighten me, but I see no other differences. They both look very simular, both have the same basic set of apps, both have the same basic backend (kparts -> bonoboui, nautilus -> konqueror etc). I just don’t think they are different enough to be called individual projects.
This is my opinion, and perhaps people will take offense to it, they may even wonder why I brought it up in this thread. I urge those that the last point I made applies to look at KDE 3.2 though, it HAS a desktop sidebar, something this appears to try and implement. I just wish the two wouldn’t emulate each others efforts.
Much simpler solution. Fix Epiphany.
People copy good ideas. Would you rather they ignore them because they came from “thats other DE”? I think not.
I am usually anti side bar, but this design seems to have more going for it.
To this is like the macos menu bar on steriods. By taking things like the side bar out of nautilus and putting it on a side bar, you aren’t so much losing screen space to a new ui element but just rearanging what is already there. If the application part of this side bar switches with focus like the mac menu bar does it would actually be more space efficient when you have something like >1 nautilus windows open.
Not only that but this redesign of the gui gives you the place to put neat things like the dashboard, and that drop off zone.
yeah, the idea for the nautilus component was for the fact that it’d vastly improve nautilus.
if you have the sidebar available in nautilus, it takes up 30%(approx) of that window. take the sidebar out and put it somewhere else(it’s very useful, hence it’s inclusion) and you’ve got 30% more files visible in that nautilus window. plus, you’ve still got the usability of the sidebar to boot!you’re not losing anything, you’re gaining 30% more usability from that window.
Has KDE got this? i’ve never used kde so i didnt know it had this type of tool.
I think we need to ensure that the user is not innundated with unnecessary or useless information. To me the idea justifies itself best as an intelligent notification area. When events occur on the desktop, the notification area informs the user of important activities or changes that have occurred on the desktop.
The keyword here is “important activities or changes”. So what are important activities? Well lets use the authors example.
1).a person sends you a message on IRC, GAIM, Gossip or your favorite GNOME instant messenger.
2).epiphany or galeon just finished downloading a clip from the internet.
3).openoffice.org on the sixth workspace is prompting you to save your document.
4).your favorite rss feeds have been updated.
5).totem/rythmbox/your gnome media player, is playing a new track.
6).an application on the seventh workspace is not responding, it needs to be forced to quit.
Amongst many other important information.
These information don’t need to be constantly displayed on the screen 24/7 in the form of a sidebar, they just need to be displayed for a shortwhile, perhaps using a non-obstrusive passive pop up, or blinkers. A side bar for as an ineffective and not a functional use of space.
Three cheers to linux developers once again EMULATING not INNOVATING.
The best move would be to stop wasting time on this sort of thing, and get a desktop environment happening that actually works for the average consumer.
i’ve already asked in this thread where this tool exists? apparantly kde has one, i’d like to take a look at them so i can copy some more idea’s for the mockups. thanks!
So your grand proof is an independent project doing something today that Microsoft says they will have in 2-3 years. This isn’t even a part of GNOME yet. It might never be.
Heres the deal..
This ain’t Microsoft. This is an independent person doing what they want. If you want them to stop and do what you want I’m sure they will take a check. Or maybe not.
The problem I see with that concept is that an “important activity” might be unnoticed once it happens. A sidebar doing passive popups would probably be annoying after a while.
I might cheer for the concept once widescreen monitors are available at a reasonable price but it just don’t look right on 4:3 screens (IMO).
The problem I see with that concept is that an “important activity” might be unnoticed once it happens. A sidebar doing passive popups would probably be annoying after a while.
I would assume their would be a means of of logging or recording the activities in a user readable manner. It’s not important if activities go unnoticed. Heck today, a lot of important activities go unnoticed that users are not aware off.
As for the irritating passive popups, that really depends on how it is implemented. A transparent passive popup appearing at the corner of your screen, flashing once or twice, is something most users can deal with. As opposed to blatant opaque popup appearing in the middle of your screen when you are working, urgin you to click on the close button or it will remain there forever.
If, however, the user just hates any sort of popups with a passion, then icons on the notification area can to set to blink during these important activities. When you place your mouse on the icon, then the information is revealed. Either way, it really depends on how it is implemented. I just don’t think one needs a side bar for all that.
Oh and lets be realistic, monitors are hardly popular computer pheripheral upgrades. I don’t see myself upgrading this monitor until it dies.
I’ve added a fullscreen version of the mockup, so you can see what it might look like in a regular working environment.
it’s thiner than the old mockups, but still would maintain it’s uses.
Sigh. Go actually use a system that’s not Windows. Sidebars aren’t anything new. They’ve been around forever, except back in the day, we called them docks. In NeXT (and Window Maker and Afterstep) you had a little dock where dock applets could live. They could display anything from the time to the weather, notification messages, etc. Hell, when the Longhorn sidebar concept came out, people were like “finally — Microsoft is catching up with Window Maker!”
I actually like the idea of sidebars, but I think they should be done properly. It shouldn’t autohide, neither should it be always on top. Instead, it should behave like a regular window — windows should be able to overlap it. The one special behavior should be that if the users mouse moves to one side, it should come to the front. This is how NeXT handled docks, and how KDE can be configured to handle panels. This method has the advantage that the dock is usually visible, doesn’t permanently take up screenspace, and is always quickly accessible.
I would assume their would be a means of of logging or recording the activities in a user readable manner. It’s not important if activities go unnoticed. Heck today, a lot of important activities go unnoticed that users are not aware off.
Well, I guess it depends on which kind of activity. I personally don’t like those in the mockups, though.
As for the irritating passive popups, that really depends on how it is implemented. A transparent passive popup appearing at the corner of your screen, flashing once or twice, is something most users can deal with. As opposed to blatant opaque popup appearing in the middle of your screen when you are working, urgin you to click on the close button or it will remain there forever.
I guess it’s a question of preference as I like the blatant opaque popup unless it’s telling me that something crashed.
Oh and lets be realistic, monitors are hardly popular computer pheripheral upgrades. I don’t see myself upgrading this monitor until it dies.
You’re right… and that’s why I won’t support the idea for a while.
I’m not saying that a sidebar is a bad idea… However, I don’t think I would be confortable to work with one. I’m not against the idea as long as you can disable it.
I bet if you make the panel half its width, fade it to a maybe 70% transparency mode, set below all windows…and restoring its transparency to 0% (opaque), active/front mode, by pressing the middle mouse button or using the windows key.
Jus my 1 cent.
>Why do GNOME and KDE constantly seem to copy each other? I mean its all well and good having two desktop environments, but they should strive to be individual, not just implement the same thing in a different way.
Why should they try to be individual? IMHO it is better if they try to be good. If some solution works well in one environment there is no reason it couldn’t be a good idea elsewhere. Making desktops where we can’t mix and match application without inconsistencies only creates less choise for the user.
>It just bogles my mind how simular the two are for being two different projects and its bothered me for a while. Just seems to lead to wasted effort in my view.
Just because developers like to use different toolkits there is no reason for the user to suffer. Ideally the userinteface should be the same regardless if you use KDE or Gnome. The difference in behavior should be in skins that could be applied to the applications to make them behave and look to fit the taste of the user. That way Gnome or KDE could be a developer only issue.
-to minimize a video and let it be displayed as a thumbnail
-hide feature(I think I already see it in the screenie)
-ability to play a mini slideshow(I saw this in a longhorn mockup and really liked it)
-has to be themeable ofcourse
It looks like an interesting idea – *anything* to rid the world of annoying dialog popups, hate ’em all. The temporary space to drop a file would also in certain circumstances be handy.
Though, to be honest, if it were implmented, and it turned out to be cool and amazing in practice, I’d hate to see it attached to GNOME, as I’m more of a Windowmaker / Ion (current dev snapshot, not the old release version) kinda guy.
I use KDE. And this fancy sidebar will not change that. The reason is simple: Gnome lacks integration. Why don’t they concentrate on:
– fix the bug in saving files at logout (type something in an unnamed file, try to logout and click Cancel in the dialog asking whether the file should be saved. Result: Save-As dialog, click Cancel again and the file is lost)
– fix Balsa, as it’s buggy as hell
– fix Metacity, so that it always goes to the last displayed window if a dialog closes (open Balsa, make a new message. close it, click CANCEL and find yourself in the Balsa mainwindow…
– embed Nautilus in the GTK file selection dialog and in the Run dialog. I mean, is there any practical reason that I *can* open /usr, not being a program, but that I *cannot* open fonts:/// ?
So if these major annoyances are fixed, Scoop would be a nice idea. But I think there are things that should be done first.
I was using the windows Sidebar thingie for a while until work blocked RSS feeds. I liked it – with reservations (ugly, immature). It did “replace” Outlook as my primary mail/ calendar UI. I could glance over at the bar instead of having Outlook open and running in the background. Integration with media players, chat, mail, calendar, CPU/ resource meters, etc seems to be pretty common (Litestep docks had them years ago)I haven’t seen any OS 9 versions (send me a link if you do).
I use dual monitors at work and home so the screen real estate isn’t a big deal, however the idea of consolidating the system notification messages to one area would be wonderful. Most Tier 2 apps aren’t well written for multi-monitors and so dialog boxes do not reliably follow your preferences (pop up on the parent app’s monitor, pop up on monitor X, etc). I’d imagine many Linux apps have the same problem. Basically instead of interrrupting workflow, you get to it when you feel like it.
The drop off zone/ dropbox is an excellent idea.
Most importantly, I can also see it (or the idea) being adapted/ integrated into enterprise/ government and either groupware/ collaborative applications.
As far as copying, etc who cares? I am a Windows/ Mac user and these 2 have been feeding off each other for years. I don’t use Linux at all, but the better ideas developed in Gnome or KDE will percolate to the platforms I use. I used to complain about Windows copying Mac, but now that the reverse is just as common you do see how it only helps the whole industry.
Would be better suited to being a gDesklet, that way you might have the option of just having it as part of the actual desktop background and opening windows over the top as at the moment it is going to take up way too much space on the desktop. Of course you wouldn’t be able to see the messages during full screen apps then, but the uses being described for it (quite rightly) are for things like gaim, mp3 players and nautilus drag & dropping which don’t really happen fullscreen anyway.
Gnome lacks integration.
I agree. Also:
* Improve SMB browsing in Nautilus to the level of Windows Explorer
* Heaps more system configuration tools like these:
http://www.gnome.org/projects/gst/ [that goes for KDE too]
* Better integration of Evolution and OpenOffice.org [that goes for Kontact too]
* Support for KDE applets in the system tray
* Better clipboard support system-wide
* Lots of other integration things as outlined here:
http://www.gnome.org/bounties/ [some are features, though]
>* Improve SMB browsing in Nautilus to the level of Windows Explorer
At the very least make it possible to browse windows networks with encrypted passwords. This is a real showstopper if you plan to integrate windows and Linux networks running Gnome
Nice job!
hope it will be there soon!
It’s just some dude that had an idea for a sidebar. Whether he got inspiration from Microsoft/Dashboard or whatever.. doesnt matter. It’s just an idea.
If you want to see innovation on Linux, just look at ReiserFS.
…or Dashboard.
It has a program called the universial sidebar. To add it, right click on a panel, select Add > Panel > Universal Sidebar. It is really useful, it can be extended with kparts technology.
How about if we make the sidebar really small by default but on mouseover, it zooms in on the area nearby so we could display alot of information but not have it take up much space. This is sort of how the dock in OSX works but I have never seen them put information displays like this in their dock. If something important happens, it could cause it’s part of the sidebar to expand or “throb” or flash or something to get the user’s attention. Of course this would be configurable so people that find this annoying could turn it off. I know that in KDE you can make the icons in the dock zoomable, but I havent seen the ability to make the other dock applets zoomable. This would be sweet!
Well, maybe pick a different name for the project atleast. There’s already one ‘Scoop’ out there (http://scoop.kuro5hin.org/).
All new projects should check sourceforge and the other resources before picking a name
the Scoop name being used by the folks at k5 wouldnt be an issue in terms of there being no chance of a binary conflict.
they may not like someone using that name, but it’s good to share. the name isn’t important anyway. it’s just something i came up with off of the top of my head(as the app would scoop up ui elements from other programs, heh).
this looks a bit like how haystack acts comboed with the longhorn sidebars way of hideing players and IM systems…
basicly haystack moves a popups and wizars to a sidebar so that you can work on them while working on something else in the main window. nice idea but i have not tryed it to mutch as its made in java and my machine isnt realy up to specs.
if you want to know more, do a google on haystack and mit:)
Haystack does quite a bit more than just what your talking about. If you wanted a comparison to Haystack you’d really have to look at the opensource program Chandler which attempts to integrate documents, email, browsing, and Im all into one application so you have a true tracking of all documents and conversations.
Effective but, as Haystack proves, it has a pretty sizeable overhead.
Paul: I like the idea and I could see alot of uses. I also run dual moniters both at work and at home so a loss of real-estate as long as I’m running (2x)1280×1024 isn’t a problem at all. Heck, I’m running a sidebar that currently shows new email, tasks, calendar items along with stock quotes and an RSS feed on top of the normal WinXP taskbar and Firebirds sidebar.
<it>ANY application that needs to produce an annoying popup could just have a system message sent to scoop, which wouldnt get on a users nerves(if the message needs a response before the app could carry on, the system message component could flash or animate to get the users attention</it>
Do you really think that the developers use all these popup dialogs for increasing your annoyance? Do you really want them to reconsider the stuff their programs have to tell you (through a dialog) as annoying/entertaining and recode the said programs to use scoop?
I don’t know what the plan is, but these sidebar apps would probably best be implemented as bonobo (or similar) widgets. That way, the could nest in a sidebar, dock into an application window, float in their own window, or even be swallowed in a regular gnome panel. There is a lot of potential with these ideas, and I’d hate to see them limited to a potentially unpopular screen-hogging sidebar.
If I am using the webbrowser and it has an issue, a popup seems reasonable. If I’ve moved on from the webbrowser to the email client and am typing in a message while looking at the ceiling or elsewhere WHY does the webbrowser popup insist on taking focus and me (blindly typing away on what I thought was an email) give it an action.
So.. Popup events from non-focused apps goto sidebar or an applet system notification area. Popup events from a focused window occur as they normally would.
Hm, what happens if an app is waiting for input from a dialog, but I’ve changed the focus to some other app, the dialog wouldn’t be on the screen and the app would be waiting…? Surely in this case I’d have no way of knowing what was waiting until I focused on the app again?
Just thought i’d chime this in. When you select download link, epiphany automatically downloads your file to the desktop Downloads folder without a popup window. The only window that is present is the downloads window that shows you the progress of your downloads.
dave
… conjure up arguments about anything new/revolutionary/copied-from-another-OS/innovative and come up with so many for-and-against arguments that everything just becomes silly and nothing gets accomplished until years after some mainstream proprietary OS/app has it.
This is whay we more or less have to stop this nonsense and both listen to and participate in groups like freedesktop.org that actually have a focus and know where and why they want to go with the Linux desktop.
Since Gnome UI is becoming a huge, rediculous, fantastically overblown ordeal, then why the f*** isn’t there a FutureGnomeUI.org yet? Stop coming to this UI standstills and band together (with one another _and_ with groups like fd.o) and, through the goodness that is the democratic process, decide once and for all about what does and doesn’t need to be done to Gnome!
Still, there will always be disagreement with FutureGnomeUI.org’s decisions, but at least something will get done, and i’m sure many many many users will agree with what gets done, and i’m sure it’ll get done and implemented FAST!
Seriously, guys… we need to get our shit together and passionately work TOGETHER toward something great before Longhorn takes over the world.
If it doesn’t happen, I’m just soon going to stop caring.
–eric
Hi
If you expect gnome developers to adopt scoop everywhere this wont work. instead let normal popups be captured under scoop according to user defined preferences.
what about kde apps. would they need special code to use scoop?
they shouldnt imho
This is yet another worthless ‘innovation’ from the windows world.
First we have the awesome gnome panel that’s a complete rip off of the windows taskbar/start button, now you’re proposing to copy the windows sidebar as well.
NeXTstep had a better arrangement than the taskbar in the late 80’s that consolidated Windows’ quick launch icons, taskbar buttons, and tray notification icons into a single 32×32 tile that could remain on the screen (and even be manipulated to display information) while the application was closed.
OS X solved the problem of dialogs stealing focus with ‘sheets’ that ‘roll’ down from the title bar. I believe mozilla has this feature on all platforms.
The ‘problems’ outlined by you have already been solved, I’d suggest that you look at other operating systems than just Windows when you’re trying to come up with solutions to complex problems. You might find that Linux desktops improve beyond windows if people stop limiting themselves to thinking in terms of re-implementing Explorer.exe on Unix.
If this is implemented I hope that it is done as panel applets:
1 Right click on your panel.
2 Select add panel.
3 Middle-Drag your new panel the the right hand edge of the screen.
4 right click on the new panel and select properties
5 Turn off expand, change the size to 120.
6 Right click on the new panel and select add to panel -> dropoff/etc
You can optionally turn on autohide/hide buttons/etc.
The drop off area for example could probably be written right now as a panel applet. All it needs to do is show the contents of $HOME/dropoff.
Setup Epiphany/Galeon to download immediately to $HOME/dropoff and it’s done. Enable drag/drop etc.. shouldn’t be too much work.
The only think I see as a bit of a pain is the panel size is max 120. It would be good if we could get this changed. Anyway. Applets really are great. The gnome panel/applet setup is just so useful.
Twigman..
Isn’t the concept of the desktop much the same as the “dropoff” area? It’s like a temporary space to put files before you organise them. If epiphany saved files direct to the desktop instead of asking where to put them, that would be fine with me. I do like the idea of currently active file transfers displaying their status somewhere other than a seperate window – but I think a panel applet would be a better choice (such as the way gtm does it).
I don’t think any GNOME app would need to be specially coded to work with scoop (or whatever the project ends up being called) so long as GNOME apps all use the same function to bring up those horrid modal panels (i.e., “Site http://www.such-and-such.com could not be found. [OK]”). Because the scoop panel is essentially like a log viewer but with groovy graphical cues, buttons for taking action, and nicer more approachable diagnostics than what you typically find in logs. The function call(s) to do the horrible panels (which I too despise because they take focus away from what I’m doing and make me inadvertantly confirm/deny something without knowing what I’m acting on) can have the branching logic mentioned in the article (if scoop is up, notify scoop this happened else do the modal thing).
I think the scoop idea is a fine one. It needs some tweaking to make it fit HIG and appear simple (so it doesn’t scare novices or make experts think that this is information overload) but I think the essence of the idea is quite sound.
Your idea is great. Share/refine them with the GNOME people. Then don’t hesitate to implement it. I think longhorn also got something like sidebar in it. So people, do drop the idea of scoop (except for the name)
😉
> do drop the idea of scoop
Oops! extremely sorry. I meant to say
“don’t drop the idea of scoop”
You’ve got some great ideas in there, if theres anything you can patent, do it, before someone else does.
I’ve been thinking of a related idea. It’s more a specification that I’d like to submit to freedesktop.org sometime if I could put the ideas together properly. Basically I support your idea, but I think there needs to be a specification for “a protocol for user notifications”, when this is defined different programs can be written to handle the notifications in whatever way the user actually prefers.
The AutoManager proposal sounds alot like the plans about sql based filesystems to me. In an sql-based filesystem each file has attached metadata as well. You could easily sort your files by artists and albums too then. Ideally you don’t have to pick locations in your filesystem too then. The files will be automatically inserted based on the contained metainformation…
This is probably nothing to get running in near future, but would solve alot of todays problems with filesystems IMO.
I think rigth now the PopsUps are geting off my patience. Galeon for example, if it cant load a page it pops it and what ever you were doing is interrupted even if galeon isnt you top window. It simply pops its info and bring to top its window with the information it couldnt load so it is terriby useless all this behaviour (sorry my english).
I think that put the messages in scoop is very good idea, as well as the drop off zone. If i am downloading lots of files is very usefull to make the desition of where i want them only once, after i download them.
I vote for it to be implemented as soon as posible
I like the idea of reducing the amount of dialog boxes and popup messages! While ago, in Gnome Control Center, there was an option where you could request all the messages and short on-answer questions use the status bar of an application window. I like the idea, but it didn’t seem to work much, and as far as I can tell, the option is gone now, at least I cannot find it. Does anybody know what happen to that option?
I just read both your ideas (scoop and auto manager) and I’d love these two features!
I think the scoop looks like long horn a little, but the OO comunity could make our way better!