GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 163082
object view and file view
Last modified: 2005-03-03 22:38:09 UTC
Nautilus nautilus-2.8.1-4 from fedora 3 currently can show anything(file/directory/etc.) in two different ways: view as object (a window without back/forward/up buttons) and view as file (a window with back/forward/up buttons) I think it would be a very good idea to kill "view as object" mode alltogether or at least add an option to disable "view as object" mode and extend "view as file" mode (the one with back/forward/up buttons, disabled when necessary) to show everything . From my experience these two modes makes nautilus exteremlly confusing for new users. They should be unified from accessibility standpoint. Multiple windows opened in "object mode" make everything even worse. I think a single view mode (with back/forward/up buttons, disabled when necessary) would be a gigantic accessibility improvement for new users. As it is now people click on their home directory, go deep inside the tree and end up with dosens of open nautilus windows. Then they call tech support with a question "what to do with these 15 windows I have"
More arguments to support my position: 1. I specially checked (by observing people) what is the most common operation people do in nautilus:
More arguments to support my position: 1. I specially checked (by observing people) what is the most common operation people do in nautilus: Answer: closing popped up nautilus windows in object mode. 2. Try to explain to somebody *over the phone* something about nautilus: It always starts: "Do you see "back/forward" buttons or not" (what actually means: are in "file view" or "object view" mode). These are more arguments to support unifying browsing modes.
I checked some old links http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/getting-started-guide/nautilus-intro.html looks like in the past nautilus did not have two confusing modes. With exception of supid "Start here" looks very consistent. Is there a way to put similar "uniform mode" back. It so much less confusing than it is now with two types of windows.
Created attachment 35575 [details] Screenshot As I just found out - nautilus already has the view I am advocating. My proposal is do disable (at least in default settings, but better completelly) object view (second one on screenshot below). Such "unified view mode" and absense of popping up windows would be, from my point of view, a very significant usability improvement.
Another thing - once a unfied view is accepted - people would definetelly start entering web adderess in location field (what by the way is a very natural behaviour). Because nautilus does not support web browsering I would suggest in such situation start a default web browser with entered address.
Vladislav, you can change the default mode by checking Preferences->Behavior->Always open in browser windows. You can read up about the whole story by googling for "spatial nautilus" With regard to web browsing: Nautilus once had this feature but it didn't work out too well - In the end people prefer to use a dedicated web browser. Nautilus should focus on getting file management right.