Thank you for youg bug report!
Your main point seems to be that there is a lot of quick navigation
capabilities. Of course, there is a lot of space of improvement for Nautilus,
but for applying particular improvements, we need more concrete proposals on
what should be changed (i.e. "keybinding x for achieving y does exist in the
windows explorer but not in Nautilus"). Most of the tasks you want to accomplish
are in fact already around in Nautilus, but are bound to slightly different
keyindings.
You may also want to try out the browser mode which may be a bit more
appropriate for power users (Preferences->File Management->Behavior->Always open
in browser windows).

I should have written "a lack" instead of "a lot" in comment 1.

I've also filed the same "bug/wish" in konqueror
(http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=106157) and they seem to incorporate most
or all of the functionality in their "windows like" default setup for hotkeys.
Maybe you could verify the same behaviour with a recent nautilus? (I don't have
a recent gnome installed ATM).

I've been used to always

> - use F2 for renaming files
> - copy is done with Ctrl-X/C/V
> - moving around (...) with arrow keys
> - backspace to go up one level.

works all as expected.

> F6 gives me the address bar for quick navigation

we have ctrl-L bound for that, but F6 could theoretically be added as well.

> and Windows-E and Windows-R gives you access to a new filemanager window
> or the run command, which actually

New windows are (in browser mode) opened using Ctrl-N. This is extremely
intuitive and obvious. Windows-E is really sort-of-hidden. The run command is
global and can be triggered using Alt+F2, but is configurable through the
keybinding preferences.

> accepts short-hand file locations, like P:, www.somesite.com, and other
> short-hand url-handlers.

They won't be opened in nautilus unless they're directories.

> And the fact that you also can use the mouse with the
> shift and ctrl buttons to hotlink copy/move operations is a real time-saver.

Works.

Created attachment 46833 [details] [review]
First shot at F5, F6

After applying this patch, F5 will be used to reload the current location (in
addition to ctrl-R) and F6 to bring up the location widget (in addition to
ctrl-L). The latter doesn't work properly for navigation windows. Instead, the
focus is given to the Information panel for no obvious reason. Help
appreciated.

This is a copy of the followup of the Newsforge story I posted on the same
subject. The whole story (with comments) is available here: 

http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/24/1542202&tid=130

It highligts some of the problems at hand which needs adressing. The rest of the
text is just a copy of my "user story" on Newsforge. 

First of all, I wrote this questions to Newsforge as a request for a story on
the question at hand, and didn't expect them to just copy 

the text and wrap it up as a story in its own. If I'd known that, I would've
done some more research myself before I'd let them publish 

it. In fact, I'm a bit puzzled by the fact that they DIDN'T ask for permission
to publish this as a story. 

When you talk about issues like this, the zealots always seem to wanna start a
flame-war. I'll try to raise above this, and stick to the 

topic at hand.

Newsforge actually had a story a little while ago named "KDE developers,
usability experts complement each other" 

(http://programming.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/05/1823209&from=rss)
where they state the following: "Developers' discussions 

about usability are often marked by shrill accusations and defensive responses."
It seems like this is what this discussion has turned 

into. That's too bad, but I'll try to clarify some facts which was missing from
the initial story.

I told you that I've been a Linux admin for 8 years. That might have been an
oversimplification. I've been using computers since I was 12 

(that's 15 years now), and I've been using Linux since kernel 1.2.3, SlackWare
and RedHat 4.0 (1995, isn't it?). At that time, KDE and 

Gnome didn't exist, and CDE was the big think everyone was drooling over (and we
all know how intuitive that is). For over 5 years, my 

day job has involved doing extensive administration of heterogenous networks and
hosting, which involves both Windows and Linux system 

administration. I have been guest lecturer at the local college, speaking about
security, penetration testing and other hosting-related 

matters.

As a Linux sysadmin I've been used to doing everything in the CLI. I often write
sed and awk one-liners to do quick and dirty batch 

processing of files when it is needed. For other manual operations I tend to use
Midnight Commander, since it is a Norton Commander clone 

from the old DOS days. I know the NC shortcuts, and I still use it regularely
when I work with a remote server. Why change something that 

works?

Some of you suggested to use the CLI for the tasks, but WHY should I start up an
X-server at all, if all I use is terminal based 

applications? Because browsing the web and (pre-)viewing multimedia content
isn't something you do in the terminal. That is why MacOS and 

Windows is so popular, and it is also what we're aiming for, isn't it? After
all, the mouse was invented more then 15 years ago. We 

should use it, shouldn't we? The point-n-click way of doing things are what
people expect these days. If you disagree, please state so.

Right after I submitted the initial story to Newsforge it got my thinking. If I
post this to Newsforge, why don't I post this as a 

feature/bug-request with KDE and Gnome? So I did. The links to the bug reports
are below:

KDE Bugreport
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=106157

Gnome Bugreport
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=305252

As you can see, it seems like konqueror implements most of the functionality I
requested, and nautilus is somewhat lacking, but at least 

it has spurred development, and hopefully I've put emphasis on a subject they
haven't looked to much into. The KDE bugwrangler actually 

told me all of this should work. This puzzled my attention, so I figured it was
time to try again, and see if things had gotten any 

better since my last try.

I've been trying file management in KDE/Gnome for the last 2-3 years, and it
always seems like some quirk or error in the application(s) 

just stop me from being efficient. So I lay the project to rest thinking it'll
be better in a couple of months. They've probably ironed 

out the bugs then. But then again, maybe not. So this was the day to try again.

Today I'm running Debian Sarge on a Dell Precision M60 laptop, using the nvidia
CS X-server and the machine is updated today with the 

latest patches in the tree. It seems like KDE 3.3 is what they have ATM, but
that's new enough to at least carry the functionality I 

requested. Here's my reactions:

I start by clicking the Home folder icon in the panel, and konqueror starts up.
But for some reason, only the button bar pops up and the 

folder window is just blank. Obviously, the application has crashed. After some
fiddling around with the stuff I find out the 

configuration is barfed up. So I log out, rename the .kde and .mcop folders +
.kderc and .mcoprc into something else, and login again. 

The new user wizard is started up, and I start to configure my desktop. I choose
the Windows-style behaviour, since that is what I'm used 

to.

Then click Windows-R and the Run Dialog pops up. Nice I think and write '/' into
the box and hits Enter. Konqueror opens up and I'm 

presented with a display of the root folder. So far, so good. I use the cursor
keys to move around the icons and everything is fine, 

albeit a bit cluttered. I press the button and change to multicolumn view and
lower the icon sizes. But the view still feels cluttered. I 

know what is off. The filename to the right of the icons are wrapped, and the
filename is replaced with... at the end if it is to long. 

I'd like to be able to NOT have the text wrap (wider columns), and possibly
choose how many letters should be allowed to display before 

it starts to but dots to shorten it. And the dots should NOT be put in the end,
because I'd like to see what kind of file extension this 

file has, without having to hover over it or having to press F2 just to get a
full label. I hope some of the konqueror developers read 

this and adds this kind of listview to it.

Okay, now I've managed to navigate into some folders, and I try to press the
Backspace key to go up again, but nothing happens. I check 

the hotkey bindings and that action is actually bound to Alt+Up (I don't know
where they got this from, this isn't a shortcut from 

Microsoft Windows Explorer, MSWE from now on, at least not from the file
management part of the application). But after I change the 

keybinding it works as expected. Good.

The next thing I try to do is to create a new folder. I press Alt+F, W, Enter,
and nothing happens. Aaah, no File menu...Seems like I 

have to enter Alt+E, N, Enter to do the same thing. Hrmpf. How do change this
shortcut?

Then I try to change the location by pressing F6 and typing in a URL in the
address bar. The location is opened in the same window and 

the contents displayed. But When I pressed Enter the cursor ISN'T moved back to
the navigation windows, so I have to press Tab  several 

times to get back to the navigation window. Pressing F6 repeatedly does indeed
NOT do the same thing as Windows, because it should 

alternate between the location bar and the navigation frame. That is, if the
cursor is anywhere but the adress bar, it should move to the 

adress bar, but if it is in the address bar, it should always switch to the
navigation pane, regardless of where it was before. At least 

that is what MSWE does, and it's rather intuitive. After all, the other
frames/panes aren't usually that important anyway (I don't use, 

and generally dislike the tree view anyway).

At this point basic navigation works, I can move around, back and forth and
rename, copy/paste etc. work as intended. And then I start to 

actually DO SOMETHING. I press Enter on an MP3 file and it opens in Noatun. I
press Enter on another MP3 file and suddenly another Noatun 

player pops up too. Two at once? This is not the way it should be. I go into the
preferences of Noatun and tap the option "Only allow one 

instance" and "clear playlist on load" and the application actually works as
intended. At this point I find out that the volume is to 

loud and I want to turn it down a notch. I press the Lower Volume button on the
keyboard (multimedia key) and nothing happens. Hrmpf. At 

this point I try go go into the Control Center to setup a key to raise/lower the
volume, only to find that this basic command isn't 

anywhere in the listed shortcut sequence list. Hrmpf again. I start KMix from
the menu, just to find that it ONLY lists the Mute command, 

not raise/lower volume. And to top it off, when I try to assign mute Mute
multimedia key to the Mute shortcut key in KMix, the keysym 

isn't recognized. Isn't that just TYPICAL! *sigh*

I know multimedia keys are a new feature, but it is present on most keyboards
available anyway. I'd at least expect Volume Up/Down/Mute 

to work, which it doesn't. Why isn't it possible to trap button presses on
unknown buttons with a shortcut-wrapping program ala Logitech 

ITouch preferences in Windows and then assign these buttons to shortcuts? That's
intuitive, if you ask me.

I give up and adjust the volume with the mouse and go on to the next thing on my
list.

As I continue in my quest to use konqueror I find out that I'm getting a bit
tired of listening to the same tune over and over again. I 

try to press the Object button on the keyboard (the one which usually is to the
right of the right Windows key) and up pops the 

right-click meny. Good I think. I go down to the "Open With..." item and click
it. It then asks me what program I'd like to start. I find 

Noatun in the menu and tick the box "remember application association for this
type of file". The files are added to the playlist in 

Noatun and I'm happy. After a little while I find another folder with MP3's and
I do the same thing, except the preference I told it to 

save isn't anywhere in sight. Hrmpf! Where did it go? I do the same as last
time, but the preference just doesn't stick. I'd like to be 

able to do the same kind of thing with a folder full of images, but then with a
image viewing program like EoG, GQView or similar. 

Okay, I think, maybe I need to set up the mimetype preference for this to work.
I go into the "File Associations" menu in Konqueror and 

add Noatun to the Application Preference Order of inode/directory, press Apply,
and now the dialog box "Updating system configuration" is 

just spinning over and over again. I wait for more than 10 minutes for it to go
away, but it just keeps on spinning. How come? And of 

course the panel and Konqueror has stopped responding, so this means I need to
whip up the terminal and kill something!

But then again, I can't do that, because my entire X-server has managed to stop
responding and even blocked Ctrl-Alt-F1, and the rest of 

my keyboard. And since I don't have sshd running on this machine, it is after
all a DESKTOP machine, the only option left is to reboot, 

the hard way, with the power button. But, right before I was going to press the
reset button I notice that the mouse is actually working, 

and luckily the root window still works, and the right-click menu there offers a
logout option, and it actually works! Now I'm logged 

out.

But it seems like something is really screwed up, because now I can't login
again. At least, the console is now available, so I should be 

able to kill X/gdm/KDE or whatnot application which isn't working. Thank god for
the CLI! Actually, I was a bit quick with that last 

sentence. Killing X, gdm, kdeinit and related processes AND restarting dbus
didn't actually help the matter. I actually had to do a full 

restart of the system to be able to log in again. Though, not with the reset
button. A normal shutdown procedure worked as intended. When 

I login again it seems like the menu editor actually snafu'd the menu structure,
so now nothing comes up when hit the K Start button. Ah 

well..let's delete that .kde folder and .kderc AGAIN and start over AGAIN!
*sigh* If you know WHY this happens, please tell me!

I also did the smoke screen test with Gnome/Nautilus. I fired up the Live-CD of
Ubuntu 5.04 and it started up nicely. The first thing 

that baffled me was the fact that the root window wasn't focused, and
Alt-Tabbing or using some other keyboard combination didn't switch 

focus to the root window. But when I clicked it with the mouse everything was
fine. But pressing Enter on the cdrom icon present on the 

desktop did nothing. I tried pressing Windows-E to open the filemanager, but
nothing happened. At this point I tried Alt-ESC, Ctrl-ESC 

and other shortcuts to activate the menu, but nothing happened. At this point I
took the mouse and clicked on the Home folder in the 

menu. The folder window was opened, and navigation works as intended, with
backspace, cursor keys, F2 and everything. I like to only use 

one windows for browsing, and it was a quickie to fix that one. But since this
was a LiveCD, I needed access to some files to test things 

out. Going into the network folder revealed an empty window, and the browser
network did absolutely nothing. I have one several windows 

machines sharing files, and even a Linux NFS server on the network, but nothing
popped up. At this point I tried to map the Windows-R 

shortcut to the Run dialog, and it works okay. But when I try to map Windows-E
to the "Open home folder" it just states that Super-L is 

already linked, and I can't use that hotkey for another commmand. Seems like
Gnome isn't able to even map the modifier keys on my 

keyboard correctly. *sigh*

At this point I'm just fed up with everything and decides to go back to MSWE and
says to myself: "It's still got to many bugs. Hopefully 

they've ironed them out in a couple of months. I will probably try it again then
to see if KDE is finally able to REALLY assist me with 

my file management needs."

I very much adore Linux on the server side of things. It's the best thing since
sliced bread (TM) and I can't for one moment not like it 

for that. But as you can see from my rant I still find it rather lacking in the
file management department. Hopefully the file managers 

WIll get better and eventually I can start to use these programs as all of you
seem to do so nicely already.

On a sidenote. A little while ago I used Mozilla, Eclipse and normal terminal
work to debug a Java application in Linux, and it works 

like a charm. Well, the application I was debugging wasn't good, but at least
the tools I used debugging it worked as expected. But for 

file management, it still has some mileage to go.

Now, let on the hordes of ranting!

Regards,
Robin Smidsrød

I've now also submitted the patch to nautilus-list [1] for review.

[1] http://mail.gnome.org/archives/nautilus-list/2005-July/msg00296.html

I've committed a patch adding F5 as keybinding. F6 may not be used since F6 is
used for toggling focus between the panes. Feel free to report any further
experiences. Rge patch from bug 312353 was also committed, which adds "alt+d".

*** Bug 172949 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***