The thing that disturbs me most (with nautilus) is that there is no way to 
temporarily/instantly make it display hidden files. This should almost be 
obvious (in my opinion), as .foo files/directories play an essential part 
of many programs (including nautilus itself). (Well, I certainly do happen 
to view/edit the config files found in .myprog directories - don't you?)

My suggestion: let ([ALT+<click on reload button>] and [CTRL+ALT+R])(or 
whatever) make natilus re-display the current view with the hidden files 
shown!

<In pseudo code>

On the event of reload_action_fired:
   Check if SPECIAL_VIEW_MODE is true;
   If so:
      display using HIDDEN_FILES_VISIBLE mode;
   else
      display using HIDDEN_FILES_HIDDEN mode;

(SPECIAL_VIEW_MODE is true if 
1. ALT(meta) key is pressed or 
2. "Show hidden files" option in "View" menu is set)

</In pseudo code>

Of course (as you can see from the pseudo code), this feature should be 
accompanied by a "Show hidden files" option under "View".