GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 309734
auto completion in file selector's location dialog is confusing
Last modified: 2006-03-06 16:17:15 UTC
The mysterious(*) file selector location dialog auto-complets text according to the directories on the disk, which is very nice but very confusing if you know where you want to go and just want to go ahead an type it. For example, if I want to go to "/usr/bin/" and I just start typing away, I'd end up with "/u/sr/bin" or maybe "/usr/bin/in" as the gtkfilesel will autocomplete faster then I can type. Worse though - if I let it "help" me, it will be completely useless after the first completion: - I type "/", and gtkfilesel opens a menu with everything under "/" - I type "u" and gtkfilesel completes to "/usr/" and shows me a menu with just "usr" (why ? I know I selected "usr" and its not like there are other options). Now I can type "/" again to get the list of all options under "/usr/", but the box would now say "/usr//" which is confusing and annoying. Alternatively I can hit backspace and then type "/" again to get the list of options and then lather-rinse-repeat down the path to where I wanted to go - which I wouldn't have minded so much if it would only let me type what I want (which it doesn't with its happy auto completion) (*) mysterious as there are a total of zero hints as to where to find it - I actually found it by mistake by type '/' when the dialog was up, and then had to look up in bugzilla to find the CTRL+L shortcut. Other information: I think the location box should not auto complete paths immediately, but delay it by about 250ms. if the user is a touch typist and knows her way around the system then she should be able to get away with typing the full path. When the user holds up and wait for the system - only then the system should help out. The completion selection menu should probably be up all the time. Alternatively the auto completion can work like KDE's "automatic" mode where the suggested alternative is displayed in gray "behind" the text the user is typing and the user can accept the suggestion and close the box with <ENTER> or accept the suggestion and continue typing with <END>
What kind of diagnosis is needed ? can I help provide it ?
I can only comment on the viability of this complaint, I was just going to enter something similar. First you have to find out that there is the option to type in a file name in the first place. It's a big usability bug in the first place that this entry field is hidden and you have to stumble across it by sheer dumb luck (or a lengthy discussion on the GIMP developers mailing list). An option hidden like this has no place in a usable dialog. Then you want to blindly enter the directory but the auto completion - which is on steroids - is just getting in the way of using that entry field in any sensible manner, when entering big directories (which for me can contain more than a 1000 files) it's blocking the dialog beyond usability, if the path is unique it get's replaced but as you don't want to look or wait for the feedback (heck I damned *KNOW* where my file resides, I just want to tell that to the darn program) you end up having parts of the file name double. Maybe there is a setting (or hidden key like the ctrl-L) to switch this autocompletion off but there is no user visible indication that there is, so you could try to look for the non-existant... For me this behaviour is a blocker which keeps me from using any program using this file chooser unless there isn't an alternative, which unfortunately the GIMP is without.
Does this bug still happen? Which version of GTK+ are you using? What is the exact sequence of keystrokes that you use?
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 333320 ***