I have a small grievance with renaming files in Nautilus.  Consider this scenario:

There are a number of graphic files on your machine named 01.jpg, 02.jpg, 03.jpg and so on.  These are not so numerous that the used would wish to develop a script to rename them all.  Furthermore, the user may not have skills in using xterm based programs (which will become more common as GNOME is more widely used.)  Therefore, the user navigates to the directory in Nautilus, selects the first file and presses F2 to rename it.  They retitle it from 01.jpg to zebra01.jpg and press return. Nautilus will then jump with the file down to the bottom of the listing (in both list and icon modes) as it sorts by order.  To rename the next file (02.Jpg) the user will have to move back up to the top, locate it and rename it.  It will then skip to the bottom of the window again. Sorting by file type may not necessarily help if there are a large number of jpg files in the directory and there is no option to undertake a bulk renaming.

Possibly, the only solution currently would be to select the files needed and place them in another directory and then move them back afterwards.

Jumping with the renamed file to its new position in the alphabetical search does, of course, function to confirm that the file has been renamed successfully and shows it current position in the directory listing.  However, it makes the task of moving back up the directory window to find other files to rename tiring and repetitive.

Perhaps a solution could be a bulk renaming function in Nautilus. A very capable one is curently a feature in the freeware (Windows) graphics program IrfanView.

Whilst bulk renaming is often considered a power user feature, it is common enough to be of use from within a graphical file manager and not limited to shell/command line users.

Thanks.