GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 494313
Awkward handling of non-existent paths
Last modified: 2021-06-18 15:55:52 UTC
If address doesn't exist show the user what he has already written and let him enter correct address. Other information: How to reproduce: Press <Control>L on desktop and enter an invalid location.
Another way is to check whether target exists and give user some feedback as he types the address. (with a cross icon (target does not exist) or checkmark (target exists) at least for local addresses.)
Yes, this is a bug. Currently, when an invalid location is entered a dialog box pops up saying: +------------------------------------------+ | Could not find "/home/user/foo". | | | | Please check the spelling and try again. | | | | [ OK ] | +------------------------------------------+ This modal dialog is disruptive, particularly because it will cause many users to take a hand off the keyboard and use the mouse to click the OK button. We should, if possible, help the user to prevent the error in the first place - as is suggested in comment 1. This would require indicating when a non-existent path has been entered (displaying text in the bar would be good). This indication could pulse when return is pressed. This could be an excellent way for users with limited sight to navigate.
Another good way to indicate whether the path is valid would be to colour the background of the location bar - so it turns red when an invalid path is present.
Similar to bug 512171
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of gitlab.gnome.org. As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org (resources are unfortunately quite limited so not every ticket can get handled). If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent and supported software version of Files (nautilus), then please follow https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines and create a new ticket at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/-/issues/ Thank you for your understanding and your help.