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Bug 722211 - improve the file chooser design
improve the file chooser design
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Product: gtk+
Classification: Platform
Component: Widget: GtkFileChooser
unspecified
Other Linux
: Normal enhancement
: ---
Assigned To: gtk-bugs
Federico Mena Quintero
: 642712 671778 706024 706384 707223 719618 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: 728358
 
 
Reported: 2014-01-14 23:01 UTC by William Jon McCann
Modified: 2015-07-04 05:04 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Attachments
wireframes (525.90 KB, application/x-download)
2014-01-14 23:01 UTC, William Jon McCann
  Details
places-sidebar: use separators instead of heading labels (4.82 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: move pathbar into preview pane (20.26 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: move filter combo into extra area (5.09 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: allow views to extend to the sides of the dialog (8.36 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: use an action bar for extra widgets area (2.55 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: no shadow on scrolled window (1.15 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
places-sidebar: add optional enter location place (8.29 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: move location entry into same place as pathbar (32.34 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: don't show a "save folder:" label (2.36 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: style save mode name box as a search bar (1.26 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: style location bar as a search bar (2.27 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: add sidebar class to sidebar (1.20 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:05 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: add a search bar instead of using a path bar mode (8.08 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: don't use an special label for recent (5.70 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: remove select a folder info message (5.74 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: merge path bar mode and location mode (13.15 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
file-chooser: make enter location an operation mode (2.28 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
dialog: add a box around the action area to use for styling (3.27 KB, patch)
2014-04-16 17:06 UTC, William Jon McCann
committed Details | Review
screenshots (843.13 KB, image/png)
2014-04-22 12:48 UTC, Allan Day
  Details
GtkFileChooserDialog: Avoid a bottom border in the dialog (1.14 KB, patch)
2014-04-23 03:10 UTC, Matthias Clasen
rejected Details | Review
File Chooser navigation mockup (444.89 KB, image/png)
2014-04-27 21:18 UTC, t.ask
  Details

Description William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:01:10 UTC
Created attachment 266305 [details]
wireframes

Now that we have a shared widget for the sidebar between Files and the file chooser it is a good time to pick up improving the rest.

There are a number of goals here. In no specific order:

 * finally resolve the click vs double click difficulty for both a11y and touch users
 * provide consistency between the file chooser and planned updates to nautilus
 * use space more efficiently
 * make preview more prominent
 * more obvious/direct multi-selection mode
 * support preview for typed paths and URLs
 * re-add search
 * resolve select folder vs select child ambiguity
 * more beautiful
Comment 1 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:01:37 UTC
*** Bug 642712 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 2 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:02:18 UTC
*** Bug 671778 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:02:50 UTC
*** Bug 121113 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:05:46 UTC
*** Bug 719618 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 5 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:07:17 UTC
*** Bug 707223 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 André Klapper 2014-01-14 23:08:11 UTC
Would "Select by URL" also support local URIs? I wonder how I would enter local
paths via keyboard with name autocompletion, like e.g.
/home/user/Downloads/subfolder/foo.pdf. Maybe the first image in the second row
covers this usecase, but I assume it's a type-ahead search field instead.
Comment 7 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:08:17 UTC
*** Bug 706384 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 William Jon McCann 2014-01-14 23:09:10 UTC
*** Bug 706024 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Timothy Arceri 2014-01-15 00:05:49 UTC
Shouldn't you be marking those bugs as dependencies rather than duplicates?
Comment 10 Ritesh Khadgaray ( irc:ritz) 2014-01-28 15:33:32 UTC
* Should not these be marked as dependencies rather than duplicates ?
* Instead of by url why not a generic "remote location" , given that we can support sftp/ftp/... via gvfs which do not translate to URL very well in minds of people.
Comment 11 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:05 UTC
Created attachment 274474 [details] [review]
places-sidebar: use separators instead of heading labels
Comment 12 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:10 UTC
Created attachment 274475 [details] [review]
file-chooser: move pathbar into preview pane
Comment 13 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:14 UTC
Created attachment 274476 [details] [review]
file-chooser: move filter combo into extra area
Comment 14 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:18 UTC
Created attachment 274477 [details] [review]
file-chooser: allow views to extend to the sides of the dialog
Comment 15 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:22 UTC
Created attachment 274478 [details] [review]
file-chooser: use an action bar for extra widgets area
Comment 16 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:27 UTC
Created attachment 274479 [details] [review]
file-chooser: no shadow on scrolled window
Comment 17 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:31 UTC
Created attachment 274480 [details] [review]
places-sidebar: add optional enter location place
Comment 18 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:37 UTC
Created attachment 274481 [details] [review]
file-chooser: move location entry into same place as pathbar
Comment 19 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:41 UTC
Created attachment 274482 [details] [review]
file-chooser: don't show a "save folder:" label
Comment 20 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:45 UTC
Created attachment 274483 [details] [review]
file-chooser: style save mode name box as a search bar

So we get a bottom border etc.
Comment 21 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:51 UTC
Created attachment 274484 [details] [review]
file-chooser: style location bar as a search bar

So we get a nice bottom border etc.
Comment 22 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:05:56 UTC
Created attachment 274485 [details] [review]
file-chooser: add sidebar class to sidebar
Comment 23 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:02 UTC
Created attachment 274486 [details] [review]
file-chooser: add a search bar instead of using a path bar mode
Comment 24 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:07 UTC
Created attachment 274487 [details] [review]
file-chooser: don't use an special label for recent
Comment 25 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:11 UTC
Created attachment 274488 [details] [review]
file-chooser: remove select a folder info message
Comment 26 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:17 UTC
Created attachment 274489 [details] [review]
file-chooser: merge path bar mode and location mode
Comment 27 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:22 UTC
Created attachment 274491 [details] [review]
file-chooser: make enter location an operation mode
Comment 28 William Jon McCann 2014-04-16 17:06:27 UTC
Created attachment 274493 [details] [review]
dialog: add a box around the action area to use for styling

If we want to set style properties that include the area
of the border-width part of action_area we need to use a
parent box.
Comment 29 André Klapper 2014-04-17 09:51:27 UTC
Attaching a screenshot that displays the proposed changes is welcome.
Comment 30 André Klapper 2014-04-17 10:43:05 UTC
Oh, and replying to comments 6, 9 and 10 is also welcome.
Comment 31 Timothy Arceri 2014-04-17 11:29:12 UTC
Yes as someone who has put work into bugs such as bug 121113 I would appreciate a response as to why these bugs were marked as duplicates rather than dependencies? Most of the work for that bug has already been done in that bug report it seems silly to move it here and clump it with a bunch of unrelated patches and issues.
Comment 32 Allan Day 2014-04-22 12:48:51 UTC
Created attachment 274888 [details]
screenshots

I tried the patches the other day. Screenshots are attached, for those who are interested.
Comment 33 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:07:14 UTC
Re 6, 9, and 10:

Most of the bugs that have been marked as duplicates are addressed one way or other here. The 'single-click mode' bug isn't - at least not yet. Neither Jon nor I are convinced that making that an option or setting is a good idea, though.

'Select by URL' is not included in the patches yet, but I assume that we'll make it work like the current location entry, which accepts either urls or local paths.
Comment 34 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:10:33 UTC
Created attachment 274925 [details] [review]
GtkFileChooserDialog: Avoid a bottom border in the dialog

We recently started to respect border-width on the action_area
again, so set its border-width to 0 so it doesn't get in the way.
Comment 35 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:12:20 UTC
Review of attachment 274474 [details] [review]:

Since the places sidebar is now shared with nautilus, this will also affect it. I assume you've made sure that this looks good there too ?
Comment 36 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:13:14 UTC
Review of attachment 274475 [details] [review]:

looks fine
Comment 37 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:13:45 UTC
Review of attachment 274476 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 38 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:15:21 UTC
Review of attachment 274477 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 39 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:16:48 UTC
Review of attachment 274478 [details] [review]:

::: gtk/resources/ui/gtkfilechooserdialog.ui
@@ +17,3 @@
         <child internal-child="action_area">
           <object class="GtkButtonBox" id="dialog-action_area1">
+            <property name="border_width">6</property>

I had to remove this to avoid an ugly 'footer' on the dialog - is there a reason why you added it ?
Comment 40 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:17:07 UTC
Review of attachment 274479 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 41 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:19:28 UTC
Review of attachment 274480 [details] [review]:

Do we need a nautilus patch to handle ::enter-location ?
Comment 42 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:20:19 UTC
Review of attachment 274481 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 43 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:20:44 UTC
Review of attachment 274482 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 44 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:21:07 UTC
Review of attachment 274483 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 45 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:21:36 UTC
Review of attachment 274484 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 46 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:22:10 UTC
Review of attachment 274485 [details] [review]:

is adwaita using this for something ?
Comment 47 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:22:46 UTC
Review of attachment 274486 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 48 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:23:33 UTC
Review of attachment 274487 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 49 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:24:05 UTC
Review of attachment 274488 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 50 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:25:49 UTC
Review of attachment 274489 [details] [review]:

::: gtk/gtkfilechooserwidget.c
@@ +5732,3 @@
 	      && priv->operation_mode == OPERATION_MODE_RECENT)
 	    {
+	      /* FIXME: ERROR_NO_FOLDER */

What are we going to do about this ?
Comment 51 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:26:20 UTC
Review of attachment 274491 [details] [review]:

ok
Comment 52 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:27:09 UTC
Review of attachment 274493 [details] [review]:

See my question above about the action area border - do we actually want that ?
Comment 53 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:46:23 UTC
Attachment 274474 [details] pushed as 5a73757 - places-sidebar: use separators instead of heading labels
Attachment 274475 [details] pushed as 256a3a5 - file-chooser: move pathbar into preview pane
Attachment 274476 [details] pushed as 458cd04 - file-chooser: move filter combo into extra area
Attachment 274477 [details] pushed as df9522d - file-chooser: allow views to extend to the sides of the dialog
Attachment 274478 [details] pushed as c253bc3 - file-chooser: use an action bar for extra widgets area
Attachment 274479 [details] pushed as e2b2339 - file-chooser: no shadow on scrolled window
Attachment 274480 [details] pushed as 1e925a8 - places-sidebar: add optional enter location place
Attachment 274481 [details] pushed as 5c42068 - file-chooser: move location entry into same place as pathbar
Attachment 274482 [details] pushed as 22e3552 - file-chooser: don't show a "save folder:" label
Attachment 274483 [details] pushed as b05b91c - file-chooser: style save mode name box as a search bar
Attachment 274484 [details] pushed as b5e13cd - file-chooser: style location bar as a search bar
Attachment 274485 [details] pushed as cf9b297 - file-chooser: add sidebar class to sidebar
Attachment 274486 [details] pushed as a644b34 - file-chooser: add a search bar instead of using a path bar mode
Attachment 274487 [details] pushed as d46ed4e - file-chooser: don't use an special label for recent
Attachment 274488 [details] pushed as d8ca588 - file-chooser: remove select a folder info message
Attachment 274489 [details] pushed as 20dfe1d - file-chooser: merge path bar mode and location mode
Attachment 274491 [details] pushed as 384b227 - file-chooser: make enter location an operation mode
Attachment 274493 [details] pushed as 7e479aa - dialog: add a box around the action area to use for styling
Attachment 274925 [details] pushed as d871105 - GtkFileChooserDialog: Avoid a bottom border in the dialog
Comment 54 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 03:48:50 UTC
didn't actually mean to push all of these, but its ok - I was fine with most of them anyway. But see the few questions I had
Comment 55 Timothy Arceri 2014-04-23 07:07:48 UTC
(In reply to comment #33)
> Re 6, 9, and 10:
> 
> Most of the bugs that have been marked as duplicates are addressed one way or
> other here. The 'single-click mode' bug isn't - at least not yet. Neither Jon
> nor I are convinced that making that an option or setting is a good idea,
> though.
> 
> 'Select by URL' is not included in the patches yet, but I assume that we'll
> make it work like the current location entry, which accepts either urls or
> local paths.

Thanks for the explanation Matthias. I say this not so much as a criticism but as a concern that it took so long for a simple explanation it runs counter intuitive to the whole Enabling Participation blog post Allan wrote recently.
Comment 56 Tony Houghton 2014-04-23 11:11:07 UTC
(In reply to comment #33)
 
> Most of the bugs that have been marked as duplicates are addressed one way or
> other here. The 'single-click mode' bug isn't - at least not yet. Neither Jon
> nor I are convinced that making that an option or setting is a good idea,
> though.

Why don't you think it's a good idea, and what alternative would you propose? Single click is more important than a preference, it's an accessibility issue too. There already is an option/setting, but it only affects Nautilus, and not related controls like the file chooser. So the option you don't want is already present, but adds inconsistency to the desktop:- surely the current behaviour is the worst of both worlds.
Comment 57 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-23 18:02:02 UTC
(In reply to comment #56)
 
> Why don't you think it's a good idea, and what alternative would you propose?

'fix my system' settings are usually not the right approach. Better to change the design so that the use of double-click becomes unnecessary.
Comment 58 Eduard Gotwig 2014-04-26 00:09:40 UTC
I don't want to sound cheesy, but I would love to see the location replacing the "open a file" label. Content is king. Just saying "open" two times, makes it redunant, imho.

Or do you fear people dont know what they are after with the dialog? The action button should show the context purpose.
Comment 59 Allan Day 2014-04-26 10:32:00 UTC
(In reply to comment #58)
> I don't want to sound cheesy, but I would love to see the location replacing
> the "open a file" label. Content is king. Just saying "open" two times, makes
> it redunant, imho.
> 
> Or do you fear people dont know what they are after with the dialog? The action
> button should show the context purpose.

I don't think it's possible to do this with the way header bars work for dialogs.
Comment 60 Eduard Gotwig 2014-04-26 19:45:25 UTC
And why not :/
Comment 61 t.ask 2014-04-27 21:18:35 UTC
Created attachment 275280 [details]
File Chooser navigation mockup

I attached a design proposal for a new file chooser navigation design. I took the Allan's mockup and started a short GIMP session on it. Creating a new design proposal seems to be too heavy for now.

Ideas:
 * No more section headers
 * Putting bookmarks to the below users main home folders
 * The "Cancel" now looks and behaves like Web's back button
   * It might be handy, if browsing through directories is as easy as browsing webpages. 
   * Websites and URLs are not very different from browsing file structures
   * The user has the same feeling browsing the web and files
   * URLs = DIRs!?

 Collapsing sections:
 * If vertical space is shrinking, more and more sections shrink to section icons.
 * Clicking those section icons to the bottom slides in a greyish section from the bottom to (overlay) show it's content.
 * Open/Close sections by clicking those icons
 * Almost no scrolling needed. A benefit for touch devices

Don't wonder where "Recent" is gone. I simply forgot to insert its icon button  to the left of the file path. :)
Comment 62 Matthias Clasen 2014-04-28 20:00:50 UTC
Comment on attachment 274925 [details] [review]
GtkFileChooserDialog: Avoid a bottom border in the dialog

fixed differently
Comment 63 Allan Day 2014-04-29 09:27:08 UTC
(In reply to comment #61
> Created an attachment (id=275280) [details]
> File Chooser navigation mockup
> 
> I attached a design proposal for a new file chooser navigation design. I took
> the Allan's mockup and started a short GIMP session on it. Creating a new
> design proposal seems to be too heavy for now.
...

Hi t.ask, thanks for the mockup! I think it would probably best to discuss this elsewhere - can you maybe add it to a wiki page and swing by #gnome-design?
Comment 64 t.ask 2014-04-29 15:45:06 UTC
(In reply to comment #63)
> Hi t.ask, thanks for the mockup! I think it would probably best to discuss this
> elsewhere - can you maybe add it to a wiki page and swing by #gnome-design?

Hi Allan, I just finished the Wiki entry of this proposal https://wiki.gnome.org/Design/Whiteboards/FileChooser with a small animation to ease the read :)

Unfortunately, I currently can't enter the use IRC, therefore, comments are welcome for the time being.
Comment 65 Eduard Gotwig 2014-04-30 22:57:38 UTC
can someone please tell me whats wrong with my proposal (^) ?
Nautilus and the filepicker should look almost identical.
Comment 66 alpine.art.de 2014-09-06 08:09:33 UTC
PING...
Still no SingleClick, at least according to this bug.
Comment 67 Bastien Nocera 2014-09-06 11:45:48 UTC
(In reply to comment #66)
> PING...
> Still no SingleClick, at least according to this bug.

This is not helpful. You can CC: yourself without adding comments.
Comment 68 alpine.art.de 2014-09-06 12:02:30 UTC
(In reply to comment #67)
> (In reply to comment #66)
> > PING...
> > Still no SingleClick, at least according to this bug.
> 
> This is not helpful. You can CC: yourself without adding comments.

That's also not helpful. My question was not to CC myself (I thought I already was CCed).
Nearly 9 months since the mega-meta-bug-merge, quite some patches got imported, every patch (but one rejected) got committed. And not a single action on SingleClick. I simply thought this one slipped through/got forgotten...
Comment 69 Matthias Clasen 2014-09-06 15:25:27 UTC
This bug is still open. Nobody is working on it at the moment. If there were news on this bug, you could read them in this bug.
Comment 70 Matthias Clasen 2014-09-06 15:28:54 UTC
(In reply to comment #65)
> can someone please tell me whats wrong with my proposal (^) ?
> Nautilus and the filepicker should look almost identical.

The nautilus window is not a dialog. The pattern for headerbars in dialogs is CANCEL title ACTION, and deviating from that would break the dialog-ness of the file chooser. At least that is how I interpret Allans reply. If you are not convinced, the best way forward is to hack it in and demonstrate your vision.
Comment 71 Matthias Clasen 2015-07-04 05:04:03 UTC
A considerable amount of filechooser redesign work has just landed.