Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

SunnyDrake sunnydrake7 at gmail.com
Sun Feb 2 18:22:38 UTC 2014


so what is a FS eh? A tough question. i remember my days from CP/M vc
and nc:)
core idea:
provide interface for user to view and manipulate with filesystems in
most efficient way,but requesting him to know some (someone called
generic knowledge or KISS designs) efficient interaction commands that
provided by this software.
types of FM's:
  panel(or two-panel)  managers list
  icon based managers(nautilus etc..)
  shortcut('places') managers
  other types like visual(3D,graphs  etc..)
design:
    file managers must work on different displays. Core rule is like
'strech' design in web developing there are fixed size areas(that will
not render in place if screen is too small for other windows,but instead
will be placed on next available space row) and 'strech' areas
    each type of view have min required screen width/height some like
lists have max width/height too to be space efficient.
    FM's currently used on devices with
touchscreens,touchpad,mouse,keyboards.
    ability for user to hide/show/drag to another place design elements
on demand
    every element can be instanced multiple times
 tech aspects:
  core module must be standalone with bare minimum dependencies (i would
even prefer command line/port server)
  modular design. yes even drawing module must be a plugin!
  provide GLOBAL functions to abstract interactions between
plugins,plugins must have ability to extend global list,calculate bare
minimum global list (operation,property etc..)
  because operating with filesystems can be quite slow FM must aggregate
data in background possibly in separate thread.
  almost every action must be operable by command-line or message bus,
this is requirement to support modern input devices and complex features..
  every view have own set of options: view type,current directory and
possibly other stuff
features:
 themes + view config with exact directory/place :) yes thats it .. i
find quite usefull windows style desktop.ini and folder.* files except
they make a lot of this files in fs.. it's better to keep
default::options , DIR::options in one file in some fm config dir +
limit filesize to lets say 64Kb + binary tree to not make huge
speed+memory impact. btw a good feature will be ability to view theme
just entering it's directory in themes/themename.
 plugin config manager:config,disable,download plugins
 gestures and shortcuts
Bare minimum plugins/features:
  history,tags
  navigation: bookmarks,breadcrumbs,navigation line panel
  view type: panel,list,icons, 
  operations type: copy,move,rename,delete,'buffer'(clipboard) ops,make
shortcut
  identity ops: find what app can operate with this object
type(extension,xdg tools etc..),filesize,tags etc..
  input: key bindings,mouse events,system events, external commands
  network connections like ssh,sftp,ftp,smb
  very easy to add/port plugins from other FM's
  text or xml based configs
  batch jobs
  'generic' hotkeys operations support (ctrl+c/v/x/w/t,F2,shift+ins etc..)



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