Spatial mess prevention

[Adam Lydick]

On Sat, 2005-04-02 at 16:32 +1000, Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="Adam Lydick">

> > I was hoping "Open" would be modified to do this, but it is identical to
> > double-click. (Why have this duplication in the UI? It doesn't seem to add
> > any usability, since it is hidden away in an even more difficult to
> > discover right-click context menu.)
> 
> The function is duplicated so you don't have to use a mouse (indeed, this is
> an important use case for people who can't use a mouse).

Makes sense.

> > Another issue: now that spatial-mode is more browser-like, you end up with
> > windows that jump around rather strangely. IMHO, this feels buggy, even if
> > it is intentional. Maybe a better solution would be to keep the same size
> > and position as the parent window.
> 
> This *completely* decimates the entire point of having an interface based on
> spatial familiarity principles. Instead of using spatial mode at all, you
> should just switch to browser mode.
> 
> WARNING TO ALL: This kind of reaction is why this patch is so dangerous. The
> change does not actually cure any ills, it just papers over a symptom. With
> this patch in place, we will continue to get requests such as this, and not
> come to a real, suitable fix.

Fair enough. Maybe a better solution would be to just default to browser
mode instead of hacking on spatial mode. 

My primary complaint about browser mode, is there doesn't seem to be an
obvious way to enable it for the "Places" menu. While I can certainly
drag custom .desktop files to my panel to open most of these places, it
would certainly be preferable to take advantage of the dynamically added
ones that gnome-volume-mounter(?) provides.

Another issue is that it uses a lot more screen real estate than its
minimalist spatial cousin. (huge, mostly redundant toolbar, zoom
controls, view dropdown, etc)

What I'd really like is the look of the spatial windows with
browser-like window placement and folder browsing behavior (and maybe
the sidebar for quick access to Places/Tree).

> > You still can't have multiple copies of a folder open. This is also a
> > feature, but feels weird taken separately from the spatial behavior. 
> 
> This is 100% intended and required for spatial familiarity. Rather than
> suggesting changes that break spatial, please simply use browse mode. If
> browse mode is not satisfying for you, then we need to figure out why that
> is the case, and fix it.

"Changes that break spatial" have already been made. Hence my comments
on the resulting quirks. If this patch stays in, IMHO, it needs some
additional changes before the interface feels "right". If not, then that
is fine too -- the window clutter was annoying at worst, but unlikely to
cause confusion.

If you are interested in improving browse mode, the comments above
describe the things that irk me. 

I could certainly switch to using it, if my first complaint were
addressed. IIRC, I could hack around it today with GnomeTweakUI, but
that doesn't seem like the "right" fix either.

> - Jeff

- Adam