Image via WikipediaOf course, this would be a lot easier in a tag-based file manager, wouldn't it? You'd just call the manager with a search for supported file types and be done with it.
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Why does the "Open File" Dialog Exist?
Image via WikipediaOf course, this would be a lot easier in a tag-based file manager, wouldn't it? You'd just call the manager with a search for supported file types and be done with it.
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I think this is an interesting idea, but fundamentally there are enough differences between the two that the costs would outweigh the benefits in the current situation.
ReplyDeleteAn Open File Dialog returns a value - the URI of the file selected - and blocks input to the program creating it until the user clicks OK. A nautilus window could not be opened trivially in this way since it would be an entirely new process rather than part of GTK+. Furthermore, it would make nautilus necessary for the use of GTK+ even on platforms such as OS X, Windows, KDE and XFCE which would constitute bloat.
A nautilus window is typically for file management (moving, deleting, cutting, editing) than opening with a given program, and takes up more memory, screen space, and is more complex as a result. This complexity is unwanted if a user is just modifying files. Indeed, an open file dialog is tied far more closely in its purpose to a save file dialog than a file management window - and the former requires the ability to specify a new name for a file.
I appreciate the benefits of interchangeable skills between file manager and file dialogs, but in the current state of both of them I don't think this would make sense.
I have posted a response on my blog since it turned in too long rant (more than 4096 characters). Hope that isn't a problem. Feel free to respond either here or there.
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