unity-design team mailing list archive

[Ian Santopietro <isantop@xxxxxxxxx>]

In my opinion, what Ubuntu really needs I not to replace Nautilus, but to
replace the file system it browses. Obviously, it will still be there for
system purposes, but it should not be exposed to the end user by default.

The concept of the file system is just no longer relevant to modern
computing. A tag-based organization system is much more useful, and more
user friendly.

When a file is saved, instead of choosing a folder to save the file in,
they can assign one or more tags. Then, to find a file, the user could
simply show all files, with filters for tags. They could also search for
specific tags.

This provides similar functionality to a modern filesystem, with the
benefit of being easier and potentially faster to use, which brings it
inline with other Unity goals nicely.
On May 6, 2012 2:56 AM, "Thorsten Wilms" <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 05/06/2012 12:32 AM, Gregory Merchan wrote:
>
>> While emblems allowed some distinction, a
>> tweak to the icon color would have allowed distinctions that carried
>> over into the modes with smaller icons.
>>
>
> Uniform walls of folder icons are indeed not very helpful. An old concept,
> going beyond just color or emblems:
> http://thorwil.wordpress.com/**2008/09/23/infolders-**informative-folders/<http://thorwil.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/infolders-informative-folders/>
>
>
>  Mainstream GNOME has all but abandoned Nautilus in favor of
>> single-purpose applications. That could be just an implementation
>> detail, but I don't think I've seen the kind of cohesion that you'd get
>> from a good workplace shell, like Nautilus could have been. Unity
>> development seems to be proceeding on the premise that a file manager is
>> not needed.
>>
>
> Renaming, moving, copying and deleting files hasn't been addressed outside
> of file managers (or the commandline), so I don't see how current GNOME or
> Unity could do without.
>
>
>  As I see it, there's a need for Unity to have it's own file manager. I
>> haven't seen any designs for this, at least none I liked enough to
>> remember. Is anyone else giving this any thought? What's going to
>> replace Nautilus?
>>
>
> I agree with much you said and do think this should be addressed. I have
> to warn against starting a design from "replacement for Nautilus" or "a
> file-manager", though. The best answer is not necessarily an application,
> technically or in appearance.
>
>
> The Dash, the file dialogs, Nautilus (or similar file-managers) and the
> commandline all offer different modes of access with varying capabilities.
> That's a whole library of mental models a user needs to pick the best way
> for some tasks, plus the cost of choosing many times over.
>
> - Are all the differences necessary; what are the costs and opportunities
> of unification?
> - Could at least file-open dialogs be made similar to the Dash?
> - Could we avoid file dialogs entirely?
> - Could the Dash be extended for managing files or could a file-manager be
> Dash-like?
> - Are the file and folder semantics even the right answer to user needs?
>
>
>
> --
> Thorsten Wilms
>
> thorwil's design for free software:
> http://thorwil.wordpress.com/
>
> --
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