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Windows Explorer Through the Years

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Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#131

Post by forgotpwd16 »

grandchild wrote: post #35
open-source-ux wrote: post #10

"Windows 98 was famously controversial, at least in nerd circles, for the integration of Internet Explorer into Explorer itself" How interesting to see attitudes change. Today, using a web browser and HTML/CSS/JavasScript to write your app (whether as a SaaS app or a desktop app using Electron) is one of the most popular options for creating apps. In fact, Microsoft explored this space many years ago too. Remember Mi…

And then there was Active Desktop. I remember setting an HTML file as desktop wallpaper, so I could have an animated wallpaper. :) (Why I wanted my wallpaper to visually distract me at every step is beyond me today, but I had fun.)

I was using it to read RSS, show some network info such as external IP and have a text field which could be used as a notepad. It was superseded by the arguably better designed, but more resource intensive, gadget system.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#132

Post by richard_todd »

From 2020/retrospect it seems obvious that people would not want to switch from local files to web-pages in the same window, but it's also kind of a shame that their integrated rich-content vision didn't work out. I would rather have a unified local machine+internet experience where local and network resources are fungible, instead of "the computer is one way to run a web browser". I guess PWAs are the next chance at something better, if they can ever get things like local file access worked out and deployed.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#133

Post by cryo »

zarmin wrote: post #124
cryo wrote: post #113

Shameless plug: I'm currently trying a new approach to file system navigation in my new visual file manager 'cryo' https://cryonet.io

Okay I absolutely love this!

Thanks :) it's very limited yet compared to other file managers but will hopefully gain more features soon.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#134

Post by forgotpwd16 »

toyg wrote: post #71
nfoz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How interesting to see attitudes change. Today, using a web browser and HTML/CSS/JavasScript to write your app (whether as a SaaS or a desktop app using Electron) is one of the most popular options for creating apps. I'm not sure that's a change. The IE integration was what the MS developers wanted, against the wishes of nerd-users. Electron apps today are very popular for developers , and nerd-users constantly com…

This * 1000. Users are not clamouring for HTML apps (and really never have - most users get annoyed by inconsistent and mutating interfaces), it's just a way for developers to save money and time. End of.

They are clamoring for their slowness though; they just don't know that the reason for being slow and heavy is that they're a web browser running a web page.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#135

Post by MayeulC »

RMPR wrote: post #88
ubercow13 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Dolphin much better than Nautilus, it is probably the only traditional graphical file manager I have used that is better than Explorer. If you have a Gnome desktop set up it can be fiddly to integrate a KDE application with it nicely, but in my opinion it is worth it for Dolphin alone, one of the best engineered of the normal desktop Linux applications. If you want to stick with GTK, Nemo is a fork of Nautilus…

>It's also a little bit more performant than Nautilus recently too I think, but both are still slow compared to eg. Thunar or Dolphin. Laughing in Midnight commander

Ranger is pretty nice to work with as far as TUIs are concerned -- bulk rename, N-split panes, tabs, image previews... it does a lot, and the default view is surprisingly usable to look for a file.

The only thing I miss with it is a "goto" shortcut, à la vim sneak. Ironically, Dolphin or Explorer go to a file when you start typing its name. Don't get me started on GNOME searching files.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#136

Post by micro-ram »

oblio wrote: post #99
AnonC wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows Explorer has been so slow that I actively avoid using it and use the command prompt instead. Even on an SSD, opening a folder sometimes takes several seconds while Explorer scans that folder with a progress bar on the address bar (and does I-don’t-know-what in the background). I see this happening for downloads and many other folders. I use Keypirinha , Everything , and other tools to get work done.

In many of those cases it's shell extensions installed by other apps that make Explorer slow. I forgot how you can check that, but you can.

ShellExView from Nirsoft

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#137

Post by Jaruzel »

bmn__ wrote: post #107
Jaruzel wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI: depreciated [0] :) [0] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/deprecia...

Yes, that's the wrong word. Please note the difference in usage.

No, I used it correctly for what I was saying. Don't put words in my mouth please.

MDI has not been removed. It's been DEPRECIATED as in it's still there and it still works (kinda) but MS no longer see value in it's function. My terminology for what I was saying was correct.

This sub-thread is a classic example of HN pedantry. Down vote me into oblivion if it makes you happy. /sigh

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#138

Post by [deleted] »

vbezhenar wrote: post #4

Sorry for offtopic, but I'd like to share a tip I can't imagine living without. You can type cmd in explorer address bar and it'll open cmd in that directory (probably works with any other program in your %PATH%). Also you can type `explorer .` in cmd to open explorer in the current directory.

[deleted]

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#139

Post by interestica »

I'll add my recommendation for [OneCommander](https://mobile.twitter.com/onecommander) as a better alternative to File Explorer. it uses modified Miller Columns (like what you see in OSX/Finder) for file display. V3 alpha is hopefully out in a few weeks.

I still can't get the left sidebar in file explorer to scroll properly. Its speed of scroll is directly tied to the width of the sidebar.

Re: Windows Explorer Through the Years

#140

Post by anadem »

vbezhenar wrote: post #4

Sorry for offtopic, but I'd like to share a tip I can't imagine living without. You can type cmd in explorer address bar and it'll open cmd in that directory (probably works with any other program in your %PATH%). Also you can type `explorer .` in cmd to open explorer in the current directory.

cat e.bat

  @echo %~f0
  @if %1. == . goto simple
  @rem explorer /e, %1
  explorer /e, %1
  @goto done
  :simple
  explorer /e,.
  :done
open Explorer from cmd prompt, either where you are or where you want it
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