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Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

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Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#181

Post by tmtvl »

criticalfault wrote: post #158
IshKebab wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gnome has a VM manager? I mean I feel like that's such a niche tool that doesn't need to be part of the desktop environment, unlike for example WiFi settings which Gnome provides a very very basic interface for but most of the options are hidden in some other random app that isn't installed by default (nm-connection-editor - took me a while to figure that out!). (To be fair it's been so long since I used KDE I can't…

Yes, called gnome boxes. https://apps.gnome.org/Boxes/ This was only an example. Boxes is no metric for anything, but having an app that works well in that Desktop is a good thing. There is nothing flike that or KDE. It's all for gnome. Point here being that KDE has a lack of apps. If talking about more generic apps, gnome has better Multimedia Tools, Firefox uses gtk to better integrate with gnome... The only thing/…

> gnome has better Multimedia Tools

I dunno, I really like Cantata (which integrates perfectly with MPD, which has possibly the best music organisation) and Clementine, more than any other music player I've tried. For video I'm very fond of SMPlayer, which is a featureful frontend for MPV. Kdenlive is also really nice (although Davinci Resolve is better, to be fair).

> The only thing/app kde has better is krita.

Really? You're saying Gedit is better than Kate? I don't know about that, friend. Gedit was severely lacking in features last time I tried it. What's the GNOME equivalent to Umbrello anyway? What about the GNOME equivalent to Lokalize? There's just a bunch of KDE apps which I don't know if GNOME has an equivalent to (the opposite is also true, but I'm just challenging your statement).

> (Excluding files from this comparison)

Okay, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#182

Post by 0rzech »

LtWorf wrote: post #145
jampekka wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No shame in needing a special UI if you're handicapped.

They claim to be very accessible though.

Yes, that's what they claim. But then imagine someone having to use Gnome with just one functional arm for some time. It's going to be a horrible experience due to long mouse travel distances, options buried in hamburger menus or missing from the UI interface completely and keyboard-focused UI in general. Not to mention the eye-straining app switching mechanism in the form of activities overview.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#183

Post by modzu »

ruuda wrote: post #143

I switched to Nemo after I got tired of Nautilus moving all the buttons for no particular reason every Gnome release, but a few versions ago they had a pattern that was genuinely good: a dropdown next to the current directory in the navigation bar, with everything you can do in the current directory (paste, create directory, open terminal, etc.). This was really neat, traditionally you have to access those by right-c…

^^ this is bonkers that its gone

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#184

Post by 627467 »

savolai wrote: post #162
627467 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem I see of "usability professionals" here and elsewhere is how arguments go little beyond: 1. "you are not the users" - certainly when talking about many apps like a file explorer any user is a user - not all users. 2. "Disheartened by tech community dismissal of basic human cognition" and "decades of research" without actually citing and ideally elaborating on research that many times is targetting very na…

1. Users have plenty of individual characteristics. If even ordinarily capable user’s can’t deduce what button does what, forget people with disbilities. It’s obvious you need to usability test this stuff. Gnome has neglected their basic duties. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-testing-101/ 2. Human-Computer Interaction is a scientific field within Computer Science, and this is stuff from any 101 course. Do…

...and here is my missing point 3. "Citing Norman heuristics like gospel"

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#185

Post by frankvdwaal »

tuna74 wrote: post #79
hedora wrote: post #40

Have they fixed the save dialog box yet? If I type -s filename , then I expect the current file to be saved with filename (perhaps with an extension appended). The gtk-2 behavior was to start searching the list of files/directories when you type filename, then select whatever is highlighted when you press enter. Anyway, I’m not going to install gnome to find out. It’s not surprising the file browser is as bad as desc…

"Have they fixed the save dialog box yet? .... Anyway, I’m not going to install gnome to find out." Then why do you care?

If being interested in something was contingent on whether or not you're planning on using it, this would be one dead website.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#187

Post by imbnwa »

Cockbrand wrote: post #144
jiehong wrote: post #65

This reminds me of not being able to right click in Files in list view for creating a new document or pasting something, because it only accepts a right click in an empty area. Yet, in list view, as soon as you have a few files and the window is full, you’re given no empty area to click in. I saw some people have the same issue [0] in the past, and it’s not really been fixed either [1]. [0]: https://ubuntuforums.org/…

I find this debatable from a UI/UX perspective. I think that the designers made the right choice here, because a context menu should show actions which can be applied to the object I right clicked on. "New Document" isn't really some function of a file or folder icon. Even worse: when I right click on a folder, should the "New Document" menu item create a new doc in the current folder? Or in the one I clicked on? It…

Nah, no different from 'Create Row Below' or some such. Hunting for white space to click in order to act on the directory is like hunting for the borders in a spreadsheet or table to click in order to add a new row

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#188

Post by 0rzech »

donatzsky wrote: post #101
kaanyalova wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Gnome version that the writer uses is Gnome 43 which was released 2 years ago.

And for how long has it had this "broken" behaviour for? When Microsoft introduced a similar path bar in Explorer (in Vista or 7, don't remember), it had the double functionality right from the beginning. The fact that Gnome Files didn't is frankly baffling.

> And for how long has it had this "broken" behaviour for?

For years: "This will probably be part of the upcoming Gnome 46" [1], "46.0 2024-03-20" [2].

Funnily enough, this feature seems to have been released less than 6 months ago. :)

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/1asa3u0/comment/kqow...

[2] https://release.gnome.org/calendar/

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#189

Post by criticalfault »

0x_rs wrote: post #167
criticalfault wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, called gnome boxes. https://apps.gnome.org/Boxes/ This was only an example. Boxes is no metric for anything, but having an app that works well in that Desktop is a good thing. There is nothing flike that or KDE. It's all for gnome. Point here being that KDE has a lack of apps. If talking about more generic apps, gnome has better Multimedia Tools, Firefox uses gtk to better integrate with gnome... The only thing/…

>I'm just wondering who is then target audience for KDE? Only artists that use krita? Or teenagers that like to mod stuff? What a spiteful thing to say, it's very difficult for me to believe you are asking this genuinely. Firstly, KDE has no such "lack of apps". The majority of GNOME applications are far inferior to DE-independent "apps", so much so one may wonder why effort is even being spent into developing such f…

The question was a bit assholish, because rant. Fair to call me on it.

Yes, I am aware that KDE audience is broader. Just remembered an additional good product from KDE: kdenlive.

Let me try to put it in a better way: most of the time I have seen Linux in the wild (let's say companies) was Ubuntu/gnome. Even tv shows. And I don't remember ever seeing kde (LiMux aside since it is dead now). I have read that it is sometimes used in some specific industries like chemistry for legacy reasons/apps. Not sure how the automotive industry fits here, but I know they for example use qt, not sure if this extends to kde.

Based on what I have seen and read (which is not all Industries of course), KDE has a significantly smaller user base.

In a non-professional setting, I have exclusively seen gnome.

Not sure how steamdeck fits here, depends on what valve took. Last I read was a compositor. Di they actually use whole desktop with plasmoids?

Can you give an example of de-independent apps that are superior? To be clear: when talking about fitting into a desktop and talking about gnome vs KDE, it comes down mostly to the toolkit. Some examples like vlc could be considered de-independent though even though they use qt

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate KDE project. Far from it. But what they do and what I think they should do differs.

What I completely disagree with is that UX of gnome is wrong. It is opinionated and a lot of us like this 'opinion'. Many people using Ubuntu don't change a thing. Does this fit usable defaults? If things are well thought out, why do I need to tinker with the desktop to launch firefox, office, copy files or consume multimedia? Because in the end - this is what it is about, productivity.

I don't get this hostility statement. They follow a vision - their vision. They offer it for free. And people are upset because they do not work on the vision of that (minor) group?

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#190

Post by sbuk »

quaintdev wrote: post #166
sunaookami wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finder is way better than Windows Explorer. Explorer suffers from a myriad of bugs like constantly re-caching thumbnails, lag when opening folders (since Windows 11) and TWO context menus. No bulk rename, search is way too slow and annoying. Also, can't delete words from the file name with CTRL + Backspace, it inserts some hidden character instead. Also the whole OS hangs while an external hard drive spins up, which…

Finder does not have option to move a file. Nor you can resize the window.

Yes it does. You can use the mouse, or shortcuts cmd-c, followed by cmd-option-v. And what on earth do you mean “Nor you can resize the window.” Nonsense. You’ve clearly never been within 6 feet of a Mac!
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