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Gnome Switches Nautilus Back To Browser Mode

Posted by timothy on from the open-in-new-window dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In one of the do-the-developers-actually-use-their-own-software decisions in the Linux Desktop World, back in 2004 Gnome switched to the 'Spatial' view by default with their Nautilus file manager opening a new window with each new folder viewed. Many derided the decision as poor design or as being different for the sake of being different. Well, after five long years the Gnome powers that be have decided to switch back to browser mode."

12 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by GreatBunzinni · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It does appear that Nautilus' people are taking many many lessons from (let's not say ripping off) KDE's Dolphin. I mean, if you compare Nautilus' demo screenshot and you use KDE's Dolphin (please ignore the command line at the bottom and info dock widget at the right) on a daily basis you will be hard pressed to find any differences.

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    Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
    1. Re:Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by ciroknight · · Score: 5, Interesting

      view generate thumbnails of all kind of files that nautilus can (PDFs, videos, etc)

      With GIO, the file chooser can load any thumbnails that are available, but Gtk+ doesn't actually have the architectural pieces for doing thumbnailing itself (since it's quite a lot of specialized code that's not widely needed). But in most cases, Nautilus has already generated the thumbnails you require anyways.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    2. Re:Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "please ignore the command line at the bottom and info dock widget at the right"

      You really couldn't bring yourself to simply toggle the terminal and info windows off with View --> Panels --> Terminal and View --> Panels --> Information or using the F11 and F4 hotkeys to make your point sans caveat?

      Are you sure you are not a Gnome user? (sorry Linus; I couldn't resist, and lighten up mods. It's a playful / tongue in cheek chide, not a troll or flamebait)

      Oh yeah. emacs sux and vi rulezz!!!

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    3. Re:Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by Galactic+Dominator · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's what the columns view does. Dolphin is the best file manager I've ever used, now that it's stable, used to crash frequently.

      --
      brandelf -t FreeBSD /brain
    4. Re:Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, the difference really is minimal given that the "fix" for the much-hated and derided "spatial" view has been built into gconf ever since spatial was introduced, and was only somewhat more recently incorporated directly into Nautilus preferences. The whole idea of introducing that Win95 "feature" was one of the more craniorectal decisions on the part of the Gnome developers, and I suspect they knew it.

      Slipping a more sensible default in by stealth after everybody had been accustomed to toggling the preference is probably as close to an apology as we'll get.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not trolling: I've been a Gnome user since pre-1.0, but there have been times when I have felt that some of the developers needed a good whack with a cluebat.

    5. Re:Nautilus following KDE's Dolphin? by osu-neko · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, it was very useful on the file manager I used under ProDOS on my Apple //c. Alas, I'm afraid I've since forgotten the name of it, but I was happy when I found a program called Norton Commander for the PC that could mimic it.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  2. Does it matter? by delirium+of+disorder · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I only saw the weird "open a new window" mode once, I think it was on Solaris 10. Ubuntu, Opensolaris, etc all seam to have configured gnome to use the normal "browser" mode. If the distros set the gnome configuration, does it really matter what the default is?

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    ------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
  3. Still waiting for a Total Commander equivalent by rduke15 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I switched to Linux 4 months ago, and what I still miss is a file manager as good as Total Commander. Krusader seems to be the closest and most feature rich, but it just isn't as complete and as polished as Total Commander. And it crashes about once every few days. So sometimes, I have to start a WinXP VM, just to have the power and reliability of Total Commander.

    In other words, I don't care so much for little details in Nautilus. It doesn't seem any worse than Windows Explorer, and seems better than the Mac Finder (which is the file manager that Nautilus resembles most). I just wish there would be more resources to improve Krusader.

    (Midnight Commander is excellent in a console, and should be part of the base install of every distro)

  4. Well, of course they did. by Hurricane78 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    back in 2004 Gnome switched to the 'Spatial' view by default

    Of course. They always copy the worst of all ideas Microsoft, and on top of it, do it way too late too. To make sure that really everybody already knows and hates that from MS, and disables it as the first action of installing a Gnome... uuum I mean Windows desktop. ;)

    Don’t mod me troll here, as I am a big friend of Linux. I’ve just got a huge problem with the fact, that pretty much all “mainstream“ Linux desktop environments are always imitating, and never innovating. Always with the (invalid) excuse of wanting to make it easier to switch.
    Exceptions prove the rule: The only glimpse of innovation came from KDE with their “semantic desktop” idea. But it came in one atomic package with a huge load of other “improvements” for the worse.

    The thing is, that that point of view is not ever going to get them anywhere. They are their own worst enemies. It’s simple psychology: If you wanna lead, you gotta lead. Simple as that.
    Only when both Gnome and KDE teams (and even the XFCE team) stop reacting... to the stupid part of their users, and especially to Microsoft or even Apple... only then will it ever become the year of Linux on the desktop.

    I’ll explain: If you got something, that perfectly imitates something else... then what’s the point of switching in the first place? See... it’s not getting you anywhere, to imitate.

    If you, on the other hand, got features, that nobody else has, or has even thought about...
    I mean, from what I see, the Linux community got an insane amount of genius that is simply thrown away for the fear of not being loved by Windows users.
    It’s like with women: If you want a girl, you don’t come to her all needy, trying everything just to be loved. That’s just gonna drive her away. You make yourself stand out. You draw her in, by being something special that she wants to be a part of. I mean, who wants someone who tries to suck up to himself? Nobody.

    Guys, let’s make the best fuckin’ desktop environment on the planet!!
    Of course we listen to the actual needs of the users. But not from that needy standpoint. Not to show them. We don’t need anyone’s approval.
    Allow yourselves to revolutionize the way people think about desktop environments! If you got something that you think is really great, draw us in! Be the leading figure. Whoever told you that you can’t be the one that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates look up to for inspiration: Tell them to go fuck themselves for limiting you! It’s bullshit! You decide what you can do.

    And then you just do.
    Because in the end, that’s what really will make users love you!

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    1. Re:Well, of course they did. by cptnapalm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have to agree with your assessment to a large degree. The "make it like Windows" argument really needs to have its ass kicked definitively. Are we supposed to introduce a C: drive? ("Where is my C: drive?" was my first puzzlement, way back when).

      Gnome has done some good things.

      I remember when Gnome and KDE were first around and they pretty much looked alike: double wide panel at the bottom of the screen. The first time I saw the Gnome dual panel set up, it was actually from a screenshot of someone doing that on their own and a LOT of people tried it that way and that eventually became the default. That was Gnome advancing; being different was neither here nor there. It was something that users found more useful. How many Gnome screenshots have you seen where the users go back to single panel and it isn't Solaris 10?

      Then there is Gconf-editor, whose UI is based on the Windows registry editor. Oh. My. God.

      The old screensaver configuration utility was always really easy to use for messing with how your screensaver behaved. It got replaced because it was "too much for users". Uh, no it wasn't. It was easy as hell.

      Then there is the new GDM which doesn't even have a config utility, so far as I can tell.

      Seriously, Gnome guys, what the hell?

  5. Re:why anyone would use gnome is another question by cptnapalm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Which reminds me of the Windows help system. Do any normal end users use it? I don't use Word at all but I am, for some reason, the guy everyone asks how to do something in Word. I just use the help system. This is considered deep, powerful black magic by most people.

  6. I prefer spatial view by GRW · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Having switched to KDE4.x from Gnome, spatial view is the one thing I miss. I never liked using Konqueror for file management in KDE3.x, which is why I mostly used Gnome. I wish someone would write a spatial view file manager for KDE. I came to Linux from OS/2 back in the last century, so spatial view seems like the normal way to do things for me. Although I confess that I still use Midnight Commander for a lot of stuff, especially when I am moving a lot of files from place to place.