shadows on 19/3/2006 at 01:37
I am doing a project where I am designing and building a file manager that aims to do the things a user wants and efficiently. I want to ask people a few questions on your experience using file managers.
1) What functions/features not present in typical file managers (e.g. windows explorer) would you want to see in a file manager - features you would want to use. By features i mean things like copy, cut, delete, any kind of function you may want to perform on files.
2) What other user factors are important to you when using file managers. e.g. intuitive interface, speed of execution, etc.
3) What problems do you experience when using file managers? e.g. badly designed interfaces, lack of customisability, etc.
4) On the other hand, what good features have you noticed when using file managers?
You don't need to answer formally, just treat it as a normal discussion. Thanks, in advance! :cheeky:
Ulukai on 19/3/2006 at 01:59
For starters, I'd like a feature to delete all files of the same type as I can from a command prompt e.g. DEL *.BAT
So, a Right Click -> "Delete all files of this type in folder" context menu would be nice.
BlackErtai on 19/3/2006 at 02:48
That's a cool function, but it'd need to have a "are you sure" following it, no question.
I'd like tabs. I've used a number of alternate file managers, and I always come back to explorer because it's still the easiest, but if there was a manager that managed to do tabs in a way that wasn't overly annoying, yet still functional, I'd be happy. ExploreXP was the closest I got, but it has stability problems on my machine for some reason. I personally feel that the way explorer is laid out is nice and simple, and adding/subtracting too much makes the file manager hard to use. And having a default "Open command line here" button or tab would be nice. I know you can add it to explorer with the little helper tool, and that's nice, but most alt. managers I've used don't have that. It's nice for lots of reasons.
And something I've always wanted, but am unsure of the fesability of, is a way to rename parts of large numbers of files. Example:
I have a folder called /mf04-10-16/
the files under this are named the same way, there being roughly 15 files like mf04-10-16d1t01.xxx, a text file named mf04-10-16.txt and an md5 file for verification. If I wanted to change the beginning of every file name to read mf&s20..., but do it all at once, that'd be really helpful. This is something I'd use ALL the time.
Gestalt on 19/3/2006 at 04:36
What do I want to see?
* Support for Opera/Firefox style mouse gestures (For "Back", "Forward" and "Up One Level" at least)
* Tabbed folder browsing
I'd like to see the stuff that's made web browsing better over the last few years make its way into my file manager. I don't see why browsing for files should be more clunky than browsing the internet.
ZylonBane on 19/3/2006 at 05:00
Quote Posted by BlackErtai
I've used a number of alternate file managers, and I always come back to explorer because it's still the easiest
PowerDesk.
MsLedd on 19/3/2006 at 11:11
* I'm with BlackErtai on the better
Batch Renamer, totally. I've always had to use extra programs for that sort of thing. It should support wildcards too, which leads right to my next "wish list" item...
*
Find & Replace (for filenames and text
within files)
*
"Select All" as a quick context menu item and/or a toolbar button.
*
"Create New Folder" as a toolbar button in regular Explorer windows (not just the "Save As"), and as a top-level context menu item (rather than New > Folder)
*
View Directories by Size, showing exactly where the hell all the disk space is going.
* Side by side
Folder/File Compare with synchronizing options (like "Beyond Compare")
So, when do I get my new features? :cheeky:
P.S. BlackErtai, I've got (
http://www.ttlg.com/msledd/stuff/REPLACE.zip) a little program that'll do exactly what you want... had it
forever.
jay pettitt on 19/3/2006 at 13:31
Stupidly easy to use is good.
The Search in Windows Explorer is horrid. Just give me a little input box on the tool button bar and let me get on with it. Compile the results in a background tab for an extra happy Jay. I can always sort the results into picture files or whatever if I havn't already specified anything with wildcards.
(Also, replace NTFS with proper journalised file system. It doesn't matter how good the new search tools are in Vista are gonna be, or how bad they are in XP, if search results arn't instant)
If I drag a file over a folder and hover I'd like the folder to open in the very same window and let me continue draging my file around inside it. I'll be needing an easy way back if I get it wrong by mistake.
You know the Send To... option you get when you right click a file in explorer... I'd like to be able to send my files to bookmarked or favourited folders.
My forward and Back buttons have little arrows that let me choose how far forward and back I want to go. My Up button does not. Why?
The side-bar on Windows Explorer... why can't I switch it off? 95% of the time I just don't use it. If my File Manager is smoll, I can have more than one of them open at a time and easily drop files between them. When I do want it, gimme one of those drop down combo box widgets actually on the sidebar so I can choose to view the folder tree, history, bookmarks, info or whatever instead of seperate search and Folder and Bookmarks and History buttons on the tool bar.
When I hover over a file I get a little info box. How about a better contextual info box with previews and author details and other usefull stuff, and not just for files, but for drives and folders too.
Bookmarks in file managers rock, but not if they're full of my favourite web pages. You could assume that I want My Documents, My Computer, Network Places etc etc as Bookmarks and start me off with those. I'll get rid of Network Places and add some that I actually use. Get rid of the seperate 'Other Places' concept and just do bookmarks propperly. I'm never going to use My Network Places, not matter how often windows explorer tries to send me there.
And of course batch processing and Tabs and easy access to a command line. And make it customisable so Msledd can have her tool bar buttons, and I can get rid of them. And not as in right click - open bizarre and awkward customisation tool. Right click -> add button or right click -> move button and right click -> remove button. God knows what MS were thinking.
Multiple levels of undo.
Seamless FTP.
Oh, one last thing. When I click help I probably want help using my file manager and managing files, not anti piracy information or access to hardware trouble shooting via the windows help center.
Uh oh Microsoft :nono:
Vigil on 19/3/2006 at 13:44
Quote:
You know the Send To... option you get when you right click a file in explorer... I'd like to be able to send my files to bookmarked or favourited folders.
You can already. The contents of the Send To menu actually live in %USERPROFILE%\SendTo\ and you can put your own program and folder shortcuts in there to have them appear in the menu. You can also have subfolders within Send To which create submenus (much like how the Start Menu works), although unfortunately no easy way to create a submenu from a folder that lives elsewhere on the hard drive (such as the Favorites folder); you'd have to manually copy the folder or create a hard link, which is a fairly shitty proposition in NTFS.
There's no quick way to populate Send To besides manually going to this folder however (and the Send To folder is hidden by default), so perhaps the Send To menu should have an option at the bottom for you to add new Send To commands.
Quote:
The side-bar on Windows Explorer... why can't I switch it off? 95% of the time I just don't use it.
Uh, this one I really don't understand. You can instantly remove it by clicking on the X on the sidebar pane. And by default My Computer will open without the sidebar pane anyway; it's only when manually choosing "Explore" rather than "Open" from right-click, or manually clicking on Windows Explorer instead of My Computer, that you will get the tree sidebar.
This, too, exists in Windows Explorer...unfortunately the connection is slow as hell though so it's not really worth using. But go to My Network Places and click on Add Network Place - follow the wizard, it allows you to create a Network Place for an FTP site complete with login and password if needed. Once you've created the Network Place it will appear in My Network Places, but you can move it elsewhere or create copies of it or shortcuts wherever you want. This FTP Place acts as just another folder, including drag-and-drop. But like I say, it's slow as hell.
Quote:
Bookmarks in file managers rock, but not if they're full of my favourite web pages.
This fucks me off too as there's absolutely no reason to integrate the web browser with the file manager to such an extent. However, if you don't use IE at all then you can delete all the internet bookmarks and populate it with folder shortcuts instead.
jay pettitt on 19/3/2006 at 14:16
When you click the little 'x' it doesn't get rid of the sidebar, it just replaces it with a fluffy, but largely useless, purple hand holding sidebar. There's no little 'x' botton on it and no option to turn it off from the view menu. I'm sure it's possible, but there's a world of difference between possible and easy/obvious/intuitive. (You can turn it off permenantly in via Tools -> Options -> Tasks - which is an improvement; unless you like it or have someone else using your computer who likes having it around)
Thanks for the send to... tip. Again, it's not exaclty an intuitive solution so there's plenty of scope for a clever person to improve it, but it's nice to know. It's a feature I really like, but have always been dissappointed I can't include favourite locations and individual or specified groups of email recipiants.
Our definitions of seemless differ. For example if I click on an image or html file in windows explorer it's because I want the option to open them in an editor, and almost certainly not because I want to open everything in Internet Explorer. (God, I never want anything opening in Internet Explorer, that's what I've got all those other browsers for.) I don't care if I'm accessing my files locally or via FTP - neither should my file manager.
ZylonBane on 19/3/2006 at 14:57
Jesus, I hate dealing with people's computers who have the tree view turned off. Makes it such a pain in the neck to navigate.
And I don't know why you even mention images opening in IE. The only time that ever happens is if you don't have anything else installed that understands them.
