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i really hate spatial file managers, but i love choise, so i voted 'yes'

Riinse wrote:i really hate spatial file managers, but i love choise, so i voted 'yes'

I love choice too but the codebase would grow. This means that there would be more bugs more effort to study the code...

So I voted no...

Krusader all the way! Twin-Panel is still the best...

jrick wrote:The idea behind spatial file managers is that humans are spatial beings. The spatial way is the object oriented way. Instead of a window representing what's inside a folder, the window actually becomes the folder. Every time you open that folder, it will open it in a new window in the exact same location as you closed it. Files arranged in the folder remain in the same locations. Everything becomes an actual object, instead of a representation of what's there. Multiple windows is not a feature, but a side effect.

Let me make an analogy: Imagine we wouldn't have scrollbars, but instead would always have to grab the content and move it up so we can see another part (as it's possible, optionally, in PDF viewers, for example). Maybe it's more intuitive for a baby / newbie / ... - but so are a lot of things that waste a lot of time later because they are counter-productive. So let them learn how to use the productive tools at the beginning. Give them a non-spatial file manager, and a shell, while we're at it!

TNorthover wrote:

jrick wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_file_manager

I had no idea that everything I hated about various other file managers could be summarised in just one word. Thanks.

Exactly my thought. Thanks.

Riinse wrote:i really hate spatial file managers, but i love choise, so i voted 'yes'

Same here. I think that is a part that makes KDE that makes KDE special. Not acting like "they" know it best, but rather offering options.

I prefer mulitple-panel file management, something that Konqueror is good for, though most times I'm using Dolphin.

If I wanted spatial, I would split my Konqueror up then save it as a session.

Oh wait, but wouldn't I love to have a new Konqueror/Dolphin open up every single time I clicked on a folder ... perhaps not.

Spatial file managers are an obsolete remainder of the time when people thought it was actually possible to mimic the real world on a 2D computer screen. That whole concept is based on wrong ideas about useability and cognitive perception of a virtual environment. The notion that you can map a 3d object like a folder to a virtual representation in a 2D window is like handing out tamagotchis in densely populated countries and expecting the birth rate to go down.

Some things have nothing to do with choice but with bad design. The fact that there are people still using spatial file managers out there means nothing. I still know a bunch of people that prefer typewriters or fountain pens. That does not make them more efficient....

Just thinking of old nautilus/finder makes my skin crawl. Ugh...

Tomaz wrote:I know a bunch of people that uses Finder,
but I don't know a bunch of people that uses Finder in it's spatial flavor.

Same here. I think Apple eliminated the immediate need for spatial file management (tied with the strong idea of drag and drop file organising) by introducing the three column Finder layout already present in Nextstep.

I was delighted to find a column view (not the Windows variety they're adding to Nautilus) in Dolphin, but I don't use it yet because it crashes a lot on my setup. What I want from a file manager is a column view and convenient keyboard shortcuts to navigate through my files. I hope Dolphin is going to deliver in both areas, they're on the right way anyway. But spatial management might be a nice optional thing for the people who like this way of working, John Siracusa of Ars Technica for example who has been craving for a truly spatial Finder in OS X for years.

Absence of spatial mode in file browser is a blocking feature for me. Since spatial mode is not available in KDE4 I cannot switch to it.

I've moved this to the brainstorm forum, since it is a feature request.

I remember coming from the Amiga to Windows how much I detested not having spatial mode but since cut/paste n paste were introduced and it became easy to navigate quickly I cant go back to spatial mode. When I tried gnome a while ago (when spatial was still the default) I remember how much I hated it. Directory structures are simply way too deep now, so you could end up with 10-11 open windows (some subdirectories even called the same as the parent directory) which make spatial a confusing nightmare.

No thanks, dolphin needs a lot of other work first.

The spatial filemanager has one good feature. New user notices much faster that how directories, in this case folders, works.

But they add too much clicking and fill the workspace with windowses what you only needed to get some longer path.

The only purpose to have spatial filemanager is to teach the folders functional. The three views what Dolphin has, are not so easy. But when user learns the folder functionality (folders can have folders and so on), the spatial filemanager loose it functionality.

The spatial filemanager as well can not offer same features as "browser" filemanagers.
You can not have sidepanels, you can not have location bar. Toolbar could be used, but only for basic functions (copy, cut, paste).

So small good would come from it so I can not vote yes :/