[kde] [Bug 332457] Different options for creating folders and files

Brock McNuggets usenet at gallopinginsanity.com
Mon Mar 24 22:33:40 GMT 2014


https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=332457

--- Comment #2 from Brock McNuggets <usenet at gallopinginsanity.com> ---
I would expect the process to be similar for folders and files. For the
creation of the first ones (with Create New > Folder… / Text File… ) they are
similar - though the creation of the folder leads to no notification and the
creation of a file does. OK, first, what it does now:

If you try to create another file with the same name (which is the default on
the desktop, but not in folders), you get very different results:

Folders: an error saying "A folder named /path/to/the/folder already exists"

Files: A very confusing dialog. First, it says "File Already Exists" which
should be "A File Named X Already Exists" (or something to that effect). It
also tells you that the destination (the already existing file) is "more
recent" than the one you are in the process of creating (which is clearly not
true). You are given a chance to "rename" this file that does not yet exist
(though I think it is fairly clear it means offer a new name for a file to be
created - hard to make that not be wordy), but if you select to "Overwrite" the
pop up text tells you: "Files and Folders will be copied into the existing
directory, alongside its existing contents. You will be prompted again in case
of a conflict with an existing file in that directory. This is incorrect in
that only one file will be created (not that big of a deal) and that you will
*not* be prompted again in case of a conflict (which is incorrectly telling
people they will not be overwriting data! That matters!). If you do pick a new
name for the file, you are offered a button that is labeled "Rename" - since
you are not actually renaming anything it would be better to call it "Create
File" or something like that. There is a help icon on the top of the dialog -
but it offers no help. Finally (whew), if you do create this file it is created
just fine, but the notification for it says "Copying Finished" and lists the
*original* name you tried - implying after all that you actually did overwrite
your file. 

Hopefully that did not make your head explode. :) If you need help with it, I
walk through the steps and the dialogs here: http://youtu.be/N7-fZJaJUv8

OK, now as to what I think *should* happen.

Ideally, when you select File > New Folder… File > New Text File… you would
just have a file be created with a unique name and in rename mode. That is how
it works in most environments and it leads to zero more mouse clicks /
keystrokes and one less dialog, and I think is more clear. But this would be a
significant change for the system, so if you want it to pop up a dialog first,
I would suggest having it act like the file creation in having a dialog which
allows you to pick a unique name or overwrite at your pleasure, but have that
dialog make sense… maybe something like this:
http://prescottcomputerguy.com/tmp/file-dialog.png

Not sure if a notification is needed, but if one is used it should be correct
and - unless I am missing something - it should be there for both files and
folders or neither.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

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