[KDE Usability] Review Request 126622: GSoC 2016 Project Idea: File Trays for Dolphin GUI Mockup

Fri Jan 15 05:46:06 GMT 2016

> On Jan. 14, 2016, 6:31 p.m., Roman Evstifeev wrote:
> > My usecase is this:
> > I often select multiple files before i delete them in batch or before i copy\move them from usbflash\camera somewhere.
> > BUT! 
> > The only reason I don't copy or delete them one-by-one and instead use multiple selection - is because it can be done with fewer clicks. That is - adding file to multiple selection can be done with only one click to "plus" sign or with ctrl-clik.
> > The most frustrative experience for me right now is that it is so easy to loose all the previously selected files just by missing the "plus" sign or depressing ctrl when I click.
> > 
> > This proposal unfortuantely won't give me any benefit, because it will require more than single click to stage the file to tray. I will more likely copy files one-by-one rather than use the tray, because it will be fewer cliks.
> > 
> > Although i think the idea of selection tray can be used to resolve the issue of loosing selection, something like:
> > If the tray is enabled in options, hitting "plus" should add file to tray, hitting "minus" should remove it.
> > There should be explicitly visible sate of how much files currently in the tray and a possibility to clean it easily. For example - double-clicking "plus" on some file will clean the tray and stage this single file into it.

I have thought about making it more streamlined. One gesture I have thought of to enable the selection mode to add files to the File Tray is to use the mouse scroll click. This scroll click can add/remove the files in the active directory to the File Tray.   

The idea of having a selection mode to add files by clicking a +/- sign was discussed on the mailing list when this idea was initially proposed! One issue is that such an interaction model would make opening folders to add sub directories more difficult as Dolphin already works on the model of a single click to open a folder. 

At the same time, the scroll click idea has some problems as well as I don't think it's very easy to scroll click using a laptop touchpad. Some more thinking is required for a suitable interaction model.

- arnav

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On Jan. 9, 2016, 6:53 a.m., arnav dhamija wrote:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> This is an automatically generated e-mail. To reply, visit:
> https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/126622/
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> (Updated Jan. 9, 2016, 6:53 a.m.)
> 
> 
> Review request for Dolphin and KDE Usability.
> 
> 
> Description
> -------
> 
> **The idea**
> Selecting multiple files in any file manager for copying and pasting has never been a pleasant experience, especially if the files are in a non-continuous order. Often, when copying files between devices we might find that we need to select only a subset of the required files we have selected and this leads to the unwieldy operation of removing files from our selection. Of course, the common workaround is to create a new folder and to put all the items in  but this is a very inefficient process and can be very slow if large files need to be copied between devices.
> 
> My solution to this problem is to add a panel/view in Dolphin where the links to files and folders can be temporarily saved for a session. The files and folders are "staged" on this panel. Hence, the user can add folders and files from several different directories to this panel and can then collectively perform actions on all the items in the tray such as copy, paste, cut, upload images in selection to Facebook, upload files to Dropbox, etc. This makes complex file operations easy by staging the operation before performing it.
> 
> Files can be added to this tray by using a right-click context menu option or by using the mouse scroll click or drag and drop. As an additional option, the session for the File Tray Panel can be saved for later use.
> 
> My initial idea was to have another split view mode with its button in the toolbar in Dolphin. It will function similarly to the existing split view but with one half of the screen dedicated to the "Files tray". This would make it neatly integrated with Dolphin's existing toolset and it would make dragging and dropping easy. Dolphin maintainer Emmanuel Pescosta suggested using Plasmoids to make the project more cohesive with KDE and to make it usable with multiple applications (eg Gwenview).
> 
> **GUI Mockup**
> Attached with this Review Request is a Balsamiq mockup for my project idea, building upon what already exists in Dolphin. The Tray panel is activated by a toggle button on the Dolphin toolbar and behaves very similarly to the Split feature. Dragging and dropping folders and files from the active directory on the left and pasting directly from the clipboard will be supported.
> 
> The File Tray will use the same zoom and icon/details/compact settings as the main window of the file manager. While it may be technically possible to have a distinction, I feel it may be too complicated for many users as there will be many duplicate controls. 
> 
> I will be much obliged to hear feedback from the usability and dolphin teams on these GUI interactions : )
> 
> **EDIT** 
> After some more thought, I have decided to get rid of the File Tray toolbar. All these actions can either be integrated with Dolphin's existing context menus. There are some use cases I have thought of:
> 
> Jerry has a large music collection on his computer and he has many devices such as a tablet, smartphone, HTPC, and a USB drive for his car audio. He needs only a subset of files from his extensive collection which he wants to keep on all his devices. Hence, to avoid making the same selection over and over again for each device, it's much more efficient for him to just create his list on the File Tray and then copy the same list to each device.
> 
> George is a student at university and he has a lot of unorganised files on his computer from lots of different directories. By selecting these files and staging them on the File Tray in a split view mode, he can easily discern where each file should go. He can then easily move files by simply dragging and dropping them in the directory they belong in. This makes the File Tray a helpful tool for file organisation.
> 
> Cosmo keeps forgetting where he keeps his important files as they are often hidden deep within directories and sub-directories. The File Trays feature can come to the rescue here by letting him stash the files in the File Tray and hence it will save him time from drilling deep into directories for a file. Hence, the File Tray can also be used for making quick shortcuts for files. For this I plan to add a feature and user preference to allow the user to restore the Tray from the previous session and to have the option of making the Tray retain the files stored in it across sessions.
> 
> Furthermore, by default, the File Tray will **not** retain the files added in it across sessions, though I will add a button to restore files from the previous session. I also plan to add a Save button (not sure where it should go) to allow the user to save the selection of files they have made on the Tray.
> 
> Another important note about the interaction model I have thought about is that the File Tray should have its own shortcut such as ctrl+W (of course the keyboard shortcut is subject to change). Invoking this shortcut on a selected number of files in the Active Directory should immediately open the File Tray and add all the Files in the selection there. Moreover, the Split view will be disabled whenever the File Tray is active. If the split view is open when the File Tray keyboard shortcut is activated, the Split view of the inactive directory will close and will be replaced with the File Tray.
> 
> Also, the File Open dialog will undergo some modification so users can select items directly off the Tray for other programs.
> 
> Finally, I also want to create a Plasmoid which will sync the same links as the File Tray and will exist as a widget on the Desktop. This Plasmoid will benefit the KDE desktop as a whole as multiple applications will be able to interact with the Plasmoid for stashing files. However, the completion of this may or may not happen with the GSoC timeline as it is completely dependent on how much QML I can learn by the time the GSoC proposal period starts : )
> 
> Also, there are a few more features I want to add to make the File Tray more powerful. However, these features are probably a better fit for Dolphin in general, and then the File Tray can use these functions from Dolphin:
> 1) The ability to create symbolic links of a selection of files. Nautilus has been doing this for a while.
> 2) Automatically create a music playlist file by selecting music files.
> 
> **EDIT2**
> I made a new mockup by butchering the mockup a bit :S But, the new one is at least indicative of what I want to achieve with this project. I'm leaving the old one in just for some A/B testing if anyone wants to compare.
> 
> 
> Diffs
> -----
> 
> 
> Diff: https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/126622/diff/
> 
> 
> Testing
> -------
> 
> 
> File Attachments
> ----------------
> 
> FileTray Mockup (OLD).png
>   https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/media/uploaded/files/2016/01/04/ec5ec185-0307-4579-afc4-567d2aafa220__FileTray_Mockup.png
> FileTray Mockup.png
>   https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/media/uploaded/files/2016/01/09/feeab4a9-df95-42ed-b1f5-7c6bb756db2f__FileTray_Mockup.png
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> arnav dhamija
> 
>

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