[dolphin] [Bug 471331] New: Have each column able to remember its previous sort order

[John Veness]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=471331

            Bug ID: 471331
           Summary: Have each column able to remember its previous sort
                    order
    Classification: Applications
           Product: dolphin
           Version: 23.04.2
          Platform: openSUSE
                OS: Linux
            Status: REPORTED
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: view-engine: details mode
          Assignee: dolphin-bugs-null at kde.org
          Reporter: john.kde at pelago.org.uk
                CC: kfm-devel at kde.org
  Target Milestone: ---

Sorry for not following the bug template, but I wanted to use a more narrative
description than the "observed/expected" thing.

I have a "quality-of-life" suggestion that would improve my Dolphin usage
considerably.

When in Details view, I usually am sorted alphabetically (A at the top, Z at
the bottom), but sometimes click on the Modified column header because I want
to see the latest files. However by default, clicking on this column puts the
oldest files at the top and the newest at the bottom, so I have to click on the
Modified column header again to reverse the sort. This happens often enough
that it can be quite a "paper cut".

Similarly, clicking on the Size column header puts the smallest files at the
top, but usually I'm looking for big files to delete and would prefer those at
the top, so again I have to click the column header twice.

Please note that I am *not* about to propose that the default behaviour when
clicking those column headings be changed just to accommodate my preferences,
as I'm sure that won't suit other people (if they want to see the oldest or
smallest files first). And, I am not about to propose settings for preferred
default sort order.

My proposal is for each column to "remember" its last sort order (e.g.
small-to-large, or large-to-small), and to use that sort order when you next
single-click the column heading. That way people can sort things how they wish,
and clicking the header multiple times will reverse the sort just as it
currently does, but when you switch from sorting by one column to another,
sorting will return to the previously-used sort order used by that column,
rather than always using small-to-large/oldest-to-newest etc.

I think that if this was implemented it would likely not even be noticed by
most users, as it would hopefully seem natural, but it would be the sort of
usability improvement that would make their lives a little better without them
realising!

Thanks for reading.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20230620
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.107.0
Qt Version: 5.15.10
Kernel Version: 6.3.7-1-default (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz
Memory: 15.5 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 620
Manufacturer: HP
Product Name: HP ProBook 450 G4

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