The new search "feature" is a huge step backwards in usability
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nautilus (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
How it used to work till Ubuntu 12.10:
A - on the top of the window there used to be a search button. Only if you clicked it, a search textfield would appear and you could do a file search
B - on the other hand, without performing any search, just by typing the beginning of a file name, if a file or folder existed within the current folder that matched the typed string, it would be SELECTED.
Ok, both features needed some improvement, and particularly "B" had some glitches, but the way they have been unified now is... I'll refrain from saying what I was going to say and I'll just say it is NOT even closely the right solution. Actually it's much worse.
How it works now:
- on the top of the windows there is always a HUGE textfield for searching, which occupies a lot of space, and is always focused
- when you type a string, it is typed in that searchbox, and all the contents of the current window are FILTERED, meaning all the files or folders that don't match are hidden.
- when you do so, the current path stops being shown on the top (this is one of the worst parts)
- The possibility to type a partial filename and have the file/folder selected, but without hiding the rest and without hiding the path, is gone.
While this could be a good replacement for the old search proper, it is a dramatic step backwards in usability for those who used to use the "B" thing.
Why this is a terribly bad idea:
- this is SLOW. Selecting the matching files was fast; now filtering all the contents is much slower, and can become tremendously slow when the number of items in the folder is big
- you stop seeing the rest of files; while this may be desired in some cases, it may well be not, so one should be able to choose. In the old version you could choose: if you wanted a search you did a search, if you wanted to quickly select a file by typing its name, you wouid still see the rest of the files. We loose one option
- you stop seeing the path on the top (until you clear the contents of the search box, of course). That's annoying
- the always-present search textfield needlessly uses a lot of space whether or not you're going to use it
What are the advantages:
- can't think of a single one
It is an error to try to unify two totally different fetures, i.e. SEARCHING on one hand, and SELECTING an item by typing its name rather than clicking it, on the other hand; they have been unified into one feature that doesn't fulfill decently any of those two completely different needs; or perhaps one (the search) but definitely not the other.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: nautilus 1:3.6.3-0ubuntu16
ProcVersionSign
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-29-generic i686
NonfreeKernelMo
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8.3
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Aug 19 16:47:10 2013
GsettingsChanges:
b'org.
b'org.
InstallationDate: Installed on 2010-06-23 (1153 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm
PATH=(custom, no user)
XDG_RUNTIME_
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-08-10 (9 days ago)
| Teo (teo1978) wrote | #1 |
| Teo (teo1978) wrote | #2 |
| Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb) wrote | #3 |
| Changed in nautilus (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | New → Invalid |
| Teo (teo1978) wrote | #4 |
| Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote | #5 |
| viny (vinyoliver-ti) wrote | #6 |
An additional demential annoyance which is a consequence of this bug:
Steps to reproduce:
- navigate to a folder
- select some files and/or folders and copy them (ctrl+C)
- navigate to another folder
- paste (Ctrl+C)
Expected: should paste the files/folder into the new folder
Observed: pastes some random text (whatever-