"All Files" is confusing

[Ryan Prior]

Binary package hint: nautilus

Recently I have been watching new users try out Ubuntu for the first time, and this is a problem that came up frequently.

When a user is selecting files to open (for example, opening files to upload to Flickr) they are presented with a Nautilus window that lists directories, etc. In the lower right-hand corner, there is a box saying "All Files". Many users were clicking on that window repeatedly, and I asked them why. The common response was "Because I want to select all the files." They did not understand what the box was for, because the only option in the menu was "All Files".

I see this as a bug in Nautilus because it presents false options, making the user interface less intuitive and thus confusing users.

First of all, if there are no options for file types to open other than "All Files", then the menu should not even be there. It is simply clutter. If there is only one option to choose, why present the user with a control widget related to that non-choice? Either remove it entirely or grey it out. There should also be some helper text added into the menu, whether grayed out or not. The selected menu item should say "Currently displaying: [whatever type of file]". And the other items in the menu should say "Display [type of file]". This will make it clear that the menu is used to choose which types of files should be listed.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for your report, can you take an screenshot of that dialog? it looks like you're describing the gtk file chooser, thanks.

[Ryan Prior (ryanprior)]

You are probably right -- now that I think about it again, it's probably not Nautilus at all. If it's the GTK file selector, who do I report this bug to?

[Ryan Prior (ryanprior)]

I'm guessing now that it's a GTK bug - please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

What would they expect to happen if they don't select the option?

[Ryan Prior (ryanprior)]

I don't know how to answer your question, Sebastien. Can you make it more clear what it is that you want to know?

Who is they? What option?

[Ryan Prior (ryanprior)]

Here's the screenshot that was asked for - notice how there is only one choice for file types, yet the confusing selector is still present.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

When Sebastien asked he's refering to the users, what the users would expect to happend if they don't select the All finales option, can you elaborate? thanks you.

[Ryan Prior (ryanprior)]

Pedro, that's like asking "What should happen if users click the red balloons?". There aren't red balloons. There isn't an option. I don't know how to answer your question.

If you read this and still want to know what the users should expect to happen if they don't select the option, then you don't understand my bug report and you should read it more carefully.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

What application do you use to get the issue? The gtk-demo example has no filetype selector and all the desktop applications I tried have other choices in the combo, that might be an application specific issue

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Closing this bug report as no further information has been provided. Please feel free to reopen this bug if you can provide the information asked for. Thanks!.