Written by Reteip the 26 Jun 09 at 12:10.
Related project: Nautilus.
Status: New
Rationale
It is irritating to have to right-click and select 'Open in New Tab' in the Nautilus file browser.
There is already the option to single click on the triangle/arrow to reveal the contents of a folder in the current tab, so why not make more use of ability to open in a new tab when moving files around?
andrew(Brainstorm moderator)
wrote on the 26 Jun 09 at 12:28
As a user, I will have to vote this down unless it is purely a disabled-by-default option. If I'm navigating to a deep folder, I don't want 20 tabs open just from getting to a single, deep folder.
There is an option in gconf editor there:
/apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_browser
When disabled, this open a new window each time. that's a good start as long as it stays enabled by default, there could be a new option in nautilus preferences.
Solution's probably irrelevant, but it doesn't make sense to change to double-clicking to open in a new tab. Anyone who's gotten used to working with tabs via Firefox, which is likely how they first encountered tabs, will know and expect a middle-click.
I'd love to be able to change the behaviour, but as a default, makes no sense.
Reteip sent me a message in order for me to clarify my last comment.
So, the program to launch is:
gconf-editor (alt+f2 or in a terminal)
it might be found in Applications>System Tools> Configuration editor (I insist, might. Because I changed a lot of stuff in my application menu)
In the left pane, you can see a "directory" tree. so double-click on the "apps" folder then "nautilus" then click "preferences".
Now, you can see the "always use browser" option in the right pane and a checkbox. switch the checkbox status (uncheck then).
Then the nautilus behavior is totally different. (I hate it, but some people can prefer this behavior).
To get back to the old behavior, just re-check the "always use browser" checkbox.
What are you talking about? I just did it myself; opened Nautilus, middle-clicked a folder (yes, a folder in the main view; not the bookmarks in the left pane) and it opened in a new tab. Oddly enough, it works with a single middle-click in Icon View and Compact View, but in List View it takes a double-middle-click. I am using Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty with no modifications to Nautilus aside from any regular updates it would have gotten from the Canonical repositories.
Perhaps I am misinterpreting the problem you guys are discussing. If so, then I apologise. I am simply curious as to what is being addressed in either proposed solution when it seems the functionality is already present.
Ah, OK. That must be why I did not understand. Honestly, at first, I was thinking the problem may have been that those who were trying a middle-click and not getting a new tab open were on List View, which I found requires two middle-clicks; but bringing users without mice into this gets into a whole new thing.
Since I have no experience with a mouseless laptop or a netbook, I have to take your word for it. Since I can see Ubuntu, and hell, Linux in general, having a better shot at that market, (netbook and laptop,) I would definitely support a move to ease the file browsing for non-mouse users.
Of course, this is assuming you know about the keyboard shortcut Shift+Enter, which opens a directory in a new tab. I just tested this technique on all three views, and it works. (See, I am finding these things by playful experimentation.)
andruk(Idea reviewer)
wrote on the 4 Jul 09 at 08:48
I would much rather have the GNOME idiots, excuse me, I mean developers use a tried and true method of browsing around with tabs than try to come up with their own paradigm. The main reason Firefox is so popular is that it was the first to do tabs *right* (IE7 and IE8 still don't, Google Chrome mostly does, Opera is a little too complex but mostly there, I haven't used Safari, and Konqueror simply copied Firefox).
Tabs are useful, but the main thing about interfaces is that they should be cohesive. Tabs should work the same way in all programs, and if you want to change their behavior, you should change the behavior for the entire system, not just a specific application. I think the best tab interface is Firefox, and I think that all Gnome programs should emulate it. I will even go out on a limb and suggest that the Gnome devs don't really listen to UI experts, and we have the jumbled mess that passes as a desktop environment that we call the Linux Desktop. Maybe if they dropped the "not invented here" attitude and started working towards solutions that worked *well* and always aimed for the *best* solution (which may *not* be their own), they wouldn't be stuck with such a small userbase. Sometimes though, I think I'm just wasting my time with Gnome; this is one of those times.