GNOME 2 Must-fix list Proposal - Nautilus

Desktop

      
There need to be more options to arrange icons on the desktop
rather than just "Clean Up By Name."  

	REASON:
	GNOME 1.2 had a "tidy icons" feature which would allow you to
	simply align the icons (keeping their general location) to 
	make them appear more cleanly placed.  Currently, in nautilus,
	the only way to "tidy icons" is to arrange them all on the left
	side of the screen, by name.  

Trash Icon Needs to have a customizable icon

	REASON:
	It is the ONLY icon that is placed on the desktop that does not
	have a "custom image" property that can be directly accessed
	by the user (though a theme can currently modify the icon.

Text for icons on desktop should have customizable colors

	REASON:
	When using a light colored background with a light colored theme,
	the text becomes unreadable on the desktop.  This can be easily
	remedied by either allowing the user to customize the text color
	(which does not solve the problem if the background shifts color)
	or by allowing the user to set a "bgcolor" property for the text
	so the text is always laid on a solid background.


Main Window:  General

The titlebar needs to be a bit more descriptive than listing
a simple one word directory name
     
	PROPOSED SOLUTION:
	Use a full path rather than just the current directory.
	A lot of people have directories with the same name
	in different paths, this will clear up any confusion.



Main Window:  View as List

Needs to be split into "simple list" and "detailed list"

	REASON:
	Some directories..like giant directories of documents and such,
	are too long to be listed in the standard icon format and be
	easy to deal with.  However, you don't need the full details
	of the file, a simple "list with icons" would be great (similar
	to the Windows explorer "View as list" feature).

Main Window:  View as Music

Needs to be "View as media" or done away with completely

	REASON:
	I think this view, while it has it's merits, is unnecessary
	bloat in the program.  Most people will continue to use
	xmms or mpg123 (or another program) to play their mp3's, they
	don't want their file manager to do it for them.

	PROPOSAL:
	When GStreamer comes along further, perhaps a "Nautilus media
	player" can be built around that technology which integrates
	with nautilus, and handles all forms of media in a 
	nautilus-like environment.  Until then, I think the "view as
	music" mode is a fairly worthless feature.

Preferences:  View Preferences

Change name to "Customize Views"
	
	REASON:
	"View preferences" sounds like a general term for looking at 
	your preferences.

Clean Up

	REASON:
	This screen looks like it was thrown together in 30 seconds.  
	Clean up the select boxes and stuff, it looks pretty scattered
	at the moment

Preferences:  Appearance

Change name to "Themes"

	REASON:
	It makes it very apparent to the user where to find a place
	to change your nautilus theme if it's listed as such.  Also,
	the other (few) appearance preferences can still be listed there
	as "themes" has become a general term used for program
	appearance.


Move the themes dialog to the top

	REASON:
	Put the item people are going to want to use most at the top
	of the window, not the bottom.  Most people who want to change
	the appearance want to modify the theme...give this to them
	as their first option.

Preferences:  Windows & Desktop
        Split these up into "Windows", "Desktop & Trash" and move
	"keyboard shortcuts to a "general preferences" section

	REASON:
	This window is a jumbled mess of options that really don't belong
	together.  Split them up into more specific and descriptive
	categories.  Who is going to look to customize the trash options
	by looking under "windows and desktop?"

Preferences: Icon Captions
        I don't know, it's just bad...

	REASON:
	This should be moved and grouped with other options of simliar
	nature.

Preferences:  Search
        Move this to the Navigation window

	REASON:
	There's no reason to have an entire window for one preference.

Preferences:  Navigation
        Looks like a good place for "SEARCH" to go!

	REASON:
	Do I really have to?

Preferences:  Speed Tradeoffs
      Change name to "performance"

	REASON:
	NEVER tell a user that what you are making them do is a tradeoff.
	They feel cheated by it!