#7837: [Tracker Preferences] Make "Single window navigation" default ------------------------------------+----------------------- Reporter: deejam | Owner: axeld Type: enhancement | Status: closed Priority: normal | Milestone: R1 Component: Applications/Tracker | Version: R1/alpha3 Resolution: invalid | Keywords: Blocked By: | Blocking: Has a Patch: 0 | Platform: All ------------------------------------+----------------------- Comment (by pulkomandy): what I'm saying in the name of the project is fact: this was discuted several times already, and the decision was taken. The rest I said in my own name, and reflets the way I use Haiku, which may be somewhat different to the "average", whatever that means. I don't expect the different views to be mapped to folders instead of windows in single window mode. This is an example of mixing both modes to something that doesn't make sense, and is neither spatial nor single- window. they are different ways of thinking, as I said : * In spatial mode, the key element is a folder. A folder shows as a window, and has a position/size and a presentation. * In single window mode, the key element is a window. A window is a way to see the filesystem, which is made of folders and files. A window has a position and size, and a presentation, and shows a partial view of the filesystem. Another window may offer another view on it. So, making the per-folder presentation settings work in single-window mode is actually making it partially spatial. This can get confusing to users. What I'd expect in single window mode is what I said above. I set the columns I want to see in that window, then I navigate through folders and keep these settings. I can have two windows open on the same folder, one in icon view and the other in list mode, if that's what I need. How does that works now with your spatial "hacks" ? the same apply to the workspace trick in spatial mode, and I really hardly ever use it, as I have different workspaces to do different things, ad they are almost binded to parts of my FS hierarchy (Music, Development, ... are both workspaces and folders for me). I think it could even be made a rule, with a desktop per workspace and showing only what's inside that desktop. The task-minded way of working is fine if that's what you want, but I think it makes more sense to power users that learnt to multitask and share the screen space between multiple apps. I chose the "1 workspace = 1 task" way as it feels less messy to me. That's a matter of state and no one opinion will really change on that. The problem is more knowing whic mode should be the default. The fact that we have a setting, despite Haiku's mantra of "Sane defaults, not maximum configurability', shows that there's support on both sides and we can't select only one. So, which one is to be the default. The answer to that is not by looking at the majority way of thinking, or we'll all switch to Windows. Windows does a lot of things wrong, and still some people can't work with anything else. The default setting is the one you encounter when you first start the computer. We decided that the spatial mode was simpler to learn for a complete beginner, because it is more concrete : a "folder" has a material representation as a window. single window mode allows to decouple the concepts of windows and folders. It may be more powerful, but it needs to get used to the paradigm. That's why it's not the default one. Power users which are already used to work with it, from other OS or previous experience, may give a try to the spatial mode for a change if they feel adventurous, if not, they'll quickly find the setting and revert to single window (at least that's what I gather from the discussion here, people wanting single window mode found out how to enable it). -- Ticket URL: <http://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/7837#comment:17> Haiku <http://dev.haiku-os.org> Haiku - the operating system.