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search directory a la Firefox

Posted: 2009-04-16, 17:07 UTC
by lb
a nice feature would be a mechanism to quickly find files similar to the firefox "find in page" function. As you type letters the browser jumps to the best match, pressing return gets you to the subsequent match.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 17:18 UTC
by fenix_productions
2lb
It's been here for a while.

Just take a look on Configuration -> Operation -> Quick Search -> Letters with search dialog.

You can jump to next item by pressing down arrow.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 17:21 UTC
by Lefteous
I guess " Letters with search dialo" should be made the new default setting. Users asking for this every day.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 21:20 UTC
by ghisler(Author)
I thought about this too, but then some other people may complain that they cannot type into the command line any more. :(

Posted: 2009-04-16, 21:22 UTC
by Lefteous
Well it's always a tradeoff and in this case a change would be an imporvement.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 21:29 UTC
by ghisler(Author)
Maybe we should make a poll?

Posted: 2009-04-16, 21:45 UTC
by wanderer
ghisler(Author) wrote:Maybe we should make a poll?
Maybe. For me the default should be ALT+Letter. I don't believe there will be many users who like the current default (CTRL+ALT+Letter) though.
ghisler(Author) wrote:I thought about this too, but then some other people may complain that they cannot type into the command line any more. :(
Probably. I know i would. :)

Posted: 2009-04-16, 21:48 UTC
by fenix_productions
wanderer wrote:Maybe. For me the default should be ALT+Letter. I don't believe there will be many users who like the current default (CTRL+ALT+Letter) though.
It might be problematic in two cases:
- national characters,
- menu shortcuts use Alt+letter scheme.

Poll might be OK.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 22:00 UTC
by wanderer
fenix_productions wrote:- menu shortcuts use Alt+letter scheme.
I know. One can just press and release Alt though (or F9 or F10) to activate the menus and then press the menu letter he wishes to open. Perhaps a parallel poll could be made, with a more general question, like "What action would you prefer ALT+letter to perform by default" / open menu item / quick-find. It might be interesting to see what key combination users prefer to perform quicksearch.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 22:03 UTC
by Lefteous
I think the point is that new users who used other file managers before all expect that quick search works without modifiers because quick search in all other popular file managers works without modifiers.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 22:32 UTC
by wanderer
Lefteous wrote:I think the point is that new users who used other file managers before
Are you assuming that most new users have used other file managers before turning to TC? What about new users who have used only Explorer? ;)

Anyway, i get the point. For me, it's more important to be able to directly type a command in the command-line rather that quick-search.

In a browser, i can understand direct letter typing to act as quicksearch. It would be more frequent for a user to perform search in the current web page than to type a new URL for instance. For that, he would probably open a new tab.

TC is a file manager though so (IMO) it's more likely for a user to need to type commands in the command line than perform a direct quicksearch. This is subjective though. Others might feel differently. A poll would certainly help to gather statistics on that.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 22:40 UTC
by Lefteous
Explorer is of course the most popular file manager and part of "the others".

I don't know if a poll would help here. We need to find the best default not the preferred setting of regular forum posters.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 22:46 UTC
by fenix_productions
2Lefteous
Cannot agree more.

Posted: 2009-04-16, 23:00 UTC
by wanderer
Lefteous wrote:We need to find the best default not the preferred setting of regular forum posters.
Well said. One way would be to discuss it in a thread and let people express and justify their opinions. Another way would be a poll, in which again people could vote and then post a justification of their vote. More-or-less it's the same thing, as long as everyone justifies his opinion in the poll. I believe i've expressed mine...