Bug #10790

Too many non-Tails folders on Nautilus sidebar

Added by emmapeel 2015-12-23 04:42:27 . Updated 2018-06-01 18:45:29 .

Status:
In Progress
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Target version:
Start date:
2015-12-23
Due date:
% Done:

10%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
User interface design
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

Before Jessie, Nautilus will display the ‘Tor Browser’, ‘Persistent’ and ‘Tor browser persistent’ link on top of it’s sidebar.

In Jessie, the sidebar has the default folders:

- Recent

- Home

- Documents

- Downloads

- Music

- Pictures

- Videos
- Trash

And many others, before getting to Tor Browser or Persistent. In my laptop they don’t show unless I scroll down on the sidebar.

I feel the new users will not be able to find this directories easily.

Would it be too complicated to put Tails folders on top of the sidebar?

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - Feature #15463: Remove "Downloads" shortcut Rejected 2018-03-27
Related to Tails - Feature #15028: Rename "Tor Browser" shortcuts and folders Confirmed 2018-03-27
Related to Tails - Feature #14544: Spend software developer time on smallish UX improvements In Progress 2018-08-31

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2016-01-02 03:43:02

  • Status changed from New to In Progress
  • Assignee set to emmapeel
  • % Done changed from 0 to 10
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)
  • Type of work changed from Discuss to User interface design

To hide the XDG “user-dirs” folders we want: just make it point to $HOME/ in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs, e.g.:

XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/"

Implementation-wise, the only difficulty I expect is how this interacts with xdg-user-dirs-update and localized standard directories (e.g. if logging in Italian I get XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Musica" by default. If we disabled them all, except XDG_DESKTOP_DIR, then this technical problem would not exist.

So next step is to do the UX side of the work to decide which folders, among the standard “user-dirs”, we want to hide/show. emmapeel, do you want to coordinate it and bring the conclusions back here?

#2 Updated by sajolida 2016-01-03 17:30:52

Note that taking screenshots in Tails 2.0 puts the files under /Pictures (instead of in Tails 1.8). This becomes consistent with GNOME outside of Tails but might be harder to find for people not used to GNOME. I’m not sure what is better.

#3 Updated by emmapeel 2016-01-04 17:13:43

Tails 1.8 has:

Devices

- Mounted and also non-removable
Bookmarks - Here there are the Tails folders:

- Tor Browser

- Persistent

- Tor Browser Persistence
Computer

- Home

- Desktop
- File system
Network - Not sure if this one makes sense with our problems to navigate the local network because of Tor.

#4 Updated by Anonymous 2017-07-10 12:04:44

The current situation is Gnome default folders on top, the Tor Browser. Possibly persistence if one has enabled it.

#5 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-07 14:37:47

#6 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-07 14:37:56

  • related to Feature #15028: Rename "Tor Browser" shortcuts and folders added

#7 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-07 14:58:34

  • blocks Feature #15392: Core work 2018Q2 → 2018Q3: User experience added

#8 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-07 14:59:26

  • Assignee changed from emmapeel to intrigeri

I’m wondering if these shortcuts are useful at all… I have the feeling that they are useful in a regular operating system as a way of helping people structure their home folder (“Where do I put what?”) combined with default behaviour of applications (eg. Screenshot saves screenshots in “Pictures”, creating a video with Cheese saves it in “Videos”, etc.).

But in Tails people won’t be able to store files in these folders across different working sessions, so helping them navigate the content of their home might not be so much of an issue. Actually, it might counter-productive: it might be easier for newcomers to find a screenshot if it gets saved in $HOME (amongst the few other files that were created during the same session) than if it’s “hidden” in $HOME/Pictures. This might be even more important as Tails is by many people only occasionally.

I tested the behavior of Screenshot and Cheese after running:

  • xdg-user-dirs-update --set VIDEOS $HOME
  • xdg-user-dirs-update --set PICTURES $HOME

And deleting /Pictures and/Videos.

  • Screenshots are saved to $HOME instead of $HOME/Pictures.
  • Videos are saved to $HOME/Webcam instead of $HOME/Videos/Webcam.

intrigeri: I’d like your opinion on this (linked with Feature #15463).

#9 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-07 14:59:36

  • QA Check set to Info Needed

#10 Updated by sajolida 2018-04-08 09:56:51

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to huertanix
  • Priority changed from Low to Normal

Actually, I’d like huertanix’s opinion on that since he opened Feature #15028.

#11 Updated by huertanix 2018-04-08 21:57:05

I think moving the Tails-specific folders to the top helps people see the folders, but does not address the confusion that comes from figuring out where files go when they’re downloaded or where to move them to if they want to keep them. This is why I think the Tails folders should be renamed to make that more clear, as per Feature #15028.

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2018-05-29 07:32:37

  • Assignee changed from huertanix to intrigeri

sajolida wrote:
> Actually, I’d like huertanix’s opinion on that since he opened Feature #15028.

This happened so I guess that’s now on my plate.

#13 Updated by intrigeri 2018-05-29 07:33:19

  • related to Feature #14544: Spend software developer time on smallish UX improvements added

#14 Updated by intrigeri 2018-05-29 07:39:31

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to sajolida
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

sajolida wrote:
> intrigeri: I’d like your opinion on this (linked with Feature #15463).

I agree we should remove most, if not all, of these shortcuts. Regarding implementation, my initial research (reported on Feature #15463) applies: this seems to be a generalization of the Downloads special case.

#15 Updated by sajolida 2018-06-01 18:45:29

  • Assignee deleted (sajolida)

I don’t want to spend more time on this myself until we have someone to write the code. See Feature #15028#note-11.

#16 Updated by sajolida 2018-10-29 14:24:41

  • blocks Feature #16080: Core work 2018Q4 → 2019Q2: User experience added

#17 Updated by sajolida 2018-10-29 14:24:45

  • blocked by deleted (Feature #15392: Core work 2018Q2 → 2018Q3: User experience)

#18 Updated by sajolida 2019-01-16 18:13:04

  • blocked by deleted (Feature #16080: Core work 2018Q4 → 2019Q2: User experience)