I've done my best to advocate the usefulness of this feature. The main thing I will tell you, is that after you've discovered this feature, you can't go back.
My own philosophy on software advancement places priority on two (potentially mutually exclusive) priorities: 1) For the sake of intuitiveness, always provide a contextual menu for each element graphically displayed. Doing so, allows the user to answers the question: "What are all the things I do with this thing?". Another way of saying this is: "Place functionality near as possible to the graphical representation of the thing that the functionality is about". Doing this is most intuitive, and will eliminate mouse travel. 2) Always strive to eliminate the number of steps required to achieve a task, and do this in a manner that does not compromise the intuitiveness (the obviousness) of how to perform that task. In this use case, we have user browsing through their file system with Nautilus. They come across a folder containing a hierarchy of music files. The user decides he would like to recursively enqueue this folder's files into his favorite music player. Due to principle #1, the most intuitive way to do this (giving context and nearness) is to place an option in the context menu that will allow him to recursively enqueue this folder into the application of his choice. This method also fulfills principle #2, because it eliminates these 3 steps: (1) Launch an application. (2) Position the window of that application so that is not on top of the Nautilus window (3) Drag the folder from the Nautilus window into the other application's window. Even a new user, could easily discover the usefulness of this feature, due to intuitiveness of context menus, which always answer the question "What can I do with this thing"? And, any user who has previously discovered this, will prefer it in this exact use case scenario. Additional use cases this serves: - Open folder with k4dirstat, to see what within that folder is taking up the most space on your hard drive - Enqueue Folder into VLC to watch multiple music videos one after the other. Any application that can use a folder as a launching input benefits from this previously achieve (but now missing) feature. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to nautilus in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1026254 Title: Open with on folders was removed, Ubuntu should consider patching back Status in “nautilus” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Note, bug has been open long enough to be fixed so who cares ... - If you wish this back, ppa here - https://launchpad.net/~mc3man/+archive/nauty-open This rev removed the context option. http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/nautilus/master-git/revision/16061 While unlikely to be reconsidered upstream I know many Ubuntu users find the option handy. I guess this report could be considered an Opinion & like other opinions in Ubuntu land the validity of such rests solely on 'who' agrees or disagrees ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10 Package: nautilus 1:3.5.4-0ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-4.4-generic 3.5.0-rc6 Uname: Linux 3.5.0-4-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia ApportVersion: 2.3-0ubuntu4 Architecture: amd64 Date: Wed Jul 18 13:22:46 2012 GsettingsChanges: b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'geometry' b"'1043x619+132+204'" b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'sidebar-width' b'165' InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha amd64 (20120707) ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: nautilus UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/1026254/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
