Follow-up Comment #3, patch #6206 (project mc): while i introduced the nonstandard way to sort a list with a separate indicator and a button that toggles the mode, i have to admit that this is not the most user friendly way.
with experience in Gui tools i sometimes come to the point where my implementation does not match the wishes of a user and i find that i violated guidelines for Gui design. this is the case here too. to proof my feeling i post some url's: http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/2.0/controls-lists.html#controls-lists-sortable Users often prefer to sort long lists, either alphabetically or numerically, to make it easier to find items. Allow users to sort long or multi-column lists by clicking on the column header they want to sort. http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGControls/chapter_18_section_7.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000359-TPXREF229 Sort the rows in the table by the selected column heading. You can implement sorting on secondary attributes behind the scenes, but the user should see only one column selected at a time. If a user clicks an already selected column heading, change the direction of the sort. http://doc.trolltech.com/4.3/model-view-introduction.html#sorting ... you can enable interactive sorting (i.e. allowing the users to sort the data by clicking the view's headers) ... --- i know this apply's to Gui applications, but in a very abstract view the mc panels are simple Gui sortable lists. therefore i recommend to complicate the functionality: - make the column headers click able and assign keys ctrl+f3 for name, ctrl+f4 for size etc * this might be complicated with some window managers and devices without f keys (e.g. pda) - if sorting by column is active put a indicator next to the column label: "Name ^" for normal name sorting "m time v" for reverse m time sorting etc panel frame only contains '$' or 'S' to invoke the sort dialog * this will break a scrolling functionality provided by mouse clicks on the column header - if sorting by a non-column attribute is active display the mode in the panel frame (instead of $/S), clicking will invoke the sort dialog - display the sort mode only on the active panel to keep the space for the directory on the inactive. (this is only a feeling, because i less need to know how the inactive panel is sorted than where it currently is) and a suggestion for a key binding M+s, M+o, M+x s are taken M+x M+o? _______________________________________________________ Reply to this item at: <http://savannah.gnu.org/patch/?6206> _______________________________________________ Message sent via/by Savannah http://savannah.gnu.org/ _______________________________________________ Mc-devel mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel