My last post criticized what I consider a serious design flaw in the upcoming GNOME file selectors: the text entry field in the “Open” dialog is hidden. Well, here’s how I’d fix it (if I knew Glade, C, and GTK).

(I originally posted this to FootNotes on gnomedesktop.org)

1. Don’t get rid of the text box, or even move it to a separate dialog. Many users are still mouse-oriented, and anything they can’t directly click on simply doesn’t exist.
2. Ctrl-L should move focus to the text box, just as in Mozilla or Firefox.
3. Typing in the text box should filter the list, and if at any point only one item remains in the filtered list, it should be automatically highlighted.

This means:

1. Users who don’t know the keyboard shortcut aren’t frustrated when navigating a folder with hundreds of files.
2. The keyboard shortcut still works the way it does now.
3. Typing even part of a file name and pressing Enter will automatically open the file.

I believe this will drastically improve usability. Not only will users still be able to click on every control they need, but those of us who prefer to use the keyboard can type just a few letters of a filename, if we already know what we’re looking for.

Please, please, please: Seth, Federico, everyone who’s involved, don’t obfuscate fundamental parts of the user interface. It will reflect poorly on GNOME as a whole, and frustrate many users whose support the GNOME community is trying to earn.