October 27, 2008 @ 12:27
1st thing to do after installing Fedora
I really hate Nautilus spatial mode, because it is not usable – it opens lots of windows that you need to close afterwards. I don’t get Fedora using spatial mode by default. First thing for me to do after installing Fedora is:
gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_browser true
Do you do the same or leave nautilus set to spatial mode?
UPDATE; I ashamed to admit that but I didn’t know about all the shortcuts and I’ve been using Gnome for years! I’ll have to try spatial mode again and report back ;) Thanks for all of your comments.
UPDATE 2: I switched to spatial mode ;)
Filed under english, fedora, linux Permalink
25 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Posted by Steven
October 27, 2008 @ 12:51
I agree, it’s the first thing I do too…this behavior should really be changed.
Posted by Renato Ramonda
October 27, 2008 @ 13:04
Absolutely not. I have not used browse mode since spatial was introduced.
Just use the middle-doubleclick if you don’t plan to keep a window.
But yeah, I know some people prefer one, and some prefer the other: that’s why
you don’t need to tinker with gconf. That setting is right there in
System -> Preferences -> Personal -> File Management, Behaviour Tab
And has been for ages (from the version next to the one that introduced
spatial, actually).
Posted by Alex
October 27, 2008 @ 13:13
I rarely use Nautilus anyway (command line!), but when I do use it, spatial mode
drives me mental! I definitely agree that it is completely unusable, and it just wastes
time. I’ve always wanted to know why it’s the default in Fedora (and as far as I know
it’s the default upstream too…).
Posted by Livio
October 27, 2008 @ 13:15
Some distros default to browser mode. Don’t know if you already noticed, but Nautilus has Preferences (Edit → Preferences) and there this option is located. No need to dig into terminal ;) .
Posted by Victor Bogado da Silva Lins
October 27, 2008 @ 13:16
I use the spacial mode. I like the way I can position windows and to not have many windows opened at the same time I simply use middle-double-click that opens a folder closing the parent.
Oh, by the way I noticed that the comment box, can go behind the right panel, maybe it is a font-related problem it is easily fixed by using a “max-width” in your CSS.
Posted by Steven Oliver
October 27, 2008 @ 13:28
I do this as well, but I do it the easy way, through the GUI options menu.
Posted by anonymous
October 27, 2008 @ 13:51
Leave it to spatial mode, and use middle-click to open most folders (which closes the parent folder).
Posted by Tim
October 27, 2008 @ 13:52
I use gtweakui to switch to browse mode. I find it very annoying that Nautilus does not have the option to change the default behaviour in the main UI.
Posted by Kulbir Saini
October 27, 2008 @ 13:59
true :) Though I do it via GUI.
Posted by domo
October 27, 2008 @ 14:15
I switch to spacial mode few months ago and I don’t regret it.
For a smooth transition, I will suggest to:
1) Use the middle click to open folder or CTRL+Left Click (this will close the parent window)
2) Learn few shortcuts:
CRTL+Q: close all windows
MAJ+CRTL+W: close all parent windows
The main advantage of the spacial mode is the fact that the windows remaind at the same place that you left them.
But at the end, it all about choice. Enjoy the mode you prefer :)
Posted by Denis
October 27, 2008 @ 14:18
I do the same. Plus set all the font sizes to smaller values.
Posted by narasim_7
October 27, 2008 @ 15:46
I dislike spatial mode.I set the same option via natilus preferences though.
Posted by You
October 27, 2008 @ 16:13
I always keep it in spatial. It works and works well for me.
if you don’t want to leave the trail of windows (which I generally do want), you can middle click and that will close the parent window when opening the new one.
Even if the default behaviour was to change, I would probably change it back.
Saying that, Fedora should be (and is) following the defaults of upstream in this case.
Posted by Finnur Orn Gudmundsson
October 27, 2008 @ 16:54
I do the same….man do i hate the default mode….
Bgrds,
Finnur
Posted by John (J5) Palmieri
October 27, 2008 @ 17:00
Spatial is the only file manager mode I have ever used which was useful for actually managing files . True if all you want to do is browse files it might seem like overkill but then all the files I want to browse are always in a one level hierarchy or I use a program (such as fspot for photos) which do not bother me with hierarchies at all.
Posted by Tomasz
October 27, 2008 @ 17:27
I use spatial and love it. The trick is, when descending in hierarchy, use middle-click to simultanously open folder and close parent. It may work as ctrl+left click or alt+left, I’m not sure. Also, there is keyboard shortcut to close all parent dirs.
Posted by Carl van Tonder
October 27, 2008 @ 18:03
I used browser mode on Ubuntu but when I switched to Fedora the default moved to spatial and so did I. I guess for me, spatial mode really represents the improvements that a GUI can make over the terminal; whilst a terminal (and browser mode) are locked to a single directory, spatial mode allows you to open as many folders as you like and maintain total control over which windows you have open.
A small part of me was also always worried that browser mode was a stepping-stone to a tabbed browser mode, which eventually did come about and is a powerful reason not to go back to it. Tabbed browsing in general breaks important desktop metaphors, and the deficiency is not in the SDI (single document interface) but in window management.
If epiphany properly shared resources and didn’t take 5 seconds to open a new window I would drop tabs entirely, and wait for the GNOME applets to catch up to the fact that this isn’t 1995 and people are likely to have moer than 5 windows open.
I guess the most important thing about spatial mode is the metaphor, and it’s one I really like. Personal preference — at least mostly.
Posted by Casey Dahlin
October 27, 2008 @ 18:12
You don’t have to do that with gconf. There’s an option right in the nautilus preferences to turn browser mode on.
But yes, spatial sucks.
Posted by Paul W. Frields
October 27, 2008 @ 18:19
I leave spatial mode on. Furthermore, did you know about the Ctrl+Shift+W shortcut, which closes all the open parents of the folder you’re in? Did you know that if you hold down Shift while you double-click something, you can change folders, closing one window while another opens? Did you know that it’s possible to arrange all the windows in a way that makes a very usable workspace for your personal needs, and then assign a shortcut key to open the workspace that way, with the windows arranged as you like?
Posted by Scott Williams
October 27, 2008 @ 18:31
I totally agree. I can’t understand for the life of me why we haven’t made Explorer the default for Nautilus yet. too late to make that change for Fedora 10?
Posted by Andy Price
October 27, 2008 @ 18:31
I do the same, albeit through the nautilus preferences so I don’t have to remember which gconf key to toggle.
Posted by bochecha
October 27, 2008 @ 22:48
I also don’t like the spatial mode and switch to browser mode each time.
But I have to admit it: a lot of people like it.
So changing the default to please some users will only make others be unhappy. Is it worth it ? I don’t think so.
The wise decision seems to be to simply stick to upstream and let users choose what they want.
Posted by Leif
October 30, 2008 @ 18:08
i’ve always felt more comfortable with browser mode and the location bar, but now knowing some of the spatial mode shortcuts mentiond above i’ll give it a whirl for a bit
Posted by Sexy Sexy Penguins » Meme: First thing I do after installing (insert your distro here)
November 5, 2008 @ 8:54
[...] meme comes from Valent Turkovic’s blog post a few days ago, so I thought I’d share [...]
Posted by Heni
November 6, 2008 @ 10:58
I agree, first thing I do. Which mean I never played around with spatial mode, but,
reading from the comments about the middle-click-open feature it sounds I can be easy to work with. But since I use a touchpad (laptop), spatial-mode still remains an issue for me and I’ll stick to browser-mode for now.