Bug 275357

Summary: Dolphin needs a Compact List view identical to the Short View present in KDE4's File Open dialog.
Product: [Applications] dolphin Reporter: Radu-Cristian Fotescu <beranger5ca>
Component: generalAssignee: Peter Penz <peter.penz19>
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE    
Severity: wishlist    
Priority: NOR    
Version: 1.6.1   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Mageia RPMs   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: Different column spacing -- FileOpen vs. Dolphin
Dolphin Icon View TRUNCATES file names, FileOpen's Short View shows full names!

Description Radu-Cristian Fotescu 2011-06-10 21:24:55 UTC 
Version:           1.6.1 (using KDE 4.6.3) 
OS:                Linux

It just occurred to me: while Dolphin does not have any Compact List view, the File Open dialog in KDE4 not only has it, but it’s the default view!

It's called Short View though.

Just to remind everyone that Dolphin only has an Icon view, a Detailed view (which, by the way, is identical to the Detailed view in the File Open dialog, except for an inconsistency in the coloring of the details), and a Column view, *none* of which being the replacement for a compact list view that existed in KDE3’s Konqueror, and that currently exist in XFCE’s Thunar, in GNOME’s Nautilus, and even in Windows XP’s Explorer!

But hey, take a look at this picture: KDE4 *does* have the ability to display a compact list, it’s just not used in either of Dolphin and Konqueror!

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307/karl_marx/kde01.png

WHY IS THAT SO, FOLKS?

Actually, the File Open dialog in KDE4 is smart. With Preview active, zooming in (enlarging the thumbnail size) preserves the compact list (Short List) view and keeps the text alongside the icons, which makes this view *different* from Dolphin’s icon view, which keeps the text below the icons.

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307/karl_marx/kde02.png

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307/karl_marx/kde07.png

Of course, the *inconsistency* in KDE4’s file management design is two-fold:
* The Open File dialog does have Short View and Detailed View, but it lacks an Icon View, whereas Dolphin and Konqueror do have an Icon View and a Detailed View, but lack a Short View.
* The Open File dialog does have a Tree View and a Detailed Tree View selectable from a list, whereas in Dolphin and Konqueror the tree is only available in the Detailed View once you check “Expandable folders” in the preferences.

Before "resolving" this to WONTFIX (I can expect that, I've met this attitude in the past when asking for 1 (one) small improvement in GNOME and when asking for 1 (one) small improvement in XFCE), please try to consider the possibility that you might be just refusing a major improvement in KDE4. 

Also, the code seems to be already available -- if it can be used in the File Open dialog, why can't it be used in Dolphin?

Thank you.

Reproducible: Always
Comment 1 Peter Penz 2011-06-11 00:29:45 UTC 
You can adjust the icon-view to be a "compact list view" by Settings -> Configure Dolphin... -> View Modes -> Icons -> Arrangement: Columns.

Is that sufficient or do you need the icon-view in both configurations in parallel?
Comment 2 Peter Penz 2011-06-11 00:32:37 UTC 
Screenshot: http://dolphin.kde.org/images/view_mode_1.png
Comment 3 Radu-Cristian Fotescu 2011-06-11 06:03:30 UTC 
It's not what I need, it's this ergonomics aspect:
-- in File Open, THE DEFAULT view is a column (Short) View, available IMMEDIATELY;
-- in Dolphin, to reach such a layout one has to configure Dolphin, which not only takes time, but alters the "classic" Icon view.

For consistency, I argue that Dolphin would need a BUTTON to switch IMMEDIATELY to the column view.

Also, it looks to me that the customized icon view you presented here is NOT EXACTLY like the Short View in File Open -- in Dolphin, the space between columns is too large!
Comment 4 Radu-Cristian Fotescu 2011-06-11 06:13:09 UTC 
Created attachment 60877 [details]
Different column spacing -- FileOpen vs. Dolphin
Comment 5 Radu-Cristian Fotescu 2011-06-11 06:31:49 UTC 
Created attachment 60878 [details]
Dolphin Icon View TRUNCATES file names, FileOpen's Short View shows full names!

Definitely, there is a lot of pain trying to configure Dolphin's Icon View to look & behave EXACTLY like FileOpen's Short View -- I wasn't able to match the 2 views so far!

Just to let you know that Windows XP's Explorer List View looks exactly as FileOpen's Short View (w/o preview though) since ages, and so does Thunar's Compact view.
Comment 6 Peter Penz 2011-06-11 07:56:00 UTC 
.
Comment 7 Radu-Cristian Fotescu 2011-06-11 11:48:47 UTC 
Uh, I suppose you didn't mean "full stop".

Should I report a separate bug for "Dolphin truncates file names in Icon View set on columns and zoom level at minimum"?

Because it's inconsistent with the behavior of FileOpen, and it seems uncustomizable.
Comment 8 Peter Penz 2011-06-12 17:59:56 UTC 
> Uh, I suppose you didn't mean "full stop".

Where did I mention something from "full stop"?

BTW: I consider calling me "the typical KDE blind lover reaction" in the public at your blog http://beranger.org/post/6409942136/kde4-designers-are-in-denial quite insulting. I'm the maintainer + main-developer of Dolphin and am very well aware about the restrictions and feature-set of Dolphin. If the truncation is a problem for you than I'd expect a proper discussion here instead of doing a public ranting where I don't have the opportunity to defend myself.

I've now marked this report as duplicate of bug 275398.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 275398 ***