Clickable breadcrumbs.

[admin]

Well, yes, I made up my mind about this some days ago. ... Including some additional ideas.

Great news!
Some quick ideas:
1) Some form of ctrl+click or right-click on empty address bar space to switch between two modes?
2) a keyboard shortcut in the Miscellaneous section to toggle states.
3) a tooltip reminder when hovering on AB empty space, to enhance discoverability.

No, I don't plan states. Only the first of my mockups.

[serendipity]

No, I don't plan states. Only the first of my mockups.

You mean a new path bar (in addition to AB) but breadcrumb enabled?
Not sure how many are willing to sacrifice this extra space for extra functionality, which essentially is a different form of an existing xy feature. I am quite happy with the way it is now but Iam pretty sure eventually someone will ask for that dual state thing.

[admin]

No, I don't plan states. Only the first of my mockups.

You mean a new path bar (in addition to AB) but breadcrumb enabled?
Not sure how many are willing to sacrifice this extra space for extra functionality, which essentially is a different form of an existing xy feature. I am quite happy with the way it is now but Iam pretty sure eventually someone will ask for that dual state thing.

I got the impression that a one-state breadcrumb bar would be very popular.
I also learned in the internet that the two-state Win7 bar is not very popular because of various downsides of the two-stateness.
(Generally, control states are ergonomically problematic.)

Apart from being a clickable breadcrumb this bar(s) will serve the purpose of clearly showing the path of each pane, which is not obvious expecially for the inactive pane if the tab headers are set to not show the full path, or are to small to show it (which is often the case).
I also got the impression that quite a few users never need an editable address bar, especially the mousy crowd.

If all or most of this is not true I'll happily drop the plans. BTW, I personally will never need such a thing.

[serendipity]

Do you plan to have one breadcrumb for each pane? In that case it is definitely useful over the current AB and I see myself using it too. Currently, I have to activate inactive pane to see its full path or use title bar template to have both paths visible in title bar (not very convenient).

Anyway, If one breadcrumb path for each pane is true, how do you plan to deal with long paths which will probably be clipped?
1) Show a floating breadcrumb path that is clickable?
2) Show breadcrumb path in multiple rows?
3) auto-reduce font size to show full breadcrumb path?

[admin]

Do you plan to have one breadcrumb for each pane? In that case it is definitely useful over the current AB and I see myself using it too. Currently, I have to activate inactive pane to see its full path or use title bar template to have both paths visible in title bar (not very convenient).

Anyway, If one breadcrumb path for each pane is true, how do you plan to deal with long paths which will probably be clipped?
1) Show a floating breadcrumb path that is clickable?
2) Show breadcrumb path in multiple rows?
3) auto-reduce font size to show full breadcrumb path?

Yes, one per pane.

4) dots (ellipsis)

[tedy]

No no . CB please. Just make it optional (show/hide). Frankly speaking there are very few occasions I had used the text-editing feature of the AB. Much more often I feel the need of a CB as a faster way to navigate nearby than with the tree.
I have another suggestion.
What about a dynamic CB bar? Something like few obscure features in Word2010.. The moment you approach the top end of the file list (near the tabbar), the CB would fade in and the closer the cursor to the top end of the list, the more opacity it gets.
The AB is already there all the time to display the current path.

[admin]

No. If it is in Word it is crap by definition.

[tedy]

Haha .
Ok. Maybe not a good idea as it would overlap important controls, tabbar etc.
I'm for a tiny CB, maybe just a little smaller in height than the tabbar, so it is both usable and unobtrusive.

[admin]

For harmonic looks (did I mention that I'm a japanophile?) it will have to be 25 pixels in height.

[serendipity]

4) dots (ellipsis)

I guess oldest items will be ellipsed first when a path is clipped, like if the path is:

Code: Select all

My Computer\C:\folder1\folder2\folder3

it maybe be ellipsed like this:

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...\C:\folder1\folder2\folder3

and not like this:

Code: Select all

My Computer\C:\folder1\folder2...

[admin]

4) dots (ellipsis)

I guess oldest items will be ellipsed first when a path is clipped, like if the path is:

Code: Select all

My Computer\C:\folder1\folder2\folder3

it maybe be ellipsed like this:

Code: Select all

...\C:\folder1\folder2\folder3

and not like this:

Code: Select all

My Computer\C:\folder1\folder2...

I'll probably leave the drive in place:

Code: Select all

C:\...\folder2\folder3

[serendipity]

I'll probably leave the drive in place:

Code: Select all

C:\...\folder2\folder3

True, better.

[kunkel321]

I'll probably leave the drive in place:

Code: Select all

C:\...\folder2\folder3

True, better.

Nah... Have the full path, but have it be a scrolling marquee on a loop.... You have to wait for your folder to comeback around again before you can click it...

[serendipity]

I'll probably leave the drive in place:

Code: Select all

C:\...\folder2\folder3

True, better.

Nah... Have the full path, but have it be a scrolling marquee on a loop.... You have to wait for your folder to comeback around again before you can click it...

Actually the way WinExp does it not bad, i.e., it provides a << if paths are too long.
So user either has to enlarge window or click << to see rest of the crumbs.
The latter way is actually the reverse order of what XY does with its breadcrumbs.

Sorry, I am going slightly off here:
Is it better for XY to list breadcrumbs in reverse order? as if I were working backwards from my current position to reach higher level folders which are at the bottom?

[kunkel321]

Of course I was just goofing with the scrolling marquee idea... In reality, I think Don's "C:\...\folder2\folder3" is probably the best bet.
Here's a comparison of Win Vista vs xplorer2 vs Total Commander, if anyone is curious...
http://screencast.com/t/CKzL4P8Y
It appears that TC actually does use a sortof sideways scroll! Win just removes the left-most folder without any "..." which I don't like. Looks like Nikos (x2) and Don are thinking along the same lines with the C:...\folder.
TC and Win seem to both allow a slow double click to change into "typable mode."