Re: [Beaver-devel] Directories for "Open"

[Michael Terry]

Leslie Polzer wrote:
> The behavior of "Open" dictates that it should start in the directory the
> last file opened was located in. Therefore it often starts where I don't
> want it to. The behavior should be configurable and extended somehow.
>
> Possibilities for behavior.
>
> 1) start in the directory the current active file resides in
> 2) start in the directory the last opened file resides in (current)
> 3) start in a specified directory ($HOME by default)
> 4) start in the directory where the last file operation was working

1, 2, or 4 are most sensible to me.  If I have a file or open a file, I 
am most likely to want to work on other files "near" it.  3 is just 
terrible.


> Solutions.
>
> 1) make behavior configurable in preferences
> 2) add a "File/Recent Directories" menu (which position in the menu?); click
>         yields open dialogue in chosen directory
> 3) make "File/Open" a submenu with:
>         a) ...in last open dir
>         b) ...in home dir
>         c) ...in active file's dir
>         d) ---
>         e) (start recent files list)
> 4) add additional "File/Open..." with behavior of 3) and leave the
>         current "Open" alone
>
> Together with 3) there is the possibility to give the "Open" toolbar
> button a different behavior, that is, a quick one.
> But this isn't much of an option because of HIG and sensible UI
> consistency.

I much prefer 1, I think.  Most people have a preferred style of working 
on files.  Mine happens to be the same as the previous maintainers, so I 
was happy to leave the current behavior alone.  But, I can understand 
wanting to use it a different way.

My point is, the preferred opening style is not something you're likely 
to change often.  Thus, an additional UI complexity for those times does 
not seem justified.

-mt