Re: weird Create New File/Folder action

> From: John Jullion-Ceccarelli <[email protected]>
> 
> Probably too late to do anything, I know, but...
> 
> I was going through the usability test and one thing that may be really 
> frustrating for the users is something that should be pretty simple: 
> creating the text file.


It goes a bit further than that.
We've had some informal "usability" studies with people who 
are unixy, C/Fortran developers and they were very frustrated that there
is so much overhead to creating a simple file.

Here is an analysis I wrote followed by the original gripe (note the last
bullet item in the list of gripes).


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ah! I was just about to write something on this independently.

The typical way people create new files is by 
	File->New
	<edit>
	File->SaveAs
Nb doesn't even _have_ a SaveAs.

Now under unix files don't have types. They are just bit buckes and
the interpretation of what's in them is up to whatever works on
the file. I expect that unix developers would prefer such a loose
typed system and be annoyed by NB's insistence to classify everything
by it's mime type.

Now both windows, and MAC to a bigger extent, have typed files.
It's neccessary if you want to be "object oriented" as opposed to
"functional".

Now here are some puzzles. 
1) why did Windows and Mac go the SaveAs way?
   SaveAs seems more in line with the unix way where you edit an
   anonymous file and then decide what it is when saving it.
2) SaveAs usually types files by means of their suffix. 
   NB makes this overly complicated, probably because of opportunity
   to utilize templates.
   Ironically when you _rename_ a file in the explorer you _don't_ get
   a rename wizard :-)
   
I"m tempted to cross-post this on nbui   


> >
> >   The second has done some java programming and was already familiar with
> >the IDE since he has written and released NB modules.  I don't have a
> >'blow-by-blow' of the session but his comments included:
> >
> >   * Why can't I create a new Makefile from the same place I create a new
> >     everything else?
> >   * Why can't I compile a .c or .f program without a makefile?  I don't need
> >     a makefile for java programs.
> >   * Focus between the file Explorer and the editor is broken (explanation of
> >     this later) ++
> >   * When creating a Makefile, if one already exists but was not created by
> >     the Wizard, you are not given the option of overwriting it.  You can
> >     click [back] three or four times and change the Makefile name.
> >   * The new file wizard has a tendency to create files that cause compiler
> >     warnings because newline is not the last character in the file.
> >   * Why can't I just open an empty file without going through a wizard???
> >     (this is a much repeated lament)
> >