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HISTORY

Before file dialogs, most programs requested files as a Command Line argument or as an exact file path. Others required you to select a file from the file manager.


TYPES

There are several types of file dialogs. The two most common being a two column view file dialog and a mini file browser dialog. Others include thumbnail view (for photos) and Meta-data (For music). There are several reasons for the many varieties of dialogs. First of all there is no single standard design, so a program may implement their own for any purpose. Many GUI toolkits do not provide a file dialog, so an application is forced to use its own.


Two column view

The two column view is one of the primary file dialog types. It uses two columns. One for folders, and another for files. Other common features include the current folder name, a searchbox and buttons for basic file manipulation.


Mini file manager

A mini file manager is often used. It represents the normal file manager, but it is restricted in its operations.


Thumbnails

Usually used by image related applications, a gallery of files are shown which allow a file to be chosen graphically.


USABILITY

File dialogs have been a subject of much usability debate. As a Widget receiving constant use, ease of use is a major factor in their design. The most common reasons for file dialog usability problems include:

  • File system limitations,

  • Wrong type of dialog for the application (E.G no thumbnail view in a Wallpaper Selector, As in GNOME 2.6),

  • Horizontal scrolling (As in Windows file dialogs),

  • Uses non standard terminology (Commonly in ports from other operating systems)


Many application toolkits such as Motif and GTK+ have been criticised for their lack of it. Early versions of Microsoft Windows also suffered from problems, mainly from the DOS legacy behind it. However, most of these are being addresses as more legacy programs are being converted to use newer, more usable file dialogs.


FUTURE

The future of file dialogs are uncertain. The designs for file dialogs are constantly changing. With data base file systems becoming available in the future along with the increased usage of metadata, the future of file dialogs will be an interesting future.


SEE ALSO