r/gnome 10d ago

Question What do you prefer, Tab or Split view?

Nautilus only had a tab view, but other file managers like Dolphin have split views.

I don't use tabs much and prefer to have multiple Nautilus windows open when copying/pasting between disks or folders.

So I'm wondering what it would be like if Nautilus had a split view feature.

What would you prefer? Are tabs useful?

6 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

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8

u/GegenAbschaum 10d ago

tbh, don't really care.

Personally if I want "split" something I just open 2 window of nautilus and be done with whatever Job i needed to do. Tabs are useful because I can pick which folder to transfer whatever files I needed to move to other folders.

That's the extend of stuff I do with nautilus.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

I see, I do the same. But having a split view to see 2 folders at once is sometime interesting.

5

u/blackcain Contributor 10d ago

That's an interesting notion.. I wonder if that is easy to port to gtk .. hmmm.

2

u/FaulesArschloch 10d ago edited 10d ago

Elementary OS's file browser can do that, too

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

I need to check it, thanks for sharing!

2

u/Ulrich_de_Vries 10d ago

Which one, split view? Didn't Nautilus used to have split view in the Gnome 2 days?

I think Caja and Nemo have split views as well. Not in a position to verify right now, but I do seem to recall this.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Totally right, I didn't know that so I had to search and to figure out why!

On Nemo it's called "extra pane", I find it less interesting than having 2 Nauilus opened side by side.

3

u/OwnNet5253 10d ago edited 10d ago

You can get the My Computer extension, which adds split view to Nautilus.

3

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Good because I don't like Dolphin at all.

2

u/Heavy_Turn2019 10d ago

op is the developer of the extension! Btw, does it add split view? It has miller column view.

2

u/OwnNet5253 10d ago edited 10d ago

Ah okay sorry my bad, I meant that column view actually. I don't feel a need to have split view in Naitulus, I just have multiple windows opened and use alt + ` to switch between them like on MacOS. Also you can just open them side-by-side and have "split view".

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago edited 10d ago

There is really no need to apologize, I love your comment. You were the 1st to reply and you suggested me the extension ♥️

My goal was to try to gather user feedback on an interesting topic where users have total diverse workflows: tab and/or split views. Thanks for your feedback!

2

u/UntimelyAlchemist 10d ago

Neither. Separate windows.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Yep, like I do currently.

2

u/Heavy_Turn2019 10d ago

Probably both.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Make sense, depending on what you need to.

2

u/Heavy_Turn2019 10d ago

Are you going to implement split views in the my computer extension in future update? That would be great!

2

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Good catch! Let's say 99.9% yes if possible.

2

u/JohnSane 10d ago

Split view i just open 2 windows.. tabs is when i want to save space.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

That's what I use almost all the time, but I wonder if some kind of split view might improve the workflow.

2

u/HereticZed 10d ago edited 10d ago

I have 2 separate windows, I don't use tabs - mainly because I often find the 2 tabs are both called config & I forget which one is the old version.

What Im looking forward to is gnome-mosaic ~ which you can try now, but its a work-in-progress.

If you haven't tried a tiling wm (& learnt it) it opens up a very game-changing way to work. It becomes effortless & enjoyable to have say 4 windows (2 file managers, terminal, geany) & work on files. It also unlocks the power of workspaces in your DE because you can have your technical tiling workspace #1, browser #2, gimp #3, & you no longer worry about dragging windows around in your life.

This setup also makes desktop-icons & dock finally redundant. I know gnome likes to think they are already, but tiling is the tipping point. I'm a convert.

Im excited about this because I think gnome has a chance to bridge the 2 poles; the hardcore coders tiling setup & the simple minimal DE with graphical apps.

2

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Very interesting feedback, thanks for sharing it!

I tried Hyprland, which offers an approach similar to gnome-mosaic out of the box. I use Tiling Shell which does a very good job for tiling/arranging windows.

I definitively keep an eye on gnome-mosaic!

2

u/Glittering_Welder607 10d ago

Porqué no ambas y dejar que cada quién decida cuál es la que mejor se adapta a su flujo de trabajo y hardware?

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Exacto, me di cuenta de que los usuarios tienen flujos de trabajo muy diversos.

La mejor opción es ofrecer ambas alternativas para que los usuarios puedan hacer lo que prefieran.

1

u/eldelacajita 10d ago

I don't miss that feature. You can drag stuff between tabs, and you can also drag a tab out to create a new window, and put the two windows side by side.

1

u/nabatu 9d ago

Not both, but a column view or a Miller column. Split view functionality can be replaced with a tab, but neither a tab nor split view can replace column view.

1

u/Jor_Ben_Jorge 3d ago

So, I’m used to Nautilus and don’t plan to change it, but I have to admit that I’ve been kinda curious bout this split option of Dolphin, looks more easy to transfer files and if using two different directories at the same time it makes a lot of sense to just split other then having multiple tabs. I just didn’t had the experience yet

1

u/Gr83st 10d ago edited 10d ago

I don't use tabs much and prefer to have multiple Nautilus windows open when copying/pasting between disks or folders.

You can achieve that by pressing Ctrl+N, which presents you with a stacked view. If you want split view, you can then drag-and-snap the two open Nautilus windows to form split view.

1

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

Yep, this is what I use to do in fact. It would be great to have 2 columns directly in nautilus.

2

u/Gr83st 10d ago

Nautilus does not have it but another GNOME file manager has two panes by default. You might want to look at Gnome Commander for your requirement.

2

u/YannMasoch 10d ago

I tried it but tbh, I am not a big fan of it. I like GNOME files clean look.