rkflx added a comment.
Let's do one step at a time ;) First, decide which mode we want to show. Then think about the icon, i.e. either switch icons or redo the icon itself. (Basing the mode on the icon instead of on the behaviour is //very questionable//, I'm surprised you even bring this up…) The third step would be to look at Dolphin (where I think you should do a poll to gauge usage of what you describe as the "horrible" mode, an assessment which I'd agree with but maybe other don't…). TBH, I don't think users look too much at what the icon depicts. They just recognize them as those square thingies from Dolphin and remember that clicking on them switches view modes. They try out which one they like best, and then choose their preference. This is also what I learned in other places: The relative positioning of the icon is much more important than what's on the icon itself. Thus I think you worry too much about the icon. I would simply go for Detailed Tree View with the existing icon. One quick idea to tweak the icon to become more list-style would be to fill out the square on the top right, emphasizing the vertical axis. What do you think? REPOSITORY R241 KIO REVISION DETAIL https://phabricator.kde.org/D12077 To: ngraham, #frameworks, rkflx, #vdg, abetts Cc: rkflx, mmustac, broulik, michaelh, ngraham, bruns