+ Another word: "pack" seems to capture both meaning, while not exactly
stepping on "package" reserved for .debs?
+ What about expanding the vague meaning of the operation by labeling
the menu "Combine / Compress..."?
+ What about letting the option explain itself in a submenu? Something like:
- Create <file>.tar.bz2
- Create <file>.zip
- Other / help me choose...
Benefits:
- A submenu header is less threatening than a "Compress..." button,
so it helps dicovery.
- A submenu allows including the familiar "ZIP".
- A submenu allows fast access to common functionality. (Perhaps it
should grow to include formats you have used, a-la "Open With"?)
In any case, I think the real bug is that users don't understand these
operations, and playing with the wording can only help users stumble
upon the functionality. But will they successfully compelete their
task? With , will they understand what it does and whether they want
it? Will they choose the best format?
The current dialog looks like this:
<ICON> Filename: __<file>____ [ .tar.gz | ▽ ]
Location: [ <places> | ▽ ]
▷ Other Options
[Help] [Cancel] [Create]
(where Other Options expands to Password, Encrypt, Split - greyed out
most of the time!)
The harder part of the fix is re-designing the dialog to be educational!
It's a hard task, and I don't have a polished proposal, only a starting-point
suggestion:
Save result as: __<file>____ Format:
Location: [ <places> | ▽ ] ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ .zip - cross-platform │
[x] Combine many files into one. │ .tar.bz2 - compress well │
│ ... │
[x] Compress - create a smaller file(s). └───────────────────────────┘
Without compression, Tar + BZip2 - very good
the files take <5.2 MB>. compression, somewhat slow,
easy to open on Linux & Mac.
▷ Other Options
[Help] [Cancel] [Create]
[x] Combine would be greyed out if only one file is seleted. (Or entirely
omitted? I think educating users about the ability is important.)
When it's unselected, many files can be compressed individually (a message
warning of that should appear below the checkbox).
The [x] Combine and [x] Compress boxes would grey out irrelevant lines
in the formats list; clicking a line in the format list would assign [x]
Combine and [x] Compress to the appropriate values; typing an extension
in the filename output would also choose format and checkboxes.
Additionally, I'd argue that the [x] Compress section should also notify
you when you have selected uncompressed images / audio / videos, and at
least point you to the appropriate applications.
Ideally, it should allow you to directly:
- Compress losslessly to PNG and FLAC
- Compress lossly to JPG, Vorbis, Theora
- Reduce resulution / sampling rate
This is major new functionality, but it's very useful for sending/uploading
files, and it's part of what the user might expect from an option called
"Compress...".
Instead of hiding behind "but that's not what the word means" I think we should
cover the meanings.
--
"Archive Manager" doesn't mean anything if you don't know what an "archive" is
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/15495
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