Problem Dissected

Yesterday I read an article about IT concepts that non IT people do not get [1]. One of the listing is about Hierarchical or nested directories. Or with Microsoft terminology; Hierarchical folders.

It Says:

Hierarchical folders are a great idea – don’t get me wrong – but they’re a good example of a neat metaphor overextended and hence confused. Most people are familiar with cardboard folders that can store bits of paper – and equally most people are happy to store their files in folders on their PC. Where it all goes wrong is with folders within folders, as this very rarely happens in the real world. Many users are simply unaware that they can create additional folders inside “My Documents” – hence the usual tendency to find hundreds or even thousands of files, all at the same folder level.

Yes, in my humble opinion and my experience with non-it people, they do not get it. They just stack files in the My Documents folder. First a file hierarchy is not a concept they are familiar with and second it’s unnatural to put folders into other folders. In physical terms they do not fit in. They do not assemble a Matryoshka Doll relation.

Manila File Folder

But there is one concept that exists and non-it people are familiar with. Folder Tabs. Any people interacting with papers and paper archives knows about them. They are natural and non it people have a habit using them. Even these tabs are used as bookmarks for books. You must have seen some researcher on tv networks looking in their books for some evidence they had bookmarked with colorful stickers like tabs.

A New Concept: Folder Tabs

So why not getting this concept into user interface design?

Below you can see a mock-up of Nautilus Directory Tab implementation.

1 Folder Selected

2 Folders Selected

A Folder Tab is a folder bookmarking mechanism. A Folder Tab holds some files together.

A Folder Tab is a virtual indexing structure. File systems  do not have to constitute a Tab Foldering feature.

A Folder Tab may be a meta data on files or can be implemented as hidden inner folders.

For a Folder Tab implementation User interaction must be minimum or unneeded. So Auto indexing alphabetically or by file types may be used as an implementation measure to gain zero-configuration.

A file in a folder can be moved between Folder Tabs.

An implementation may choose to have files to have ability to be moved to non-existing Folder Tabs. And a new Folder Tab will be created.

A copy operation can be implemented as a “Copy and Rename” operation or a “Soft Link or Shortcut create” operation.

In a browser all Folder Tabs can be opened or closed separately.

I believe implementing this kind of concept can make users life easier. Automatic tabbing feature can be a life saver. Consider looking a long time Windows and Office users My Documents directory. You can taste the situation. A mess, but with with automatic tabbing folder you can close all tabs and look in  folder tabs named Office Files or Folder Tab: A Letter. It can even reduce number of file searches made.

[1] http://www.hackification.com/2009/09/28/ten-it-concepts-that-non-it-people-dont-get/