Customizing the Nautilus Interface

Accessing and Choosing User Settings

To access user settings, click the Settings menu item on the menu bar (Figure 1).

 

Figure 3: User Settings Accessed from Drop-down Menu

The drop-down menu presents the three levels of choices, and the choice of customizing the intermediate and hacker levels.

Figure 2 and 3 present the most obvious of the differences between the default novice and hacker display settings. In both cases Nautilus is looking at the /root directory. This is a directory that typically has a number of hidden files. In Figure 2, at the novice setting, the hidden files are invisible. In Figure 3, at the hacker setting, they are visible, as is some additional file information: file size.

 

Figure 2: The Root Directory at the Novice User Setting

 

Figure 3: The Root Directory at the Hacker User Setting, Showing Hidden Files

Customizing User Settings

The customize (user) settings menu item, which is used to customize the intermediate and hacker user levels, presents the same choices for both. The choices are listed under six headings:

• Directory Views
• Sidebar Panels
• Appearance
• Speed Trade-offs
• Search
• Navigation

Figure 4 shows the choices in the first heading: Directory Views. Here the user can choose to have Nautilus open a file in a separate window, activate items with a single or a double click, and display hidden files.

 

Figure 4: Customizing Directory Views

The next heading down the list, Sidebar Panels, lets the user choose which panels should appear in the sidebar. `Appearance', the third heading, allows the user to choose between smoother--but slower--graphics, or rough edges and speed. It also allows a choice of fonts with which to display file names and other information.

The `Navigation' heading allows the user to change the default `home' location--where Nautilus automatically goes to when the `Home' button is clicked, on the tool bar. `Search' (Figure 5), lets users configure the file manager to search for files by text only, or also by their properties (slower), to optionally do slow, complete searches, and to change, if desired, Nautilus' default web search engine.

 

Figure 5: Customizing Search Features: Complexity, Speed and Engine

Choices in File Layout

Nautilus addresses this issue by giving the user several choices of file layout. Figure 6 shows the Layout drop-down menu, the range of layout choices available, and a directory with several different file types arranged alphabetically.

 

Figure 6: Layout Choices, and an Unoptimized Alphabetical Layout

In this example, a more sensible layout would be `Sort by Type'. The result of this choice of layout is shown in Figure 7.

 

Figure 7: A More Logical Layout, by Type

Once a method of layout is chosen, the presentation can be further optimized with the `Ascending' or `Descending' options.

Customizing Icon Captions

Icon captions and appearance can also be adjusted. A file caption must always start with the file name; however, both the type of information and the order of information displayed beneath file names can be manipulated.

The Icon Captions menu item is found at the bottom of the Settings drop-down menu. When clicked, it displays the Icon Captions sub-menu, Figure 8.

 

Figure 8: Three Menu-Buttons Determining the Order of Icon Information

The three menu-buttons on this sub-menu reflect the order of information displayed in the icon caption. Each button displays identical information, from file size to MIME type--ten types of information in all. The type chosen by the top button will appear first, beneath the file name, the type chosen by the second will appear next, etc. Figure 9 shows an enlarged file image (to 400%), with the captioned information reflecting the order in the accompanying Icon Caption sub-menu.

 

Figure 9: Size, Date Modified, Type

Differentiating a Directory with a Customized Icon

The actual appearance of an icon can be replaced by another--useful if, for instance, you want to identify a certain directory by the type of files it contains. The method used is to drag and drop the icon in the main window which you want for a replacement, to the icon in the sidebar that you want to replace. An example can be seen in Figure 10, where an icon representing a portrait of Beethoven has been used to identify the `music' directory.

 

Figure 10: Identifying a Folder with Another File's Icon

Adding Emblems

Icon appearance can also be enhanced by the use of emblems. Click on the file with the right mouse button, and choose `Show Properties'. In the resulting properties window, click the middle tab, `Emblems'. Any and all of the emblems may be added to a file's iconic appearance. In the example shown in Figure 11, the `Draft' emblem has been added to a text file.

 

Figure 11: Adding an Emblem to an Icon