Nautilus + CoverFlow = Awesome

By , Published February 4, 2010

The Gloobus team posted the following video on their blog earlier today and i thought i’d share it here as so many of you follow the Gloobus project.

If you feel particularly excited by the projects you can donate @ http://gloobus.net/donate

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Nautilus Just Got Gorgeous
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  • Anonymous

    That looks amazing!! Lets hope this appears in the version after Lucid

  • http://darius.kruythoff.net/ dkruythoff

    Awesome, yes! Useful?
    I’d much rather see Dolphin’s functionality in Nautilus.

    • Scott

      Functionality? Such as…?

      • http://darius.kruythoff.net/ dkruythoff

        The column view, as Giulio Ribas pointed out.

        • http://ammonkey.posterous.com/ ammonkey

          Don’t worry the miller columns view is in our TODO list too ;)

          • http://darius.kruythoff.net/ dkruythoff

            I already love you people. :-)

        • http://ammonkey.posterous.com/ ammonkey

          Don’t worry the miller columns view is in our TODO list too ;)

      • http://darius.kruythoff.net/ dkruythoff

        The column view, as Giulio Ribas pointed out.

    • Scott

      Functionality? Such as…?

    • pt

      it useful when navigating through images

  • Anonymous

    does this also preview documents or are suppose to use gloobus preview for that? looks good none the less though is rather pointless for me since most of my albums dont have cover art :(

  • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

    Looks cool, but seems pretty useless and would probably be more of an annoyance than anything, when just trying to use your file manager. Kinda like the compiz cube, in a way. People show it off in videos, but who actually uses it?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Ssssssh!! ;)

      I do actually use the cube! I use my middle-mouse button to ‘drag’ the cube between spaces.

      • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

        Wow! You actually use it? I’ve never been able to find a use for it. Granted, I usually only have two workspaces – and one of them is only used to house Evolution (needs to be able to minimize to the tray!) – so I guess that’s why I don’t see the use for a cube. Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right does the trick for me.

        • xOoeL

          Have you heard of Alltray? It is pretty useful for Evolution.

      • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

        Wow! You actually use it? I’ve never been able to find a use for it. Granted, I usually only have two workspaces – and one of them is only used to house Evolution (needs to be able to minimize to the tray!) – so I guess that’s why I don’t see the use for a cube. Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right does the trick for me.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Ssssssh!! ;)

      I do actually use the cube! I use my middle-mouse button to ‘drag’ the cube between spaces.

    • Anonymous

      I use the cube very heavily on a daily basis. It’s great for a netbook, because it allows me to have all my windows maximized without being a giant pain. I have one side for Thunderbird, one for Chrome, one for Rhythmbox, and one for Pidgin. Since IM windows are smaller, I can have a few open.

      If you map the keys correctly, it because really convenient when you don’t have much real estate. I just map Alt-Arrow (alt is right next to the arrow keys on my netbook, normally it would be Ctrl-Arrow) to change desktop, Shift-Alt-Arrow to move a window to the next side of the cube.

      The cube keeps me from switching operating systems. I have OS X and Windows 7 on my netbook, but window management with the cube is exactly what I want.

      This cover view, however, does seem annoying and useless. I think it would be good in specific instances, such as browsing photos, but I don’t want to look through my 6000+ songs like this. Even in that case, who has all of their music on one flat folder? Don’t most people use some kind of hierarchy, in which case all you would see are folders? I feel like this was one of those things done simply because Apple does it. While it works for some things (AWN, Docky for instance) I never saw the usefulness of this feature in OS X to begin with. Hopefully someone finds this useful, it’d be unfortunate for this work of art to go to waste.

      • Jacksterson

        Maybe if they added in the ability to go folder to folder by pressing enter or clicking on it while using coverflow, that might add to its usefulness.

      • Jacksterson

        Maybe if they added in the ability to go folder to folder by pressing enter or clicking on it while using coverflow, that might add to its usefulness.

      • Anonymous

        actually, i think it is useful. it is gloobus we’re talking about, so this basically means you get the file preview with one less step. its just there, visible. i think thats helpful for quickly seeing what the file is.

        but some people have way more stringent naming protocols, and this probably wont help them. i tend to have the habit of naming things arbitrarily, so this seems helpful.

    • Anonymous

      both myself and my girlfriend use the cube daily. we each use 6 workspaces, and we use both cube and expo to manage what we’re doing.

      the cube is a good way to switch workspaces in a very controlled way, without getting overwhelmed by looking at all workspaces at once. we each (my girlfriend and i) do a 3 by 2 desktop pattern, so the cube only changes horizontal, which is useful for keeping focus on the task at hand but allowing for referencing multiple documents.

  • http://twitter.com/giulioribas Giulio Ribas

    If it is to copy MacOSX, why not implement the column view of finder, just like KDE did in its Dolphin? That would be actually usefel. But this coverflow its pretty, nevertheless.

    • Chris

      YES. I love column view. Great for navigating the entire disk with the arrow keys only!

    • Anonymous

      A. those who made this, are gloobus. they are the not the keepers of nautilus, they make plugins for nautilus for file preview.

      B. the goal was to give coverflow. not what you want more. if you want columns, you go develop it.

  • http://twitter.com/giulioribas Giulio Ribas

    If it is to copy MacOSX, why not implement the column view of finder, just like KDE did in its Dolphin? That would be actually usefel. But this coverflow its pretty, nevertheless.

  • http://nerdetection.rv89.com gabrielbutoeru

    It isn’t very useful but is a nice thing :D

  • http://nerdetection.rv89.com gabrielbutoeru

    It isn’t very useful but is a nice thing :D

  • Anonymous

    am i the only one who thinks that it Is useful?
    searching through folders with many pictures is both nicer and easier this way

    • pt

      I do, using coverflow to flip through images is so much easier.
      Coverflow is great for files with useful thumbnails.

  • insanelyapple

    looks amazing but… im getting more convinced, that ubuntu is starting to be “osx for less rich”

    • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

      sadly, i have to agree.
      a few years ago, linux, and ubuntu in particular was actually innovating stuff that was unique..and looked unique too.
      now it just seems, with docky, global menu, gloobus, etc. its just a bit too much like mac. half the screenshots on deviantart prove that.

      • Anonymous

        but the fact that people are switching from OSX to ubuntu shows theres something here that people like. I’m fine with developers catching up a bit on the eye candy that OSX has to offer, (especially since ubuntu has looked like brown windows for years) because we have better possibilities in use-ability. Most people interested in free software are already using it. most people interested in tweaking are probably already using linux. so how do we attract more people and more developers? have better eye candy.

        i think its amazing that a bunch of unpaid devs can turn out the same appeal that mac has. and the fact of the matter is it took OSX years and years to get what we can do as a community in months.

        • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

          Very true! The open source community does progress surprisingly fast. And also I know of a few people who use ubuntu on their macs.
          But my point is simply in terms of appearance, I would love more uniqueness. Kinda like how the cube idea is very unique to linux. It looks great and its a mindblasting feature lol. When I mention ubuntu or linux, my friends who are not as tech savvy know that its “that thing with the cube.”
          similarly, when i mention mac, the first thing that comes into mind, is the dock..and to some the cool coverflowl effect.
          basically, im not saying that we can’t work fast as an opensource community to make stuff, but rather my point is that the ideas that we implement in our ubuntu desktops should be original. not something that “has already been done”… you know what i mean? I just wish to see ideas that are fresh and new be bought to the table. not something that osx has already done.

          • http://gnuski.blogspot.com/ lefty.crupps

            Try KDE4, it has a lot that stands out from the other main desktops (GNOME, OSX, and Windows). In other ways, however, it is very standard and acts as you might expect — of course, its appearance and some behaviour can be modified. That is something that none of the previous desktops ever impressed me with, they’re so *static* in their design and layout. That, and the ‘dock’ concept just loses me. Why does this app never close and stays on the left, this app closes and stays on the left, but these apps/documents stay on the right? Why do I close an app and it keeps running but without any windows associated with it? What is the benefit?

          • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

            I tried KDE4. I loved dolphin..a fantastic file browser/manager!
            ..and i agree about the dock! when i gave osx a shot i did find that annoying.
            and in general, it seems a lot of different things in osx were inconsistent here and there (regardless of how “pretty” it looks).

          • Anonymous

            hmm. fair enough. have you heard of gnome shell? :D

          • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

            Yes I have..I use it occasionally, but It still has a long way to go.

      • Anonymous

        Not so, even though there are alot of things that mimic other systems, it doesn’t mean thats the only thing being accomplished in Ubuntu, its just the side projects people hobby around, with those mimicing programs, we have thousands of other programs that are unique, and the community grows every day and more is created! after a few years no one can imagine where ubuntu will be… just look how much its evolved ever since 2006…. 4 years ago!

        • http://billishere.deviantart.com Billi

          yeah i wholeheartedly agree that we have unique programs that are just amazing! but recently progress has been kinda slow when it comes to ubuntu. a notification system that looks kinda like that seen in mac or growl, notification icons that are reminiscent of the mac menubar, nautilus still not having proper and tighter icon grid layout. if you ask me…this is some slow evolution. but you know who has been bringing about change? the kde team. they made amazing progress since the release of kde4. kubuntu now looks amazing! kde4.4 on the lucid kubuntu alphas is the most usable desktop i have come across! It’s the reason why i am now back on a linux distro! ubuntu devs/canonical needs to learn something from that.

  • Anonymous

    That looks really smart, something I’d be interested in trying out.

  • Anonymous

    That looks really smart, something I’d be interested in trying out.

  • Jacksterson

    Wow…

    I just hope they make it so you can right click the photos and set as wallpaper, or send-to or anything like that. Its most likely going to just be a photoviewer without those options though, right?

  • Ru

    What is even better and MORE usable is that someone has developed UNDO and REDO support for Nautilus over at Ubuntu.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      The version of nautilus the gloobus guys use – Nautilus-Elementary has Redo/Undo in it ;)

  • Ru

    What is even better and MORE usable is that someone has developed UNDO and REDO support for Nautilus over at Ubuntu.

  • http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/ Troy James Sobotka

    While representational data is clearly worth pursuing, this is not.

    Imitation, duplication, and outright rip-offs are not, under any circumstance, “Awesome”.

    Give your head a shake. Pathetic.

    • pt

      lol we wouldn’t have much in the world if it wasn’t for
      Imitation, duplication, and outright rip-offs as they often form basis from which new ideas are later built on

  • http://ubuntux.user-blog.de/ think123

    Very nice function, but not very userful:-)

  • haxouille

    this is very nice, i’ll use it when it’ll be available. it can also show that linux can offer smooth and nice desktop effects, not only the cube. and if it will make more people turn onto linux, then it’s a good point.

    and to me, an os is not just the desktop, but all the functionnalities it offers : the filesystem, its coherence, i.e. its spirit and way of working.

  • http://mastropino.deviantart.com/ MastroPino

    Awesome, I hope that this will released very soon!

  • AndyP79

    I like these Mac-ish type eye candy choices that we have. I am influenced by the dock, but mine looks nothing like Mac, I also use DockbarX alongside GlobalMenu, but I also use FolderView which is KDE influenced. I like the idea we are MAYBE going to get some transparency in the future. BUT…. I can not even operate Windows or Mac. I have never had that much time too. But I do know that they are quite pretty in their own unique way. I mean, if we did not constantly rip each brand off, would Mac have the 90% of the market share today? It is influence, when one sees something it likes, they will try to emulate it. And sometimes, it might make it better?

  • http://linuxevolution.wordpress.com/ Cenwen

    This is really awesone. That’s the word.
    Thanks for discover us this application.

  • http://twitter.com/cldx3000 Joern Konopka

    Well, it looks nice, it looks just as nice as when i used the first versions in Ubuntu 7.10 (mightve been 08.04 too im not sure anymore), but honestly im growing kinda tired of Snippets and First Looks, when will there be a usable version of it ? I dont wanna stress anybody, i know youre not getting any Payment for it, but please at least a beta i can install from a ppa like a sane person?

    Please no more spoiling until its ready for an everyday User to actually USE it..

    Its just that i never really know whats the status of this Project, according to the Wiki and Homepage this feature is not usable, but what if i checkout the Branch, will it run? Or will it be another dead branch resting on my Harddrive, please share some insight..cause the Wiki and Launchpad dont…

  • http://twitter.com/cldx3000 Joern Konopka

    Well, it looks nice, it looks just as nice as when i used the first versions in Ubuntu 7.10 (mightve been 08.04 too im not sure anymore), but honestly im growing kinda tired of Snippets and First Looks, when will there be a usable version of it ? I dont wanna stress anybody, i know youre not getting any Payment for it, but please at least a beta i can install from a ppa like a sane person?

    Please no more spoiling until its ready for an everyday User to actually USE it..

    Its just that i never really know whats the status of this Project, according to the Wiki and Homepage this feature is not usable, but what if i checkout the Branch, will it run? Or will it be another dead branch resting on my Harddrive, please share some insight..cause the Wiki and Launchpad dont…