Thursday, April 4, 2002
Sub-folders are a beautiful thing
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 12:46 PM
I have a dream. A dream where files and folders can live in peaceful harmony, files nestled comfortably inside the folders. Any file, any folder, it matters not. I have a dream where type A personalities can organize their files in any way they want, without the heat of oppression bearing down upon them. Do you have the same dream?
I carry 50+ themes with me on my CompactFlash card, yet due to some programming quirk or bad design decision by Microsoft, you can't place themes into a sub-folder of My Documents (whether in main memory or a memory card). They need to stay in the root of the folder, forcing the chaos you see in the screen shot above. Is this a small matter? To some. But I tell you my freedom-loving brothers and sisters, some of us like to be organized!
What's the point of having a real file system if you can't organize your files? There's so much inconsistency when it comes to the location of files. Some apps, like Windows Media Player and Microsoft Reader, will sniff out your content anywhere on the device. Great! Yet other apps, like the theme loader, are too limited to even look one folder deep inside My Documents. And what's with the one sub folder limitation inside My Documents? If you want to have a folder called music, with a sub-folder for 60's music, and then organize your music based on folders for each artist, guess what? You can't.
Sure, some of these are extreme user scenarios, but if you're going to call a device a "Pocket PC", it has to live up to the pedigree of a PC - flexibility and power.
I carry 50+ themes with me on my CompactFlash card, yet due to some programming quirk or bad design decision by Microsoft, you can't place themes into a sub-folder of My Documents (whether in main memory or a memory card). They need to stay in the root of the folder, forcing the chaos you see in the screen shot above. Is this a small matter? To some. But I tell you my freedom-loving brothers and sisters, some of us like to be organized!
What's the point of having a real file system if you can't organize your files? There's so much inconsistency when it comes to the location of files. Some apps, like Windows Media Player and Microsoft Reader, will sniff out your content anywhere on the device. Great! Yet other apps, like the theme loader, are too limited to even look one folder deep inside My Documents. And what's with the one sub folder limitation inside My Documents? If you want to have a folder called music, with a sub-folder for 60's music, and then organize your music based on folders for each artist, guess what? You can't.
Sure, some of these are extreme user scenarios, but if you're going to call a device a "Pocket PC", it has to live up to the pedigree of a PC - flexibility and power.
