OneFinger - screenshots

OneFinger in MIME mode

In the main window you can see

• a menu;
• a "command area", immediately below the menu, with two tabs (simple command and shell command);
• two "panels" (actions and files) which occupy most of the space.
  • the "actions" panel, to the left, contains programs and other kinds of actions like "cut" and "paste";
  • the "file" panel, to the right, is in turn divided into two subpanels (by means of tab widgets):
    1. the "current folder" panel contains a simple, but powerful, file-manager that shows one folder at a time.
    2. The "history" panel contains a configurable, flat list of files, which is what confers OneFinger most of its power. Here is a picture of OneFinger with the history panel activated (the history panel is inside the yellow box):

       

1. Current folder panel:
   • If you click a file in this panel, the file becomes selected. You can extend the selection by clicking other files. To deselect a file, just click it again.

     Selecting one or more files has a very important effect: the program panel (in the middle) is narrowed down to show only those programs and actions that make sense with the selected files. For example, here is what happens when I click on the file "Wagner - Die Walkuere - Act 1.flac":

     

     What happened? The FLAC file was highlighted in blue: this means it was selected. Also the Xmms program was automatically selected by default (for the curious, it was selected because it was the most recently used program that can manage the FLAC file).

     But, more importantly, the action panel has been narrowed. Look at the area in the yellow rectangle and below: the header says we are only seeing those programs and actions that are "compatible" with the FLAC file (sorted by recent usage).

     What just happened is roughly similar to what happens when you right-click a file in a file manager and a "context-sensitive menu" appears. Our "action panel" is a kind context-sensitive menu that is always on screen. However, it is more powerful than ordinary context-sensitive menus: it is searchable, sortable and scrollable. It can be used even when you haven't selected any file. It is also easier to click and more discoverable than an ordinary context-sensitive menu.

     Now look at the red rectangle: this is the command area. It shows the command you have composed so far. You can see the items that are currently selected: the flac file and the xmms program (which was selected automatically, as you recall). If such a command is fine for you, you can click "execute". Otherwise you can add more files or change the program (in case you didn't mean to use xmms).

   • If you click the "door" icon beside a directory, you enter that directory, meaning that its contents will appear in the "current folder" panel, replacing the old folder.
   • An important feature of the file panel is that it can group the most recently (or frequently) used files on top. This improves your navigation speed a lot, because statistically we tend to use only a fraction of the files in each directory.
2. The "history" panel. This panel is the most versatile. It can assume many possible "configurations":
   • a list of recently used files from any directory. For example:

     

     This is like the "recent documents" applet in KDE, with a difference: its items are "first-class citizens", i.e. they can not only be viewed with the default viewer, but acted upon in any way: copied, dragged, deleted, etc.

     With the history panel, the important files are always at hand.

     Furthemore, for a file to appear in the history panel, it is not required that it have been opened with OneFinger: the panel shows the files you opened from any KDE application.

   • a list of recently visited (or used) directories (each of these directories is once again a "first-class citizen", so it can be acted upon in any way, or entered by clicking the door icon. Incidentally, this is another way to go to a parent directory. People usually don't realize that immediately. This way, the important locations are always at hand;
   • a list of favorite files or directories;
   • a list of arguments (files and directories) used with a given program (see below);
   • a combination of all the above things,
   and more. All these configurations are useful in different situations.

   Selection in the history panel works like the "current folder" panel: if you click a file, it will be selected and the action panel will be narrowed accordingly. If you click a "door" icon on a folder, it will be entered. In short, you can use the history panel as if you were looking at the current folder---even though you are manipulating files that are located very far from each other.

3. The "programs" panel. This panel is different from the other two: it does not contain files, but programs and "actions" (actions are innate capabilities of OneFinger, like cut, paste, delete, drag etc.). Here is how it works. If you click the name of a program/action:
   1. the program you click is selected and goes into the command area (possibly replacing the default program chosen by OneFinger); and
   2. the history panel is narrowed to show only those arguments used with that program.
   For example, here is what happens when I click on "Kaffeine":

   

   Kaffeine has been selected, and the history panel shows the files recently viewed with Kaffeine.

   The window list

   In the following screenshot you can see a new component: the "OneFinger window-list". This appears when you execute the action "Drag to other window". As described in the home page, this window makes it easy to drag to a window you do not currently see.

   

   OneFinger in shell mode

   Sometimes you may want to issue a shell command like

    find /usr -iname "*foo*" -ipath "*bar*" --follow 

   OneFinger can help you compose such commands with the mouse.

   Click the "shell command" tab. You will see the text area which will contain the final shell command.

   

   The behavior of the three panels changes slightly in shell mode:

   • the "current folder" panel still shows the current directory. However, files cannot be selected anymore: if you click a file name, this time it is copied to the command area, which is useful because you are ultimately composing a shell command;
   • the history panel is affected the same way.
   • the programs panel: by clicking the program name, you copy it in the command area and you narrow the history panel to show the most recent arguments passed to that program.

   When you have composed the desired command, you can press the "execute" button. A popup menu will ask you whether you want to execute the command in a terminal or discard the output.