Open URL: change Quickconnect label "Host:" to "Host/URL:", make "Remote site:" accept URL, add "File -> Open URL" cmd

[lunakid]

[Cheers guys! In case this may look like a feature request: it's actually not. It's about a usability issue of an *existing* feature, so not requesting any new functionality, even though a) the fix is purely usability-related, b) it's just a nuisance, c) it may imply adding new code. (To start in the DMZ, I just create this as "Other"... :) Thanks!]

Sequence of actions (I'm nobody special, so there may be others stumbling this way):

0. mc's ftpfs stuck again for timeout, uninterruptible. Sigh, time to divorce...

1. apt-get install filezilla [3.8.0]

2. Launch filezilla. [May have never used it before, or too long ago to remember; the point being: "entry-level" UI interaction.]

3. Copy my relevant mc entry (a fully formed FTP URL, from the "hotlist" file) to Clipboard.

4. Swith to FileZilla, find a place to paste the Clipboard cargo... Quickconnect seems tempting, but no URL field apparently there (only the well-known, familiar, classic H/U/P/... inputs). [Hmm.]

6. There's a "Local site:", and "Remote site:" bar, below, though. "Remote site:" reads *exactly* what I'd need to paste my URL to, but it's unfortunately disabled. (And then it also appears (from subliminal clues of the overall GUI design) that it may not be meant for that anyway.) [Hmmmm...]

7. Open the "File" menu: no "Open..." or "Open URL" [Hmmm?!]

8. Well, then maybe "Site Manager"... [But I don't want to manage a site.] No, that seems to be designed to support URLs even less.

9. Perhaps FileZilla doesn't even support URLs?! No, that can't possibly be true, let me double-check... Google: "filezilla url". From the results (e.g. FR #8466), I can see that support is there. [Relief #1.]

10. Back to the FileZilla UI. So there *must* be a place to dump that itching URL. And it's hinted to be related to Quickconnect (by fragments in the Google search result summary lines), as one would anyway initially think. Perhaps the "host" field then (short of any better)? Let's try at least... Paste, then "Quickconnect"... Wow, bingo! [Relief #2.]

NOTE: I did see the nice, detailed explanation in the tooltip - but *only after* going through through all the above. Experienced users tend not to stand still hovering enough over a field for a (slowish) tooltip to appear. My type of users don't even use the mouse that much (so, little chance for a tooltip at all).

Fixes recommended:

a) Just change the "Host" label to "Host or URL" (or "Host/URL" if you also consider it an "internationally familiar" way of putting it).

Quick, easy, cheap.
With the "Host/URL" form some very inexperienced users may get confused though. But these type of users will likely hit the tooltip. Or just put the less cool but more clear "Host or URL".

b) Change the "Local site:" / "Remote site:" controls. (Their *values* are not "sites" currently anyway, but *dir paths*.)

Either:

1. Implement (a) and rename them to "Local path:" / "Remote path:" (or "...dir") accordingly, to remove confusion.

Or:

2. Ignore (a) and
   • change the label "Local site:" to "Local path:" (keeping in mind that it's actually a relative local *URL*!), and
   • change the behavior of "Remote site:" to as of the "Host" field of Quickconnect, i.e. to accept URLs, plus (re)connect on non-relative URLs. (Also keep it enabled, not only when connected.) This (2) would be a good, intuitive solution (a step closer to the universal two-panel file manager scheme), but may probably also trigger rethinking the Quickconnect UI concept, screen layout etc., so it's not "free".

c) Add an "Open URL" command to the File menu, to do exactly the same as Quickconnect with an URL supplied in the "Host" field.

(With just a *simple* one-field popup, even if that may not feel like a perfect fit with the current "one-omnipotent-window" design. This slight redundancy may still be better than the immediate impression of a missing feature, or a missing natural path to an existing (and possibly very common) feature.)

[Thanks a lot for your patience, and all the best to you there, thanks again! Where can I send the bill of $100 for the analysis please? ;) ]