725971 - Get rid of the term "Directory" in favor of "Folder" where it makes sense

Status: NEW

(Toolkit :: General, defect)

Description

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #559501 +++

Graphical Linux environments, just like Windows and Mac, use the term "folder" in preference to the term "directory". I think the term "folder" would look better in any GUI context, including this one. I would even go as far as suggesting to replace most occurences of the word "directory" with "folder". At least that's what I've done in my locale. It looks like the Wikipedia article linked above supports this position.

Comment 1

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

Attachment: Mentions of Folder in Gnome UI

Here's a screenshot from Gnome3 Nautilus. As you can see, it uses the word "Folder".

Comment 2

[:aceman]

Yes, konqueror (KDE3) does it too. But console programs (like mc) use "Directory".

Maybe it is because of the difference between Folder and Directory as exmplained in the wikipedia link. Console programs usually display the raw filesystem hierarchy. Desktop environment file managagers are more prone to mangling the real hearchy a bit, show only some interpretation of it (hide files etc), use virtual folders and such.
So the UI people should decide where FF/TB stays in this dilema. Showing the real contents of profile directory can be considered to be the low-level filesystem approach. However, clicking the button will probably open it in some graphical file manager that will call it a Folder.

Comment 3

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

We (Mozilla) produce GUI applications, which, like you said, would most likely open a GUI file manager to display the contents of Profile folder. I'd say it's pretty clear on which side we are.

Comment 4

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Sure, let's use "Folder" everywhere.

Comment 5

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

Attachment: Patch, v1

This is a rough patch for mozilla-central. I have sorted the files manually, so that relevant L10n and code are next to each other.

After this, the only string that still has word "Directory" in it is this one in security/manager/locales/en-US/chrome/pipnss/pipnss.properties:

CertDumpSubjectDirectoryAttr=Certificate Subject Directory Attributes

and I suppose, it should be left as is.

Comment 6

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

Looking at the patch myself now, I found that in aboutSupport.dtd we used "Open Directory" in Unix, yet "Show Folder" in Windows. I left "Show Folder" in my patch, but now I'm wondering whether or not "Open Folder" would be better.

Comment 7

[:aceman]

I don't really agree with this (I am old-school command line type) but probably can't swim against the flow here.
Changing the string IDs will break Thunderbird's about:support so please when you get review for this do not check it in immediately. I will prepare the needed patch for TB and they must then be checked in simultaneously.
Thanks.

Comment 8

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

I think the same should be done with comm-central anyway...

Comment 9

[:aceman]

Yes, but most can be done in a separate bug later.

But at least the /toolkit/locales/en-US/chrome/global/aboutSupport.dtd strings are shared with comm-central and will break it immediately.

Comment 10

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Er, by "everywhere" I meant "in about:support, on every platform". I don't really think we should be replacing it across the source tree.

Comment 11

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

(In reply to Gavin Sharp (use [e-mail] for email) from comment #10)
> Er, by "everywhere" I meant "in about:support, on every platform". I don't
> really think we should be replacing it across the source tree.

Er, why not?..

Comment 12

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Because there's little benefit (some of the strings you're changing aren't even exposed to users) and changing code has inherent risks.

Comment 13

[:aceman]

Rimas, will you reduce the patch now?

Comment 14

[Rimas Kudelis [use needinfo to ping]]

No, but anyone is free to cherry-pick whatever subset of it they find acceptable.