Showing the full path to a folder when changing its name

Question

I have a form where a user can enter a new name for a specific folder. The full folderpath is displayed on the form for informational purpose which leads to a problem.

I don't want my form to expand its width too much just because the path is so long. So I put the path into a read only textbox with a horizontal scrollbar.

Although it works fine and looks acceptable, I was wondering if anyone has a better idea on how to solve this.

New Name Form, No Scroll

New name form, no scroll

New Name Form, Scroll

New name form, scroll

As an aside, I wonder how useful the full path really is in this situation. If I'm only changing its name and not its location, it seems like an unnecessary complication. Perhaps showing just the current name is enough? — Matt Obee, May 13 '14 at 13:07
I actually had this idea some time ago. However, the problem is when there are two folders with the same name but in different locations. Adding the full path easily distinguishs these two folders. — mariu5, May 13 '14 at 13:15
How does the user get to this dialog? Do they have to navigate the folder tree to find the appropriate folder and then click 'rename'? — Matt Obee, May 13 '14 at 13:22
Yeah I forgot to clarify this. Our company has a special folder structure with one directory for each client. These directories follow a certain template and are basically all the same. — mariu5, May 13 '14 at 13:24
I don't think I understand. You already know which folder you're dealing with, right? You popped this dialog from that particular folder, I assume. So I don't need to know the path. I'm with Matt. — Ken Mohnkern, May 13 '14 at 13:29
Sorry my comment wasn't finished but I accidentally hit enter.
The user chooses one subfolder or more from a template directory and adds them to a list in a previous form.

This list then gets sent to a function where this form above pops up and the previous form gets closed. That's why I'm displaying the full path again.

Just displaying the folder name would lead to confusion imo because there can be more than one folder with the same name but in different subfolders. That way, the user couldn't identify properly which folder he/she is editing.

Pretty hard to explain but I hope it helps. — mariu5, May 13 '14 at 13:39

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:32

14

There's a number of issues here.

Input controls aren't meant for displaying data, they're meant for, well, input :). When you show a disabled textbox, the user understands that in some cases it can be enabled. You should use a read-only textbox for the folder path.
It would be a good idea to populate the New Name field with the current name, and just name it Folder Name.
Group boxes aren't really used any more, but even regardless of trends - when they're used, it's for grouping controls. A group box that contains a single control is redundant in 99% of the cases, because there's nothing to group.
It's usually a good idea to add a Cancel button if you have a Confirm button. The X at the top right isn't enough.

mockup

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:32

Community

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answered May 13 '14 at 13:42

Vitaly Mijiritsky

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Ok and Cancel are conceptually Next and Back, so I would place Ok on the right rather than Cancel (Yes, I know Microsoft did it the other way around, but it's still wrong :P) – Franchesca May 13 '14 at 13:46
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Also, displaying the path in the first field indicates (to me, anyway) that the second field wants a path too. And I don't think you want a full path entered into that field. – Ken Mohnkern May 13 '14 at 14:02
+1 and I would like to add that maybe it would be beneficial to use Target folder: C:\text\of\full\path\to\folder followed by New folder name: user-supplied input and then lastly New Target folder: C:\text\of\full\path\to\user-supplied-folder and the New target folder: should update as the user types – MonkeyZeus May 13 '14 at 16:19
@Franchesca This might interest you. – Vitaly Mijiritsky May 13 '14 at 18:40
How about when you want to change more than one level (e.g., Folder\CurrentName to MyNewFolder)? How would you do that if only one leaf name was shown? Also, splitting the path line like that could introduce confusion. – Phil Perry May 13 '14 at 20:24
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@PhilPerry The question is about renaming an existing folder, not about moving it around. – Vitaly Mijiritsky May 14 '14 at 04:58
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"Input controls aren't meant for displaying data". Windows apps commonly use disabled EDIT controls for displaying data, because you can select and copy the text out of them. You can't do this with a STATIC (label) control. – Roger Lipscombe May 14 '14 at 08:24
@RogerLipscombe The controls that you refer to aren't disabled, they are read-only. They look like regular static text but they can be scrolled and copied. You can read about it in the MS UX Guidelines or on SO. But you are right in that I didn't use the right term in the answer, I'll update it now. – Vitaly Mijiritsky May 14 '14 at 11:42
@VitalyMijiritsky, yes, you're right, I meant "read-only". – Roger Lipscombe May 14 '14 at 15:46
@VitalyMijiritsky, but in a more general sense, moving and renaming (especially in a Unixy system) are often identical operations (mv command). It is not uncommon to do something like change Folder\CurrentName to MyNewFolder. Therefore it would be bad design to only allow the leaf node to be renamed. – Phil Perry May 14 '14 at 18:52
@PhilPerry The OP explicitly makes the distinction between renaming and moving. This is not a file system on a computer, it's a custom internal system which behaves in a very specific way (read the OP's comments on the post). I have no reason to assume that renaming and moving are the same in this case, so I'm interpreting the question as closely to the text as I can. – Vitaly Mijiritsky May 14 '14 at 19:12

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '14 at 13:11

9

I would get rid of scrolling, and truncate the folder path when the text box doesn't have focus, and indicate this with ellipsis (...) at the end.

When the text box has focus, display a multi-line edit box instead of the single line one.

answered May 13 '14 at 13:11

Franchesca

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+1, but ellipsis should really be in the middle as the first and last parts of the path are probably most significant. At the front at least one level should be visible and at the end preferably at least two... – Marjan Venema May 14 '14 at 10:29
@MarjanVenema Good point! – Franchesca May 14 '14 at 11:01

anna · Answer 3 · 2014-05-13T18:00:01.577

I remember there was a function that will create a String like

D:\Folder\...\CurrentFolder

I think the parameter was length in pixels or even a windows component where the path should fit in. Sorry I don't remember more, but maybe someone else knows what I mean.

The next step would be to make it clickable and show the full name with word wraps. Just imagine the following shortened directory and assume you have documents in every of your projects:

D:\Projects\....\documents\

Or show the full path as hint, that's cool too.

And last but not least, you should remove all size constraints from your software, because you can never be sure what kind of system it will be used on. Just think about translations, font-sizes, dpi-sizes, ...

One more argument: Free Will! The user should be able to decide if the path should be shown in 2560x100 window or as 400x400 or whatever. People get larger screens all the time and then having a tiny box not showing the necessary information is just annoying.

Nick_M · Answer 4 · 2014-05-13T13:27:18.297

What you could do is have it so the partial folder path displays at first so instead of: D:\Folder\Folder\Folder\Folder you could have it as D:...Folder with an option to show the full path if the user really wanted to see it. However, as Matt stated in may be an "unnecessary complication" because they are not changing the location and simply the name. It could work to have an option for the user to see the full path or not maybe a simple check box so that you don't always have that scroll bar there seems to just add nothing to the program. Just an idea, hope it helps.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 13 '14 at 22:58

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Give up? Are you certain this a problem you have to solve? (the answer may be yes of course) However, from here it looks like you're using winforms and interacting with a file system.

Why are you prompting your users to do these types of interaction in new bespoke exciting ways when things like the OpenFileDialog Class exists?

answered May 13 '14 at 22:58

Nathan

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I'm asking the user to set a new name for a folder in a template directory. There are several other directories which are based on said template and need to be changed as well. So the user types in the new name and my script then applies that new name to those other directories recursivly. – mariu5 May 14 '14 at 07:07
@mariu5, fair enough, depending on your solution there may still be options that allow you to leverage some widgets that enjoy windows localisation and support. – Nathan May 14 '14 at 08:05

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 14 '14 at 15:23

I'd advise to get rid of the form in the first place. If you follow the principle of changing something where you see it, then the changing should take place in the location where the name is displayed to the user. (S)he navigated down the path somehow, probably the path can be seen there still, and this is the context where the change should happen. Don't take the user out of the current context.

Windows Explorer does this, for example. Just press F2 while the focus is on a filename.

Showing the full path to a folder when changing its name

6 Answers6