Open a Desktop Tracker Window in spatial mode.

[bbjimmy]

When attempting to open a Tracker window of the Desktop folder, the system seems to think that the Desktop is already open. The user thinks it is broken. This idea is not right. There is a difference between the Desktop, that space behind all your open Windows that has theTrash, Disk Icons, and all the stuff the user places there, and a Desktop Tracker Window, a fully functional Tracker Window. In the Tracker one can sort by attributes such as Name, Size, Kind, Modified etc. One should also be able to modify attributes such as Artist, Title, Album etc.

We should think of the Desktop as the background that can hold files, replicants etc, but not as if it were an open Tracker Window. The Desktop Tracker Window is really where the files are stored, the Desktop is just another, limited, special representation of this folder.

[waddlesplash]

+1 from me.

[pulkomandy]

-1 from me as this breaks spatial mode. It was discussed several times already (see other tickets).

In spatial mode, the Desktop is the root of everything, similar to the "/" folder. The mapping between them has drifted a bit over the years, even in BeOS days, by allowing files on the Desktop, and things like /dev in /. However, allowing the Desktop to open a second time makes it just a normal folder. If you want a normal folder, just don't use the Desktop (Mac OS didn't allow files on the desktop at all in early versions, then for some time it only allowed aliases there).

What we should do is hint the user that the desktop is there if he tries to open it in some cases (from a Web+ download, or from Expander, for example). Minimizing all windows is considered too intrusive (because there is no easy/obvious way to restore them afterwards, unless you know the MinimizeAll shortcut maybe). I don't think anyone found a convincing alternative solution yet, which is why nothing has been done. It does work in "single window" mode, however.

If anything needs to be done here, my vote goes to not allowing files on the desktop at all.

[waddlesplash]

That makes sense to me. If anyone feels strongly about Web+ downloads, then they can open a new ticket. Anyone who wants to open the Desktop in a Tracker window can enable navigator mode.