http://i.minus.com/jVj30QMJYoOJG.png
In Build 3062, I am finding that the folder icon alignment is throwing me off. In the above screenshot, app.coffee looks to be in the modules folder on first glance. Maybe I’ll get used to it, or maybe others are finding it counterintuitive/misleading as well. It makes more sense to me that files in a folder would be flush to the left, not indented like they are now.
The current behaviour is consistent with previous versions, in the sense that the text items are aligned at a particular level. However, I can see the argument that adding folder icons adds confusion given that in complex trees the previous behaviour was at times confusing too. The icons also add to the horizontal real-estate which again, in complex trees, further confuses matters.
I’m not sure what the best solution is here. For consistency, a “file icon” to the left of files would probably clear up alignment confusion. In that case it would be nice to have icons per file type and, as others have mentioned, colouring for file types so that particular groups of files jump out at the user. As a final point, being able to sort sidebar files would again be useful for those working on large projects; alphabetically as now and by extension, size, modified timestamp - ascending and descending.
Of course, it’s nice to be able to turn these things “off” for those who want to keep things clean, maximise their real-estate and not be bombarded by eclipse/visual studio style clutter.
Yes, I think that’s a good assessment.
Project explorers usually have a file icon, as you pointed out, which remedies the problem by aligning the text without giving the illusion of nesting.
The .coffee file is aligned properly, it just miss its file icon… so it appears to be shifted to the right.
This could be caused by the theme you are using, not fully compatible with sidebar icons, you can fix it by following instructions of josephlarson’s post here: Sidebar Icon Loading Spinners to turn icons off or look for other thread about sidebar icons in the forum to make them properly work.
hope it helps