File name 19770830_Comments_On_Janus-1_Filing.pdfInter-Office Memorandum
To Wendell Shultz Date Aug. 30, 1977
From Dave Redell Location Palo Alto
Subject Comments on Janus-l filing Organization SOD/SO
XEROX
Filed on: janlisfiling.memo
Below are my comments on the Document Filing System chapter of the Janus-l Functional
Spec. Since I have not read the entire document with equal thoroughness, some of these
comments may be based on lack of understanding, but for the most part, I think they are
valid questions, and in a few cases, criticisms.
Disk volumes vs File grouping:
- The exact correspondence of a physical volume to single file drawer seems open to
question, although I suppose the user will have to think of the removable volume as
a logical unit, whether that is convenient or not.
- The notion of a "folder" as an intermediate grouping between documents and
drawers seems to have gone away. I think this is too bad; folders seem like a useful
idea, and would tend to lessen somewhat the impact of the artificial nature of the
fixed-size drawer as a logical entity.
- I don't think we should refuse to remember anything about files on offline volumes.
Certainly, such information could not be guaranteed up-to-date, but the poor user
with 87 floppy disks would probably find it helpful. and it shouldn't be very hard to
retain a snapshot of recently-seen directories (perhaps a list of the user's favorite
folders, if there are such things) This shouldn't be much of a storage problem,
especially if we have a rigid system disk.
- Are there any problems with allowing non-uniqueness of file-drawer names? This
seems like the right idea, since global uniqueness would be essentially impossible to
guarantee, but is there any impact on systems which can access several document
disks at once. (E.g. multiple floppy drives, or via the X-wire).
Selection:
- I don't understand why the type-in mode of selection is necessary. I thought the
original idea was to always point with the mouse. Isn't this sufficient? Wouldn't it
eliminate the need for uniqueness of document names?
- The single notion of Current File Selection to apply to both documents and drawers
seems a little clumsy. This seems to be motivated essentially by the desire to share
the "Show Options" button; is there perhaps a more graceful alternative?
- Perhaps the notion of multi-document selection would be useful (as in DDS). This
seems to be what is actually going on when "Delete" is applied to the entire file
Comments on Janlls-l Functional Spec: Documen | 