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File Manager

Prologue
On to some low priority wishes now. I don’t use Opera’s file manager much, but it could be because it’s pretty basic.
Although I don’t think its development should be a priority, some additional features seem relatively easy to implement and would increase the file manager’s interest.
Here are some I could use:


Different treatment than webpages
This is the most basic thing, needed for all the other to work. As it is now, the file listings are simply a webpage with a particular CSS. That means we get all the webpage related options, which are rarely suited for files. Files and folders are treated alike, like simple links.
I think the file manager should have its own options, all of them related to folders or files. Despite that, it should have a CSS attached, as it does now.


File icons
This is extremely helpful in a file manager. To find the type of a file in Opera’s manager, we have to look at his extension or to the “Type” column. Of course it works, but it’s not nearly as intuitive as specific icons for some common file types.
I don’t know if getting the operating system’s icons is doable. If it isn’t, then they should be skin dependant, with the most common ones being bundled in the application.


Order files
When I have a long list of files, it’s usually very helpful to have the ability to order them by one of its properties. Ordering by name, type, date and size are probably the options I’d use the most.


Filter files
A variant of the previous wish. Usually, when I use Opera’s file manager, I’m looking for html pages. So a way to filter html files would be very useful to me. Name and type filtering are the most important, but I wouldn’t mind a few others either …


Open files directly
This is one of the consequences of treating file listings as webpages. When we open a file, Opera actually tries to download it. I’d like to be able to open some files directly, using the OS’s user-defined application.


Open with internal code editor
With a code editor included in Opera 9, one of the useful right-click menu options would be opening that file with the editor. If I want to edit an HTML document, I have to open the page and then viewing its source. Many times, I’d like to open it directly, something I’d also do in text files (Opera’s configuration files, for example).


Delete/copy/cut/paste files
Although I don’t need most of the advanced file management options bundled in Opera, some basic operations could be helpful, with the ones I mentioned being probably the essential ones.


Basic drag-and-drop
Once again, I don’t think Opera should focus much of its time in the file manager, so I’m not talking about advanced function. Anyway, I’d like to be able to drag files (or folders) to a folder, moving or copying the files to it.


View file properties
Another of the right-click menu options I’d like to have. Opera could provide some basic information about the file or, alternatively, use the operating system properties window (I think that’s easily doable).


Folder tree
This is much more connected with the download manager. Despite that, one of the useful options could be opening a folder when the user clicks it in the panel.