Landing page like Code when all tabs are closed

[hanaral]

It would be a lot more user friendly if there was a landing page for files. Right now the tab reopening loop is quite jarring and inconsistent with Code or Epiphany.
I think having a landing like code should be the default, and maybe have a toggle to close the window when all tabs are closed (but that would also require that code gets a similar toggle). The page could say something like 'Pick a folder to get started', the first button could open the user's home folder, the second to open the most recently closed one. It could look like this:

There could also be a cogwheel next to the recent tabs icon in the tab bar where users can toggle whether closing the last tab closes the window.

Like this tickbox in Ephemeral:

[jeremypw]

The discussion at #327 is relevant, which is essentially the same issue but with a different proposed solution.

[jeremypw]

I am struggling to think of the utility of closing the last tab in Files anyway tbh. You can either close the app or navigate somewhere in the existing tab. The proposed entries in the landing page can already be done directly without closing the last tab. Maybe a better solution would be to stop the last tab being closed.

[danirabbit]

It could be interesting to explore an alternative home page.

Something I've personally encountered is that the XDG directories are not usually very useful to me since they are:

1. Present in the sidebar by default
2. Usually better managed and navigated from within applications. Example: pictures, music, videos, etc.

It might be more useful to make Recent the new tab page or to introduce a most-frequently-used page or (as in Finder), a new view that shows both of these things

I don't think the Granite Welcome page makes sense here since that is meant for onboarding users into an empty app state. Files can never be empty since operating system files will always exist

[hanaral]

I understand that file browsers are not friendly things, but it would be nice to have a simple landing page with maybe a recents view like you suggested (many users don't have recents enabled, though if its designed nicely, maybe it'll change).

I don't really like the idea of having the user be presented with their home folder directly, as there aren't any user friendly things anyone would ever do there (apart from opening the folders already present in the sidebar).

I think the larger issue is that we are still far too dependant on file browsers, which isn't very great for general users who don't need to be faced with power user tools.

[jeremypw]

At the moment recent:// only shows most recently used files - not most recently visited folders. It would be possible to save and restore navigation history or track how often different folders are visited I guess (subject to privacy settings) - at the moment, navigation history is lost on closing. It should not be necessary to close the last tab to access this however.