Rob Foster’s recent post /the/path/of/most/resistance is a brilliant write up on the inherent lacking of the visual file system. as he says:

…for the average person, the file system is so complex that everything outside of the desktop and the documents folder appears to be a vast labyrinth which most likely hides booby traps and minotaurs.

I think this is even true for many advanced users—even if they refuse to admit it. Even I have come to realize the more I have begun to use my iPhone, the more I see that I don’t need a file system for most of my tasks. I consider myself an experienced user and even I would love for the file system on my main computer to if not disappear at least further hide itself. Do I need to always have the system folder visible? No. Nor do I really need to see the applications folder as long as I can search and see a list. Actually come to think of it nor do I need the music folder or photos folder. A dedicated music/photo app does a better job sorting those file types then the I would manually creating folders.

The last point says it best. The visual file system is a generalist tool (like the CLI). We’ve moved away from the concept of sitting down to use a computer; instead now, we are sitting down to do a specific task: i.e., write a report, listen to music, post a tweet, check out facebook, watch a show, build a website, etc. The computer itself needs to get out of the stinking way so we can just do what we sit down to do. Having a global visual file system is just more clutter and doesn’t really help any of those tasks—not even webdev.

Yes you heard me: I do not need access to my computer’s file system to do web development. All I need is access to the project’s files on the server and a local store of the same, both of which I really only need to see when I’m in my IDE. I don’t really need to even know where this local store is as long as I can just click on the name of the project and it loads (like Coda and other IDEs). The local store could for all intents just be archive that opens when I open my IDE. Well there is the photoshop graphic editor issue but that could be easily solved by having a list of web projects show up when I “save to web.” You know how much time I’d save if I could just select from a project list whenever I “save to web” rather than have to dig around in my folders for where ever the images folder is for a certain website?

Speaking of, Panic please make an iPad version of Coda!

p.s. this brings to mind one of my gripes about Windows—fonts. To install fonts on OS X you click on it and then click install font. On Windows, even the new Windows 7, you have to copy it in the font folder (usually C:\Windows\Fonts), which is a granted not too hard but it’s still annoying to have to manually dig into the system folder to install a font.

With the latest iphone update (1.1.4) offering nothing more than bug fixes, I thought I’d get around to posting my list of iphone most wanted. Many of these have been stated before, but a few I haven’t heard anyone mention.

Been said before, gonna say it again

• Copy & Paste
• Airtunes support – I wanna play my iphone tunes directly to my Airport Express
• Video capture support via the camera
• iChat – Though I don’t know how much I’d use it as I’m not as much of an AIM junkie as I used to be, but it’d be nice to have. Bonjour ichat with other local network iphones would be kinda cool too.
• Horizontal keyboard anywhere – would be great to have this for Notes, SMS, email, etc. And while your at it squish this keyboard vertically a bit more to give one more line of text visible.
• Search functionality – for email and a global spotlight which searches sms, email, notes, etc.
• vcard sending – I should be able to send my contact info as a vcard via email or even maybe bluetooth.
• wifi sync – at least for contacts and calendar
• Taking a photo for assigning to a contact should also place that picture in your photo roll.
• Email map routes to others. This should include the text list and a link to a google map.
• Save photo you get via email into your photos

Few new ideas that I haven’t heard elsewhere

• Network Printing – I’d love to print the occasional email or map directions via my networked printer.
• Clicking on the upper-left edge/wifi icon should bring you to the wifi settings screen – there are several times I’d like to easily turn off wifi so that it doesn’t ask me to join a network.
• Safari should have a larger (adjustable) cache – I hate when I load a new tab and then find out that all my other tabs are now blank. Also it should remember the previous pages info better. Come on I have over a gig free still use it!
• When zoomed all the way out on a web page a horizontal swipe should move to the next/prev tab – Since photos does this I keep expecting safari to do this.
• One The Go favorites photoset – make this work just like a music on the go playlist (which by the way I love the iphone’s on the go playlist functionality!)
• iCal event subscriptions should update directly from your iphone via the web – as it is I have to sync to my computer to get new subscribed events, which is dumb.

Things I don’t really need

• MMS – Don’t care. Sending my photos via email is more useful.

Third party apps I can’t wait for (come on release the SDK!)

• Twitter client
• Real Notes/Word-like app – ideally it would allow use of MarkDown formatting and have post to blog functionality
• To do app
• better calculator with “paper tape”
• better weather app – I want an hourly (or at least morn/afternoon/evening) forecast and the ability to see what the weather was like yesterday (great for comparison)
• RSS reader which downloads feeds so I can read offline
• a game. Hell almost any game will do. Though I am particularly interested in an iphone version of DopeWars. I can remember the stupid amount I played that on my Palm back in the day.