Most file managers I’ve encountered default to icon view. One of the first things I do is set the default to detailed list view. Might be a preference for seeing names and dates over many identical folder icons, or just an old habit from using Windows. But I’d be curious to hear about the benefits of icon view and why it’s usually the default in Linux GUI file managers.

What does everyone else use and any reasons to prefer one over the other?

  • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
    3·
    1 day ago

    Dolphin filemanager from KDE. Nowadays I default to “compact” view without “preview” enabled. This is similar to “Icon” view, but the icons are small. Lot of files scrolls horizontal instead vertical.

    • filenames in compact mode can be longer in one line, which is kind of similar to the look as “details” view, but are all displayed in a multiple rows instead one row
    • preview disabled, because this is extremely fast, as I have ton of files that do not even have a preview image

    That’s my default. Occasionally I enable preview image and switch to bigger “icon” view when I look into images or videos. Or sometimes I enable “details” view when needed. In normal usage I don’t need the details anyway.