Nemo Feature request: grey out hidden files when displayed, and/or add button to toolbar to toggle hidden files

[yushiyangk]

It would be great if we could show hidden files, but keep it de-emphasised so that non-hidden files take more visual weight.

This would be similar to how Window's Explorer and macOS's Finder displays hidden files.

As a workaround, I could simply enable and disable showing hidden files on demand, but right now this involves several clicks through the menu. It would be great if I could add a single button to the toolbar to do this instantly as well.

[rcalixte]

It would be great if we could show hidden files, but keep it de-emphasised so that non-hidden files take more visual weight.

This is an interesting idea but hiding files in a Linux filesystem typically involves just having a period (.) as the first character, unlike Windows and macOS where it is an attribute of a file or directory. In that way, the visual cue for whether a file is hidden or not is serviced by identifying the first character. Though having another visual indicator as an option isn't a terrible idea.

As a workaround, I could simply enable and disable showing hidden files on demand, but right now this involves several clicks through the menu. It would be great if I could add a single button to the toolbar to do this instantly as well.

A button might be a good addition but at the moment, there are two alternative options available that should hopefully be faster for you:

1. Using the mouse, you can right-click in a background area in Nemo and select 'Show Hidden Files':
   
   (If this menu option is missing for you, you can make sure it is enabled in the menu by going to Edit -> Preferences -> Context Menus -> Background and then making sure that 'Show Hidden Files' is checked.)
   

2. Using the keyboard, you can press Ctrl+H to toggle whether hidden files are being shown. This is a default setting.

[yushiyangk]

Hi, I am aware that hidden files start with a dot. The point of this is not to provide an indicator for which files are hidden.

From a UX perspective, it is much faster to distinguish greyed out items at a glance.

This would allow the user to quickly identify which are "normal" files that they want to interact with while disregarding the greyed out files. At the same time, if the user specifically is interested in editing a hidden config file, he can do so simply by looking a bit closer, rather than having to go into the menu and temporarily enabling the display of hidden files.

With this enhancement, both flows can be supported effectively without requiring the user to toggle between the two states.

[rcalixte]

From a UX perspective, it is much faster to distinguish greyed out items at a glance.

Just a note that this may not be true for visually impaired or color blind users.

[yushiyangk]

I would argue even more so for visually impaired users, in the sense that the greyed out items are less visible, which is what we want.

Of course I'm not arguing that it should be invisible to visually impaired users. Making it optional would be a good idea.

[Secret-chest]

Should be optional!