List. I hate icon view. Hate it
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
57 points (96.7% liked)
Linux
56366 readers
578 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
Detailed list view for everything except videos and images, and sometimes even for those
Icons for pictures, detail view for everything else. Easier to sort in the detail view.
Same. For pictures max size icons.
Detail view forever.
Depends what I am doing, but I often like "orthodox" two-pane file managers better, with details.
So my preference list is roughly:
- Command Line
- Krusader
- Thunar
Detail unless it's pictures or something where the icon is a preview of the file's content.
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.
The last time I found icon view useful was in Mac OS 9. There were three main characteristics that made it useful that no current systems have AFAIK:
-
The icon grid was tight (32 pixels) and you could either snap items to that grid or place them freely.
-
Window sizes and places were directly associated with folders. (There was no "browser-style" single-window mode.)
-
File names used dynamic spacing. Longer names would occupy multiple grid spaces as needed.
These factors meant that every folder had a consistent and potentially unique size, placment, and layout.
OS X took the Finder and either ruined or neglected everything good about it. Windows explorer has always been garbage. Never found a Linux file manager with a compelling icon view either (though to be fair, I've never looked all that hard). The lack of system-level metadata for layout kind of mandates an abstraction between a directory and its display.
consistent and potentially unique
What do you mean by that? Aren't those opposites? That is, if something is unique then it's being inconsistent.
I mean that an individual folder will always look the same (consistent), and also look distinctly different from any other folder (unique) if that's how you arranged it. So you could identify a folder instantly.
Everything in list view looks the same at a glance, and most file managers don't retain a folder window's size and placement. Modern macOS kiiiind of does but you have to fight it if you don't want a single-window browsing UI.
Detailed view everywhere except folders with mainly visual media, where I prefer icons.
I prefer details since it's easier for me to scan visually, with my eyes only having to go straight down, to find either a name, date, or size. Sorting I also find more intuitive. However, I prefer icon view for my pictures and videos folders
Detailed view all the way
Detail
I mostly prefer Detail view, but I enable Icon view in Videos, Photos, and Music folders so I can see previews.
I’m guessing most file managers have similar behavior, but on XFCE Thunar, I’m able to set detail as the default but have it remembery choice per folder.
ls -hal
ls -shit which is (iirc, guessing from memory): block size, human readable sizes, inodes, sort by time.
I've personally become a fan of -rtAh, to see the most recently modified files last (i.e. above my prompt).
I think it heavily depends on the files one has to browes the most. I deal with text files all the time, so i dont need an icon to jump in my face telling me, that its a text file.
The media-, design people I know love the previews that icons give them, because its much easier to spot the image file, they are looking for while scanning through a directory
Terminal.
All jokes aside, its personal preference. If you're working in a dense file tree, you probably need the info that details view gives you. Icon view really only matter for media.
For some reason, I can’t ever find a view that feels like “list view” from Windows OS. That would be my preference. Detail view is useful in specific conditions—such as troubleshooting or in search results. As is icon view (mostly for images).
When I am not on the terminal, I use list/detail view all the time. In the details most of the time only last modification date is relevant to me. I always make the list icons one step smaller as the default and sort directories before files in Nautilus.
I don't need thumbnails. When I need to see pictures, I open them with the now new image viewer in Gnome and use the arrow keys to go through, if I am unsure what I am searching for. I most cases I go by file name.
I use Krusader on Linux which I don't think has icon view.
When I have to use something else (eg Windows Explorer at work), obviously I prefer detailed list view. I like seeing things like the last modified date.
I have it on grid view :3.. just cause it can fit a lot more files into the same screen space
In list view I have to scroll to see all the files in my home folder, and in grid view it only takes like half of the available space, if I have the app maximized
My graphical goto tool is double commander, so lists. In the terminal, it's either ls -hal, fzf or mc, depending on use case.
I work in a design industry that requires a lot of source files so I end up having to constantly switch. Lists when I’m looking for the relevant folder, or looking for a particular file based on name, or icons if I’m looking for something based on image. There’s no consistent way to switch between them with a keyboard shortcut among different OSs, either.
ranger, a terminal file browser, which is obviously a list
if i need a gui file browser, i use pcmanfm with normal grid view