Gardener: A file browser assistant to help users maintaining semantic folder hierarchy

Abstract

Users, especially beginners, have problem finding files from large, ever growing filesystem. Common practice is to memorize the pathnames of frequently accessed folders and files which increases the cognitive load while file browsing. A suitable solution is to have a semantic hierarchy among folders so that the users can use reasoning instead of memorizing pathnames while file browsing. However, users are usually reluctant to put files in their proper places each time a file is saved. Thus, practically maintaining a Semantic Folder Hierarchy in a large filesystem is hard. This article proposes a file browser assistant “Gardener” which helps the user to maintain the Semantic Folder Hierarchy Tree in a filesystem by suggesting a suitable location each time a new file is created. The User Interface also has a “Single Click Save” option that eliminates the need to browse the filesystem and reduces interaction time. Although indirectly, this assistance for maintaining Semantic Folder Hierarchy eventually reduces the cognitive load of the users while finding files in a filesystem.