The redesigned Nautilus landed in Ubuntu 12.10

Starting with Nautilus' 3.x series, its theming, under Ubuntu's Ambiance and Radiance, triggered a solid amount of negative user feedback, related to various inappropriate elements integration, faulty visual mix that generated, according to various users, an improper inconsistent blending of Nautilus into the Ubuntu desktop.

In the latest months, GNOME developers have started a refined, refreshed branding of GNOME applications, visual attitude expressed via light, clean colors, monochrome icons, minimalistic interface, etc, attitude definitely visible and applied in the just-updated Nautilus 3.5.4.

The immediately perceivable fresh elements in the 3.5.4 release are the monochrome bits, as such:

• the navigation icons gained monochrome minimalistic icons that, "packed" with the square white-ish surroundings, express a clean area with proper proportions are integrated look&feel, furthermore adopting a navigation actions-aware state, in the sense of being vividless, unclickable when Nautilus is started and gaining "color" if the user navigates through folders
  
• the search icon lost its description text
• the newly added "cog" icon features a monochrome icons, housing Nautilus' actions, such as New Tab, New Window, Properties, Edit, View, etc, basically the main "gate" to commonly used/relevant user actions
• the sidebar uses, in order to display its items, fancy monochrome icons, introducing a neat look&feel, consistent with its above navigation icons, being perceived as a compact left-side area filled with minimalism

The toolbar received a long-awaited full state, being exposed from one corner to another, thus removing the "old" abrupt cut between the toolbar and the sidebar, consequently, the sidebar "starts" its area beneath the toolbar, introducing a visual balance (in the sense of being visually aligned with the light main view and separated from the toolbar on Ambiance, and consistent with the toolbar and separated from the folder area on Radiance).

Nautilus sidebar's organization has been refreshed, exposing (from top to bottom) Places (presenting user's default folders), Devices (partitions and Computer, latter entry that exposes the / not the traditional Computer items) and Network.

Nautilus 3.5.4 introduces new actions, related to moving files, allowing users to easily and precisely move desired content across the computer:

• Copy To is summoned via right-click on a folder/file-->Copy To, action that opens a dialog where partitions, folders, recently used items are exposed
• Move To is accessible via right-click on a folder/file-->Move To
  

The pathbar/addressbar displays the navigation process via an updated look, with a more noticeable clicked/unclicked state, displaying the mentioned navigation in a more accurate/visible manner.

The new 3.5.4 release brings search-as-you-type support, meaning, opening Nautilus and typing a word, automatically searches the typed word via the "real"/full top search area, furthermore, the search process is primarily focused on the "of origin"/opened folder (folder name displayed next to the typing area), and, by clicking All Files, the search action is extended.

The list view (accessible under Nautilus' "cog" icon-->View-->List) adopted a list view, removing the tree "attitude", meaning, the list view displays icons organized in a list without pointers that were able to expand the "old" list view in its contained items.

Along with the mentioned changes and additions, Nautilus 3.5.4 removed the Go menu and the separate Bookmarks menu, Bookmarks that can be still accessed under Nautilus' "cog" icon-->Bookmarks

Nautilus 3.5.4 has just landed in Ubuntu 12.10.