The recycle bin icon only ever appears full or empty. Why not have it more detailed to show how full it is.

The bigger the size of the files sent to it determin the amount of 'rubbish' the icon shows in the bin.

Just by looking at the icon, it would let you know how much capacity is being used up by items in the bin. As a general rule, the recycle bin capacity is set to 10% of your total drive.

Would also be a nice little value-adding feature to the old practically-unchanged icon.
-- shinobi, Nov 20 2006

Inbox Garden Inbox_20Garden
by Fishrat [calum, Nov 21 2006]

Span Summary Visualisations Spam_20Summary_20Visualisations
by me. [calum, Nov 21 2006]

(+) can this be extended to all files & folders !

on the icon itself, display the file(s) size to quickly prioritize/ select for deletion in order to re-gain desired disk space.
-- vedarshi, Nov 20 2006


I would like *every* folder to show whether it has contents or not, and to display the number of them(rather than the size, as computing folder size takes the computer a lot of time).

I hate when I delete an empty folder only to have Windows warn me "Really delete this folder and all its contents?????!!!!?!?!?!???", then have to click cancel and open the folder, only to find it's actually empty, and then repeat the process.
-- phundug, Nov 20 2006


One horrible UI problem with MacOS 9 is that when there was at least one item in the Trash, the garbage appeared as if it was about to explode. This would prompt users to empty the bin even if all they had was one small document inside. The Trash would then become useless to people that accepted the faulty visual cue.

Indeed, each folder should have an icon representation of how much data lives inside, based on physical space consumed.

Pastry.
-- ed, Nov 20 2006


Why do people use the recycle bin? If you don't want a file, delete it.
-- angel, Nov 20 2006


What he said.
-- skinflaps, Nov 20 2006


+ I do like this. I had a 'tree' as an icon, so the tree could have more and more apples or something on it to represent how much junk is in there, not that it really matters, but it would be fun.
-- xandram, Nov 20 2006


//If you don't want a file, delete it.//

I agree. Even though I admit that the recycle bin has come in handy in times when I accidentally deleted something, usually when I send an item there, it means that I am done with it. If you have a file that you think that you might need to recall later, just put it in a "junk" folder. Then when you are in need of space, you can go through it to see what can permanently be thrown away.
-- Jscotty, Nov 21 2006


[Jscotty]: Despite agreeing, you've just described the recycle bin.
-- angel, Nov 21 2006


How about a real recycle bin, where you have to order your trash into appropriate compartments, jpgs in one folder, text documents in another, music files in yet another. Once a week, a man from the council can come round and fine you if you haven't correctly pre-sorted your deleted files.
-- zen_tom, Nov 21 2006


[zen_tom] But what about the files which ought to go on the compost heap? After they've rotted down over a year or two into an amorphous mass of ones and zeros they'll then be ready for reuse.
-- hippo, Nov 21 2006


Ooh, yes [hippo] If the resulting richness of decomposing ones and ohs can create a more fertile ground for any coding I (or someone with any talent) might embark upon, then I'm all for that too. After they've broken down for a while, you could sprinkle them over your allegorical cabbage patch, with the hope that they might provide some much required floating point arithmetic, or optimised sorting algorithms.
-- zen_tom, Nov 21 2006


Shinobi, you are obviously using the wrong OS. This is baked.
-- webfishrune, Nov 21 2006


//when you delete something, many times it is simply sent to the recycle bin automatically.//

This is generally the case when the file is on a local drive. If it's on a network drive (or you hold down <shift> while deleting), it's gone poof immediately. My question was, why delete something that you want?
-- angel, Nov 21 2006


So you actually 'delete' files by dragging the icon onto the recycle bin?
-- angel, Nov 21 2006



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