I'm at a crossroads in regards to v4 dev, and I'm gonna need some help deciding how to continue. You're probably (or not) aware that I've been writing the new file manager, but you are probably less aware that this isn't my first attempt at writing us a better file manager. So I actually wrote one long ago that was very capable, but when I showed it to ChIkEn he asked me if I could make it AJAX. I ultimately decided to rewrite it from scratch with AJAX in mind, and the result so far has been promising:

(click for some animation of it in action)

It's still unfinished in some areas (the file tree doesn't always get refreshed automatically), but I was thinking aside from that it's still a little confusing to use. I posted my old design in IRC and it was met with favorable opinion, which got me thinking about redesigning the new one to be more like the old one. So now for comparison I present to you the old one:

(again, click 4 gif)

What do you think? Do you like the idea of a file tree or does it make more sense to keep it focused on one folder at a time? What do about the preview pane for images and such? Suggestions? Questions? Advice? Lemme hear your opinions!

Oh, and unrelated note, I made a twitter finally (@aeron64). I tried to follow as many of you guys as I could find just by guessing names but I hardly found everyone. Now add me so I can add you!