Show paths/controls for both panes in split view

[AndreiMiculita]

Currently, opening a split view with F3 only splits the main view (with the icons/thumbnails). It would be very useful if the path toolbar was also split somehow to display paths for each pane. Ideally, the controls (Back/Forward/Up/Refresh) would also be duplicated but that might be a bit crowded.

Been working a lot with the split view recently and I'm definitely missing this, it's easy to forget the path of the unfocused view, so then it requires 2 more clicks to check it and then focus back on the initial view.

Here's a visual illustration of the problem:

For an example, check out the way Total Commander from Windows does it. Both panes have their own path visible:

[Jeremy7701]

Also, it would be very useful to have a stronger indication of which pane has the focus - perhaps different backgrounds?

[AndreiMiculita]

Also, it would be very useful to have a stronger indication of which pane has the focus - perhaps different backgrounds?

In the default theme at least, that's already done. Notice how in my screenshot the right side is brighter.

@AndreiMiculita You might be better off with Double Commander instead of Nemo if you want aspect and behavior as close to Total Commander as possible. Although DC has a few quirks and shortcomings it is highly configurable, more so than TC and infinitely more than Nemo.

I myself tried to get accustomed to Nemo coming from 20+ years of TotCmd but just couldn't, so now I went over to Double Commander and slowly getting to feel like back home.

As for the focused pane distinction @Jeremy7701 that is indeed up to the current theme, as pointed out by Andrei. See here Nemo in Cinnamon 4.2 (Mint 19.2) where focused pane (left) is brighter than the other one:

[Jeremy7701]

Using a Mint-X light theme on LMDE5 (Cinnamon 5.27) fails to provide this kind of highlighting.
I could use a Mint-Y Control theme but then the permissions flags are no longer shown as tri-state flags.

[Jeremy7701]

Just got the update for Cinnamon 5.4.9 for LMDE5 and all problems are fixed.

[AndreiMiculita]

You might be better off with Double Commander instead of Nemo if you want aspect and behavior as close to Total Commander as possible.

Agree, but I've never used Total Commander as a daily driver and I'm not looking for a recreation of it. It's just that splitting panes is a feature that I find a bit incoherent in Nemo as it is at the moment.

Agree, but I've never used Total Commander as a daily driver [...]

Since day one I realized TC's superiority to Explorer and never looked back. Granted plug-ins give it a lot of extra power but same goes with Double Commander. It may be an acquired taste but once gotten it will never leave you. It's not for everybody though.
Nemo can't hold a candle to DC.

[mtwebster]

DC looks powerful indeed but it's definitely not for casual users.

The double-toolbar was changed a long time ago I believe, because it created a very crowded situation in the toolbar and would also force the window to be wide enough to accomodate everything. I wouldn't mind adding something that might at least show the current location for each pane, but it's not something we've spent any time on.

[AndreiMiculita]

I wouldn't mind adding something that might at least show the current location for each pane, but it's not something we've spent any time on.

A read-only label containing the path could be useful. Or, to make it more minimalistic, only the name of the directory itself. With some extra info if we need to differentiate.

For example, here's what an Intellij IDE does:

• When a file is open, show its name in the tab title:
  
• When two files with the same name, but different locations are open, show as much of their path as needed to differentiate in the tab title. Here for example they only need to go 1 dir up:
  

So if we have these directories:

1. foo/bar/baz
2. foo/bar/qux
3. foo/quux/baz
4. quuz/bar/baz

Open directories	Pane labels
1 and 2	baz and qux
1 and 3	bar/baz and quux/baz
1 and 4	foo/.../bazand quuz/.../baz

Also, using an ellipsis for the identical parts would trim it down even more.

Another option is the way Meld does it, where they add a directory name in brackets (see title bar):

[Eichhorst]

Currently i'm using Caja (on MATE) only because of this (missing) feature!
I'd be happy to see it implemented in Nemo, too!

[cdmdotnet]

I'd just be thrilled if you could toggle between horizontal vs vertical panes and a toggle to have a single/combined left pan (tree/places) or dual left panes like xplorer2 has.

I think this would polish the dual pane feature of nemo off perfectly.

[mtwebster]

Addressing the original issue, the controls are too crowded if you attempt to have two sets - this was something Nemo used to have, but was removed a long time ago. There are no plans for its return. OP's screenshot looks like a 4k monitor in full resolution - this is not a typical situation for most users.

[AndreiMiculita]

OP's screenshot looks like a 4k monitor in full resolution - this is not a typical situation for most users.

If only there was some way to tell what resolution my screen was in that picture....

Hint: it very much was not 4K. It's 4 times smaller. And the total commander screenshot is even smaller.