HACKER Q&A
📣 sideshowb

Best resource to teach non-techies how folder hierarchies work


I'm sure we all know friends and family who we've been explaining this to since the 1990s but still don't quite get it...

"Where did my photo/document/download go?"

"How can I save this screenshot and later share it on email/facebook?"

"Where did the scanner put my scan?"

...etc, all of these questions fundamentally stemming from patchy knowledge of directory structures - which I guess are just very, very unintuitive to some - and how to access various bits of them (my documents, desktop, downloads) from various places (file explorer, file dialog) - all while numerous apps try to abstract them away (but still fail).

There must be a good resource for teaching this better. What have you got?

  👤 codingdave Accepted Answer ✓
Point at their filing cabinet. Ask them to show you how it helps organize their papers. Let them explain how their own folders work. Then... explain that file systems are the same.

After all, folder hierarchies are an abstraction put on top of file systems to match folders in real life. Not the other way around.

👤 bradwood
Filing cabinet = drive (C:)

Filing cabinet drawer = folder/directory (C:\blah)

File in filing cabinet drawer = sub-folder/subdirectory (C:\blah\blah)

Page in file = specific document/picture (C:\blah\blah\pic.gif)