[Github-comments] [geany/geany] Request to change the user experience when attempting to open binary files (#1966)

[Joseph Dewey]

When trying to open binary files, Geany appears to just do nothing. My initial reaction was that it opened a hidden copy of itself and the process hung. Currently, the way Geany handles this is just really weird. The only hint I get that it's doing this on purpose is this cryptic message, "file.ext does not look like a text file or the file encoding is not supported."

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/7899230/46348099-06f69a80-c678-11e8-9133-32c1f1eaca9a.png)

...and normally, I have the status bar hidden, so it took me a while to even figure out why it wasn't opening the file. So, my request is that if Geany decides it won't open a file, to show a pop-up message. Pop up messages are annoying, but it should do something to alert the user that it's not going to do anything with the file that the user requested to open.

Also, it would be nice to give a better message in the status bar like, "Geany doesn't support binary files" or "Geany won't open a file with any special nonprintable characters in it." The current message is way too vague.

...which as a side note is ridiculous that Geany doesn't open binary files, but I think that's been covered in other requests. Geany is the only text editor that won't even try to open a file with special characters. You really should make a "protected read only, display only binary mode..." or offer to launch the binary file in another editor that doesn't have Geany's restrictions.

But that's not my request....My request is to make this less a less disturbing user experience, by displaying better information to the user when the user attempts to open a non-conforming file.

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https://github.com/geany/geany/issues/1966
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