IIRC, [link|http://www.xworkplace.org/proj_xwp_features.html|XWorkplace] on OS/2 let one choose between "close parent when opening child" and "just open child" behavior on each folder if desired. That could be handy if you needed to work on a parent and children simultaneously.

Most of the time I do my file management stuff with [link|http://silk.apana.org.au/fc.html|File Commander]. It's available for Win32 and OS/2 and the Win32 .exe is only ~ 320 kB. It's shareware. (Grab the development version to use the latest code.) Unfortunately, Brian hasn't released a Linux version (and it's not clear from the mailing list if he's working on one). If I need to drill down to a deep subdirectory I can use the tree view, or down-arrow+Enter or simply cd subdirname (if subdirname is unique - it knows by examining a special text file it builds after the first refresh of a tree view). When I'm in the directory of interest, ctrl+w(indow) will open a graphical folder view if I want to do GUI things there. Alt-F4 closes it when I'm done.

I really don't like mousing around unless I have to... :-)

I'm aware of [link|http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/|GNU Midnight Commander] but it doesn't seem to be as polished. I have to admit I haven't played with it much so I don't really know how well they compare in their functionality.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.
(Who still sets up Winders to have each child open in a new window.)