see here:
One of the problems may be that if you disable input in the tag panel when there is no selected file that you would also not be able to set a new path to load files from.
Using the toolbar to open a folder would be less comfortable as this would not hold the history of recently visited folders - which is rather convenient if you want to switch between these.
But I am just guessing.
Still, I would not want to miss that folder-log-function.
If you have trouble to remember that you have to select files, then consider to set the option File>Options>General>Automatically select files.