Slashdot Mirror
Panther Analysis Getting Underway
Durin_Deathless writes "Think Secret has posted their first article analyzing the changes from Mac OS X 10.2 to 10.3. In this first installment, they look at the changes to the Installation, System Requirements, the Finder, and some other things.
They have some nice images available too."
Inside Panther: A look at the Finder and System, part one (images)
By Nick dePlume, Publisher and Editor in Chief
June 30, 2003 - This is the first installment of our "Inside Panther" series, covering Mac OS X Version 10.3. Check back frequently for additional Panther coverage. Today, we begin looking at updates to the Finder and System.
Before we begin our first report, one important note -- Panther includes a significant number of changes to the Finder and System. As such, we're splitting the Finder/System portion of our "Inside Panther" series into a number of separate parts. Today's report largely deals with the new Finder window, as well as a few notes about installation, but much, much more is in the pipeline.
One of the most significant changes in Panther is the revised Finder interface. The new Finder features the brushed-metal look from iTunes and a new Places sidebar along the left, with quick links to volumes and removable media at the top; and applications, files, and folders at the bottom. With these shortcuts, the Places sidebar replaces some of the previous functionality of the Finder toolbar.
To be quite clear: The brushed-metal look cannot be removed, and is not an "option" that can be switched with an Aqua Finder. However, the Places sidebar is not a required feature, by any means. By clicking on the widget at the upper right-hand corner of the Finder window, it is immediately removed, along with the toolbar. Additionally, the Finder toolbar can still be hidden from a menu, separately from hiding the Places sidebar.
In our screenshots, we show the three basic Finder views, both with and without the Places sidebar. As with Jaguar, Finder windows remember their appearance settings fairly well. While the format of a Places sidebar won't appeal to everyone, just as column view doesn't appeal to everyone, Apple is providing users with a number of ways to customize the look and function of windows. A user who simply wants a plain window with no toolbar or sidebar, with basic folder icons that open up new windows when clicked, like in Mac OS 9, can still do that.
The Places sidebar scales dynamically when Finder windows are resized. All of the items can be rearranged. Files, folders, and applications can be added to the bottom portion, customizing it individually, and files/folders can be moved or copied into folders and volumes that are on the list. However, files cannot be dragged into listed applications to open them in that application. Removable media are listed with a clickable "eject" button to the right.
The new Finder layout is also present in open/save dialog boxes, providing a consistent interface throughout the system.
The new Action menu is included by default in the Finder toolbar -- it does exactly what control-clicking or right-clicking does, by calling up a contextual menu.
File/folder labels can be added through the Action menu or the File menu, and are displayed as the background for the file name in both icon and column view. Both views have their own way of displaying the labels, which differs when the labeled files/folders are selected. See our collection of images for details.
Preview in Panther's column view now displays expanded information, as compared to Jaguar.
The new file search is indeed "live," similar to searching a library of iTunes music, but its response speed is, of course, less than that of searching an iTunes music library, and depends largely on the system. Searches can be applied to local disks, the Home directory, "everywhere," or just folders that have been selected in the Finder.
Icon selection is considerably different in Panther, giving folder and file names a blue background, and highlighting a square area around the icon instead of just highlighting the icon. This is also used, of course, when copying and moving files and folders.
A few quick notes on installation: As with Jaguar, Panther has two CDs, the second being an optional installation of additio
fsck -u