Re:OS X Finder Laundry List - Please add yours.
on
A Better Finder?
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· Score: 1
Too many files: Apple's Finder chokes on multiple thousands of files. If I want to put/copy/paste that many files in a folder, I damn well should be able to without the system grinding to a halt or finder crashing. I had to use 'Path Finder' ( a finder replacement, ala Windows Explorer) to handle this situation.
Copy the folder, not the files. If the files you want are a much smaller subset, why not simply copy them in small groups? If you try to drag and drop thousands of items, it's going to sit there and try to draw lots of translucent files before yes, crapping out.
Renaming files: There is a delay in renaming that makes me crazy. I'll click on a file and it won't go into the rename unless I wait a moment and click again. There is no undo for renaming. If I accidentally rename a file, I have to find the file (not easy with numbered files), find out what the original name was (could take a few minutes to never) and manually rename it. I want 'apple-z' to undo the rename. (It works for copy, paste and other finder operations.)
This is for the sake of double-clicking. As it is, if you double-click a file's name, the file opens. If there wasn't a rename delay, double-clicking a file's name would put you in rename mode at the point you double-clicked.
There is a delay in the update of windows after a file has been renamed and/or saved. This also shifts the files viewable up or down so that when I go to click on the next one, I click on the file that has somehow magically appeared under my cursor. Most annoying.
I think I come across this every now and then, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to complain about it.
Copy/replace dialogs: There is information missing from these, that I could use to make my decision of whether or not to replace that file/s. Where is the date? It just gives me 'newer'.
You mean you want to replace an older file if it's from February but not if it's from March? I think you have more file organizational issues than the Finder does.
Collumn view: No viewing by date, size, or anything but name. It's there in the other 'views', why can't I have it here?
Because it's not in the column view. Only names (and icons) are. It would be much more confusing if you forgot you had it set to sort by date and saw only the names.
Save Dialogs: Same with collumn view. I hated how the old os9 save dialog (think pagemaker - grr.) would pop up and be immovable - invaribly, I needed some info that was immediately under that window. Let me move it. Let me sort the contents by date, size, name.
Hence Apple's push toward developers using sheets for this purpose. If you mean something underneath within that document, though, what could you possibly need that you could forget so quickly?
Labels: If you haven't used labels, you have no idea what you missed out on. Putting a colored cast to an icon was about the most useful thing I had ever seen. I used it extensively in the short time before I moved to OS X. Now the labels are gone, still visible in some os9 apps, but unused by OS X. Nothing would allow me to find a folder in a sea of blue like one with a red sheen to it.
On this I have to agree with you. Labels were useful, albeit rarely. Rumor has it these are coming back.
In fact, icons were easier to maipulate in os9 than X. It seemed I could take anything and make an icon out of it, whereas X requires more forethought and a concerted effort. This may be different now; I've stopped trying.
I would have a response for this, but I haven't even tried to mess with icons in OS X. I like them as they are.
Pop-up folders were swell, however I don't miss them like the labels.
Gah. I hated pop-up windows. Too quickly does your screen become cluttered with little tabs. I much prefer stuff being sent to the Dock, especially since option-cli
Labels: Worse than useless, at least in the incarnation we know from OS9. Better systems can be devised, as the myriad workflow tools in existence have shown us.
I'll throw an exception to this: labels were good for quickly sorting files into groups in which you didn't want to mess with anything else. Being able to tell immediately from an icon's color what it was labeled was occasionally very helpful. For a while I used it to see which of my apps were PPC-native and which were 68K-only.
Now to catch it: if Labels were implemented in OS X, I could see them being done in one of two ways:
Similar to how they were in OS 9. However, it would be preferable to have a label list that could be as large as the user needed, using user-defined colors and names, both of which would be visible in the Finder. (This may take a bit of icon wizardry with the new icons in OS X, though.)
File Comments become ToolTips. 'Nuff said.
Re:Where OS X "Finding" really falls down...
on
A Better Finder?
·
· Score: 1
Under Win2K I can do the following in the open/save dialogs:
* Customize my view style (icon, list, etc)
Um, with all due respect, I don't think that's necessary for open/save dialogs
* Filter visible files by my own criteria
That's something that's always pissed me off about Windows. I'm in a folder; I want to see the folder. All of it. Especially if I want to open something and the application's default filter doesn't think I even want to see it.
* Directly manipulate (move, rename, delete, etc)
In other words, the Finder should be in each dialog box? No.
* Right click to do things like compress the file before choosing it
Uh, compress the file before opening it or before saving it? That doesn't make any sense.
* Sort by other than name
For saving, that's unnecessary. For opening, that's what the Finder's for.
* type first letter to jump to file
Actually, you can. Just make sure you're dealing in the list view and not in the "Go to:" box. And you're not limited to only the first character.
* quickly see where in the hierarchy I am all at once
Well, you could scroll left.
Actually, what I want back are open/save dialogs that work exactly as they did in 9, but with the extra Cmd-Shift shortcuts. I could swear I used one recently, but I forget which application I was in. I think it was one that implemented them as sheets (as apps are supposed to).
Somewhat along the same lines, what happens if a 16-year-old makes porn of him/herself and releases it upon turning 18? Clearly the child wasn't being harmed.
And before you mention the fact that it's even slightly possible that perhaps one of those put to death via capital punishment is innocent, let me remind you you're comparing them to 40 million unborn children. Aren't the children innocent?
As long as I'm here, I just want to point out that Jak 'n' Daxter is not the original for all these "knockoffs", like Vexx. The original 3D platform game is, I think, Super Mario 64.
Alternatively, perhaps it could learn a thing or two from the related work already done in tranquility. From the tranquility website (see introduction -> technology):
The audio composer is named JukeBox. It is the task of JukeBox to create a pleasing song to go with a particular game. JukeBox is an AI that has a rudimentary understanding of musical rules. It also understands what audio samples are available to it. JukeBox first creates a particular tune. It will then look at the available instruments and will assign them to the various tracks based not only on the tempo of the tracks, but also on how the instruments combine (it knows that not all instruments sound good together, and that an instrument that sounds good at one tempo or pitch, may not sound good at a different tempo or pitch).
JukeBox also understands how to underdrive and overdrive some of the sounds to produce special effects. It works these effects into some songs based on what it thinks will sound pleasing.
Additionally, JukeBox assigns sounds to the platforms and spinners that augment and "fit" the basic soundtrack.
And those checkout counters aren't that big, either. With three items on the counter, how many more can you fit?
As for AppleCare and.Mac, I think you're supposed to decide after the fact, when you start up your new computer and register it. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to scare people by selling them hardware and then asking if they want to warranty it, especially since most warranties are seen as a waste of money, and also because Apple has a lower hardware failure rate than everyone else but Dell. They probably should mention.Mac, though. Or at least Apple's discussion boards.
Strange how he picked an atypcial store to analyze. Most Apple stores are one floor. In any case, one hopes there's more to his analysis than just the 7 points he mentions, especially since the Apple Store apparently fails five of them. (But a concession stand in an Apple Store? What, instead of free Evian?) Nevertheless, Apple Stores are, even by the author's own account, a success, so you have to wonder if perhaps the rules are flawed. It may be precisely because Apple Stores are so different that people are intruiged by almost everything in the store.
As a side note, I have to wonder how many females traverse the glass staircase in skirts or dresses. ...Probably none, actually.
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Too many files: Apple's Finder chokes on multiple thousands of files. If I want to put/copy/paste that many files in a folder, I damn well should be able to without the system grinding to a halt or finder crashing. I had to use 'Path Finder' ( a finder replacement, ala Windows Explorer) to handle this situation.
Copy the folder, not the files. If the files you want are a much smaller subset, why not simply copy them in small groups? If you try to drag and drop thousands of items, it's going to sit there and try to draw lots of translucent files before yes, crapping out.
Renaming files: There is a delay in renaming that makes me crazy. I'll click on a file and it won't go into the rename unless I wait a moment and click again.
There is no undo for renaming. If I accidentally rename a file, I have to find the file (not easy with numbered files), find out what the original name was (could take a few minutes to never) and manually rename it. I want 'apple-z' to undo the rename. (It works for copy, paste and other finder operations.)
This is for the sake of double-clicking. As it is, if you double-click a file's name, the file opens. If there wasn't a rename delay, double-clicking a file's name would put you in rename mode at the point you double-clicked.
There is a delay in the update of windows after a file has been renamed and/or saved. This also shifts the files viewable up or down so that when I go to click on the next one, I click on the file that has somehow magically appeared under my cursor. Most annoying.
I think I come across this every now and then, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to complain about it.
Copy/replace dialogs: There is information missing from these, that I could use to make my decision of whether or not to replace that file/s. Where is the date? It just gives me 'newer'.
You mean you want to replace an older file if it's from February but not if it's from March? I think you have more file organizational issues than the Finder does.
Collumn view: No viewing by date, size, or anything but name. It's there in the other 'views', why can't I have it here?
Because it's not in the column view. Only names (and icons) are. It would be much more confusing if you forgot you had it set to sort by date and saw only the names.
Save Dialogs: Same with collumn view. I hated how the old os9 save dialog (think pagemaker - grr.) would pop up and be immovable - invaribly, I needed some info that was immediately under that window. Let me move it. Let me sort the contents by date, size, name.
Hence Apple's push toward developers using sheets for this purpose. If you mean something underneath within that document, though, what could you possibly need that you could forget so quickly?
Labels: If you haven't used labels, you have no idea what you missed out on. Putting a colored cast to an icon was about the most useful thing I had ever seen. I used it extensively in the short time before I moved to OS X. Now the labels are gone, still visible in some os9 apps, but unused by OS X. Nothing would allow me to find a folder in a sea of blue like one with a red sheen to it.
On this I have to agree with you. Labels were useful, albeit rarely. Rumor has it these are coming back.
In fact, icons were easier to maipulate in os9 than X. It seemed I could take anything and make an icon out of it, whereas X requires more forethought and a concerted effort. This may be different now; I've stopped trying.
I would have a response for this, but I haven't even tried to mess with icons in OS X. I like them as they are.
Pop-up folders were swell, however I don't miss them like the labels.
Gah. I hated pop-up windows. Too quickly does your screen become cluttered with little tabs. I much prefer stuff being sent to the Dock, especially since option-cli
Labels: Worse than useless, at least in the incarnation we know from OS9. Better systems can be devised, as the myriad workflow tools in existence have shown us.
I'll throw an exception to this: labels were good for quickly sorting files into groups in which you didn't want to mess with anything else. Being able to tell immediately from an icon's color what it was labeled was occasionally very helpful. For a while I used it to see which of my apps were PPC-native and which were 68K-only.
Now to catch it: if Labels were implemented in OS X, I could see them being done in one of two ways:
Under Win2K I can do the following in the open/save dialogs:
* Customize my view style (icon, list, etc)
Um, with all due respect, I don't think that's necessary for open/save dialogs
* Filter visible files by my own criteria
That's something that's always pissed me off about Windows. I'm in a folder; I want to see the folder. All of it. Especially if I want to open something and the application's default filter doesn't think I even want to see it.
* Directly manipulate (move, rename, delete, etc)
In other words, the Finder should be in each dialog box? No.
* Right click to do things like compress the file before choosing it
Uh, compress the file before opening it or before saving it? That doesn't make any sense.
* Sort by other than name
For saving, that's unnecessary. For opening, that's what the Finder's for.
* type first letter to jump to file
Actually, you can. Just make sure you're dealing in the list view and not in the "Go to:" box. And you're not limited to only the first character.
* quickly see where in the hierarchy I am all at once
Well, you could scroll left.
Actually, what I want back are open/save dialogs that work exactly as they did in 9, but with the extra Cmd-Shift shortcuts. I could swear I used one recently, but I forget which application I was in. I think it was one that implemented them as sheets (as apps are supposed to).
You mean like shattering a window? Heeyyy......
Uh, you're expecting to be modded up funny, right?
Okay, I'm getting really tired of comparing "apples and oranges". I like pears. Can't we compare apples and pears?
I think you forgot the obligatory:
4. Profit!!!
which in that case, might actually work.
Somewhat along the same lines, what happens if a 16-year-old makes porn of him/herself and releases it upon turning 18? Clearly the child wasn't being harmed.
I think that generally speaking, it's pretty obvious when you come to a porn site. Porn sites generally have one or more of the following features:
No, not really. Why try to save the lives of 683 criminals when you can try to save 40 million unborn children?
And before you mention the fact that it's even slightly possible that perhaps one of those put to death via capital punishment is innocent, let me remind you you're comparing them to 40 million unborn children. Aren't the children innocent?
You read the rest of the post too, right?
By "Bush" you mean "the Justice Department", right?
No, you didn't. But I've heard it before. So I figured as long as I was on the topic...
Such as SETI@home. It runs FFT for a split-second before doing the more CPU intensive tasks.
As long as I'm here, I just want to point out that Jak 'n' Daxter is not the original for all these "knockoffs", like Vexx. The original 3D platform game is, I think, Super Mario 64.
Good point, though.
Okay, was it just me, or could no one else figure out how to use that vacuum thing? I am able to play Sunshine, though.
Alternatively, perhaps it could learn a thing or two from the related work already done in tranquility. From the tranquility website (see introduction -> technology):
Is the GameCube really that abysmal that it can't handle a platform game?
On the other hand... Animal Crossing, new Zelda, pre-rendered shadows in Mario Party, hmmm....
My guess would be that they were internal releases which were not made public. It happens sometimes.
Anyone want an iMac??
Is it free? If so, yes.
Ah, but you don't have to walk underneath it. An angle view should do the trick. Assuming the glass isn't frosted or blurry.
I think maybe it also has to do with the Coriolis effect. Do they walk clockwise around the mall in Australia?
And those checkout counters aren't that big, either. With three items on the counter, how many more can you fit?
.Mac, I think you're supposed to decide after the fact, when you start up your new computer and register it. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to scare people by selling them hardware and then asking if they want to warranty it, especially since most warranties are seen as a waste of money, and also because Apple has a lower hardware failure rate than everyone else but Dell. They probably should mention .Mac, though. Or at least Apple's discussion boards.
As for AppleCare and
Strange how he picked an atypcial store to analyze. Most Apple stores are one floor. In any case, one hopes there's more to his analysis than just the 7 points he mentions, especially since the Apple Store apparently fails five of them. (But a concession stand in an Apple Store? What, instead of free Evian?) Nevertheless, Apple Stores are, even by the author's own account, a success, so you have to wonder if perhaps the rules are flawed. It may be precisely because Apple Stores are so different that people are intruiged by almost everything in the store.
As a side note, I have to wonder how many females traverse the glass staircase in skirts or dresses.
...Probably none, actually.
He said it was in Classic.