Finder
Latest
TUAW Tip: Take control of your sidebar
Today's tip is all about your Finder sidebar. I've altered mine a bit from the default setup to better accommodate the way I work. The first thing I do is to remove the Movies, Music and Pictures folders. They're really only a single click away from my home folder, plus I use iTunes to manage my music and videos, and iPhoto handles my photos. So I rarely need to go poking around those folders manually. To remove a folder or other item from your sidebar, simply click and drag it out of the list, then let go and it's gone.Next, I've brought in my current projects. To add an item to the sidebar, simply click and drag it into place. A thin, blue line appears between existing items. Drop it in and you're all set.The four folders you see below my "Documents" folder contain the files that are currently receiving all of my attention. Now they're only a click away, no matter where I've navigated to in the Finder. The "Trash" is actually a super simple Apple Script that reads:on opentell the application "Finder"move the selection to the trashend tellend openI saved my script as an application, moved it to my "Documents" folder, gave it a sweet icon from The Iconfactory and dragged it into my sidebar. Anything dropped onto it will be moved to the trash. Finally, my Quickdrop folder is where I store all the junk that I accumulate during the day (I like a clean desktop). At the end of the day, I decide what I want to keep from in there, move those items to their proper locations and send the rest to the trash.
GL Image Browser
GL Image Browser is one of those great little free apps that I'm sure will quickly find its way into a lot of Docks. As the author says at Geekologic.com: "It is no iPhoto or Picasa clone, GL Image Browser is not meant as a tool to archive pictures, but as a tool to quickly browse through thousands of pictures to find a special one you are looking for." It's really simple: you can give GL Image Browser a directory to browse through, with an option to toggle whether it parses subdirectories. Clicking on an image displays it in a full-screen window, at which point you can either use your keys to keep navigating, or you can click again to get back to your desktop and the image browser. Right-clicking an image will reveal it in the Finder. I don't think it gets much simpler than this folks. I also don't see much in the way of system requirements other than QuickTime, since it apparently uses that somehow in the back end of the app. As I mentioned before, GL Image Browser is free, and I don't even see an option on the author's site to donate. Either way, enjoy this most excellent of handy little apps.[via MacNN]
What does the Finder job announcement tell us?
Saying that John Siracusa isn't a big fan of the Finder is like saying that Superman isn't a big fan of kryptonite: it is true but it doesn't really express the true level of disdain.John has taken to the recent ad for a Finder engineer to weed out what future versions of the Finder might have in store for us. Judging by the fact that Apple is even looking for a Finder engineer at this point, John reasons that OS 10.5 probably will not sport a completely redesigned Finder but rather continue the on the path of slight improvements.Reading the whole post is well worth your time, since I bet you use the Finder everyday.[via Drunkenblog]
Apple seeking a Finder software engineer
Are you a developer who has a beef with Apple's Finder? Well here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. Apple is currently seeking a software engineer to help with the development with the "...next generation versions" of the Finder. A part of the job description requires the winning candidate to "...develop Finder into the best file browser on the planet." No pressure or anything.If you're interested, you may apply here. Good luck.[Via Daring Fireball]
I can't use a Mac unless...
I set up a lot of out-of-the-box Macs at work. If I'm getting them ready for life as a general workstation machine, I just give them my usual run through. However, If I'm lucky enough to be working on a machine that I'm going to be using, I can get everything set up the way I like it. In short, I can't use a Mac unless... All Finder windows are set to column view. Seriously, icon and list view are just infuriating to me at this point. I don't know how I used list view so happily for all those years with the "classic Mac OS." The desktop bears only one single icon. That icon is the hard drive. I cannot understand people whose desktops are so littered with icons that the desktop picture is barely visible. I don't know how they find anything, or even focus on the screen. I'd need a Ritalin smoothie to use that machine. The Dock is transparent and borderless. I started using TransparentDock a while ago, and now the sight of a white Dock just irks me. Speaking of the dock... The hard drive and Applications folder are in the Dock. But that's a given, right? Quicksilver is installed. That's right, I can't use a Mac that doesn't have Quicksilver installed. I find myself hitting Command-space on other machines all the time, as it's ingrained in my muscle memory at this point. I can hit Command-space-m- (for Mail) Return without even thinking about it. I have a two button mouse. Just try it for a week, you'll never go back. So, there you have it. What's your list?
Automated labels the mac geek way
Tagging is all the rage now adays. Web 2.0 companies have risen and fallen over tagging. People love it so much that some folks would like to tag files in the Finder so that they can leverage Spotlight%uFFFD for their own purposes. However, wouldn't it be cool if you could automatically 'tag' files? Well, Mac Geekery is on it with this little bit o' command line magic that will do just that (when combined with cron).
Tabbed Finder: What do you think?
Today I was forced to use Internet Explorer on a Mac running OS 9, and I immediately realized just how much I've come to rely on tabbed browsing. Opening several windows was a pain, not to mention trying to navigate through the "pile" of windows I eventually created. I spend a lot of time during my day job developing solutions in Filemaker Pro. We've been using tabbed interfaces in Filemaker for ages now, as it's a convenient way to store a lot of information when you've got limited space. So, while struggling with a "tabless" browser and thinking about just how much I like a tabbed interface, I thought, "What if the Mac Finder had tabs?"Above is a very crude (don't laugh) mock up that I quickly created. Similar to multiple desktops, you could hop between dynamically created tabs. Perhaps a "create a new tab" option, or "send this process to tab..." Just thinking out loud, really. So am I crazy? What do you think?
