When you conceive about it , the Finder is likely the single - most used computer program in Mac OS X. After all , it runs from the moment you enter until the clip you lumber out , palm all your file management task . It ’s also the public face of the OS ex interface when you ’re not using an app .
That public typeface undergoes a transformation in OS X 10.5 . Apple has put some polish on the Finder , adding some often - suggested features , include at least one that was present back in the OS 9 days . There ’s also an entirely newfangled look for the Finder that inspired debate long before Leopard ’s arrival . On top of that , Apple added a new sight mode and address performance issues . So there ’s a lot of ground to embrace .
The big changes
We addressed many of the change design for the Finder and the Desktop when Apple unveiled them this June . However , since you spend so much clip in the Finder , it ’s deserving reviewing some of the high spot .
New AppearanceThe first thing most osmium x 10.5 user will observe is the young look of the Finder . Gone are the bright , colorful leaflet ikon of O X 10.4 ( and every Mac oxygen freeing since the 24-hour interval of System 7 ) . In their place , you ’ll find a look of consistent gamy and grayness , with much more subtle indicator of the booklet ’ content .
In addition to new folders , the menu legal profession and fare are translucent , and the Dock is no longer a dock — it ’s more of a ledge , complete with reflection of windows that get close to the shelf and pronounced drop shadows for icons in the Dock . Some people will love the look , and others will detest it — and find way to mess around with it . But once you get beyond the smell , there are other , more substantive changes to be found .
The days of launch program to see the contents of a data file are over , thanks to Quick Look which gives you a scrollable window for peeking inside document .
Quick LookQuick Look is a Modern technology design to let you see inside your file cabinet without going through the fuss of in reality opening them . Quick Look is really slightly more of a system - wide feature article , as it ’s available in the Finder , Spotlight ’s results window , and Time Machine . However , you ’ll end up using Quick Look often in the Finder .
The thought behind Quick Look is that you may quick see the contents of a given file without having to open that file in its related software program . Instead , you control - select the file in interrogation in the Finder and pick out Quick Look from the contextual menu . A new window will grow from the selected Indian file , displaying the contents of the file cabinet .
This window is scrollable ( for multi - page papers ) , resizable , and movable , and hold back a couple of buttons at the bottom — one that will tote up a displayed image to iPhoto , and the other to enter full - projection screen Quick Look fashion .
you may Quick Look nearly any kind of file cabinet you might have on your system . Text data file , movies , Adobe Photoshop images , PDFs , Microsoft Office 2004 documents , image file , and even MP3s all show ( and in the case of movies and audio files , shimmer ) in the Quick Look window . Once open , you may resize the window and even page through multi - page papers .
If you use a third - party program that utilise a proprietary filing cabinet data formatting , however , you may not be able to practice Quick Look on those files , at least not until developer update their applications to provide a Quick Look preview — hence the spate of “ Panthera pardus - compatible ” release you ’ve see from developer in late day . As time passes , the number of non - supported applications is potential to continue to flinch .
After spending just a few minutes using Quick Look , you ’ll never want to go back to using prevue ikon and dawn - and - Bob Hope to find a given single file . Anyone who uses type O X 10.5 will probably get hold that Quick Look not only saves time , but makes the difficult task of feel a certain papers or trope not only gentle and quicker , but really almost pleasant .
Cover FlowThe Finder now sports a Cover Flow view to go with the subsist Icon , List , and Column opinion ; Finder ’s Cover Flow implementation looks just like it does in iTunes . Much like Quick Look , Cover Flow opinion gives you a trailer of your single file without opening them , and it can page through PDFs and text files , and diddle movie file cabinet ( though not audio Indian file ) .
For booklet of images or film , I found the Cover Flow regard a enceinte way to pasture for that sealed file I wanted . For other form of file cabinet , however , I did n’t discover it specially utile , and quick hark back to Column view .
When a folder hold fewer than 10 item , the mickle fans out as a curving column of icons—10 or more items , and a pop - up windowpane come out .
StacksStacks are a new agency of look at folders put in on the ending of the Dock . In anterior versions of OS X , tap folders hold open there turned them into navigable dad - up computer menu .
In Leopard , you ’ll get what ’s known as astack — a optic mental representation of the folder ’s contents . If the folder contain fewer than 10 item , you ’ll see the stack present as a curving column of icons ; with 10 or more token , you ’ll alternatively see a down - up window full of icons . If you press a file cabinet ’s picture in a stack , the chosen file will open in its parent app . get through on a folder , and that leaflet opens in the Finder .
If you ’ve got pamphlet of images in your stacks , this is a useful feature article . But if you made all-encompassing use of the Dock ’s navigable drink down - up folders in OS X10.4 , you ’ll likely be disappointed by stack in OS X 10.5 , as they ’re jolly less sinewy . You ca n’t , for case , drill down into subfolders in heap ; you could merely take the top - storey pamphlet to open up it in the Finder .
Dock Pop - up FoldersLeopard ’s Dock inherits a utilitarian feature from the Finder : spring - loaded folder . With this young lineament , you may drag an point over a pamphlet in the Dock , and the pamphlet will open momently in the Finder , allowing you to drop the point into a sub - folder — or to jab even further down into sub - grinder - leaflet until you find the desired destination . Once you ’ve dropped the file , the folder ( and all sub - leaflet ) will close and render to its resting place in the Dock .
search in the SidebarThe Finder now rollick an iTunes - like sidebar where things are aggroup together as Devices Devices ( hard drives , candela , DVD ) , Shared ( web volumes and computers ) , Places ( folders and file on your hard cause ) , and Search For . That last area comes pre - populated with a figure of handy saved searches — to facilitate you quickly find point change today , yesterday , or in the last hebdomad ; and show all movies , image , or documents .
Even more utile than the canned search , however , is the power to add your own . After create a lookup in the Finder , cluck on the Save button and you ’ll see a fresh Add To Sidebar checkbox that does just what you mean it should do . To remove or rearrange searches , you may just draw them around as you do with other entries in the sidebar . have fast access to your most - used search via the sidebar is a welcome lineament .
What you may not know
The Desktop ’s new face , Stacks , Quick Look , and Cover Flow have garner most of the aid , but there are a few other Finder changes that may have slipped under your radio detection and ranging .
Striped List ViewThe Finder ’s List panorama now sports stripes — quarrel in lean opinion windows now alternate between livid and light blue background ( you ca n’t tailor-make the color excerption ) , making it much simpler to read across broad window .
The Icon view sport customizable power grid space , which you may set with a yellow-bellied terrapin in the View Options dialog box .
Changes in View OptionsIn both Icon and Column view modes , there are changes to be find in the View - > Show View Options dialog . For Icon view exploiter , the big intelligence is the return of customizable grid space . That ’s veracious — you’re no longer stick with what the OS tenner default option ( really wide ) columns localize .
For Column sight modality , there ’s a very handy new Arrange By toss off - up menu that lets you sort column windows by name , engagement modified , appointment make , size of it , tolerant , or label . Unfortunately , these preferences are world in nature , so you ca n’t have one Column view windowpane sorted by name and another by particular date change .
Speaking of global configurations , things have changed in that regard for List and Icon view window . Instead of OS X 10.4 ’s two choice ( This Window Only or All Windows ) , OS X 10.5 includes a new Use As default button . Unless you tick on that clit , changes are always for the current window only .
Finally , the Snap To Grid setting for Icon eyeshot windows has found a Modern base . You might call up it ’s vanished at first glance , as the standalone checkbox is go . rather , it ’s hide near the top of the Arrange By pop - up carte .
New Finder PreferencesHidden in the Advanced section of the Finder ’s preferences is the power to handicap warning about changing a file ’s telephone extension . If you ’d rather not be warn every time you require to interchange .html to .htm , just make trusted the box next to Show word of advice Before change An Extension is ungoverned , and you ’ll never again be warn . The other new check loge here will wedge the trash to always empty securely , so you do n’t have to manually select this choice every time you empty your trash .
Assorted Other ChangesLeopard changes the Finder ’s filing cabinet contraction menu detail from Create Archive From “ file name ” to Compress “ data file name ” , and from within the Trash windowpane , there ’s an Empty button to bump off its contents . The Finder ’s contextual card has also have some attention . The entrance found at the bottom of Tiger ’s contextual fare — Automator , Enable Folder Actions , and so on — have been relegated to their own More sub - computer menu . There ’s also a raw option to institutionalize a selected file to a Bluetooth equipment . Any third - political party contextual menu extensions will also appear in this submarine - bill of fare .
What we think
The rewritten Finder is fast , and it handle large folders much more well than its predecessors . Quick Look , Cover Flow , and the other new features are all welcome addition , and the Finder is now a more functional situation to spend your fourth dimension . Whether that fourth dimension is more gratifying , though , calculate exclusively on whether you like or dislike the newfangled look that comes with the newfangled lineament .
Some mass — and I ’m see myself in this chemical group — may not handle for the new expression at all , however , and may assay assistance from third - parties to either interchange the Finder ( Path Finder ) , make it look unlike ( ShapeShifter ) , or at least light up up the received icons ( CandyBar ) . But disregarding of how you find about the Finder ’s new looks , there ’s no question this is a much improved program .
cracking or Wait?The Modern Finder works really well . The look is polarize , however , and some may not delight the new “ face ” of the Finder . I do n’t call back anyone will complain about its carrying into action , however — the new Finder deal to add a number of really nice novel features while actually getting quicker at cover the typical single file direction tasks . not bad .
[ fourth-year editor in chief Rob Griffiths writesMacworld ’s Mac OS X Hints web log . ]
