Compare that to GrandPerspective. In one window I can see everything on the disk. The visual size of each item is directly proportional to its size on disk. I can notice and identify large files without even a click. And thanks to the coloring, I can easily see large folders that are full of smaller files.
The "treemap" design used in apps like GrandPerspective has its benefits, and with a proper implementation, they can be quite usable. We actually considered treemap as well, when we initially designed DaisyDisk (which then didn't have this name, of course
) and compared it against the "sunburst" design. After thorough testing, we decided that the latter performs better in terms of UX. So we have real data to support this decision, not a mere speculation or gut feeling.
The problem with treemap is that it doesn't visually give you the location context of the file you are looking at, and this is the most critical thing to know to understand what the file is, and make decision whether it can be deleted or not. If you don't know where the file is located, you get what we call "omg, where am I?" problem. In treemaps, you can only understand location when you point mouse over a file, and you get that information in text (path), which is not visual, requires effort to interpret.
Compare that to sunburst. Yes, it doesn't show all files at once, but this is rather beneficial, because it doesn't overload your eyes with information all at once. By hiding some of it, it allows you manage complexity, step by step. But the main thing, the sunburst displays the folder tree itself, not only terminal leaves on that tree. So by following the tree branches, you can easily – visually! – understand where the file is located. Color coding and animations also help you with that.
Of course, sunburst has its downsides, but we've minimized all of them with some original ideas. All in all, it's not by chance that people find DaisyDisk easy to use. It's because its design is optimized for most people and most use cases. And let me respectfully disagree that its popularity is due to visual design and sexy animations. It's only topping on an ice cream. You would see it too if you knew what we know
Thanks for thoughtful discussion!
