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Stacks' fatal flaw

neiltc13

neiltc13

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2006
3,128
28
So much for these new Stack things being useful - they have a horrid flaw which will really stop me using them.

The stack takes on the icons of the contents and does not allow you to change it. Specifically the stack takes on the icon of the first item inside of the folder it is linked to.

If you create a Macintosh HD stack this means it carries an Applications folder icon. This is infuriating for me as I previously had two clear things in this section - Macintosh HD and Applications.
 
neiltc13 said:
So much for these new Stack things being useful - they have a horrid flaw which will really stop me using them.

The stack takes on the icons of the contents and does not allow you to change it. Specifically the stack takes on the icon of the first item inside of the folder it is linked to.

If you create a Macintosh HD stack this means it carries an Applications folder icon. This is infuriating for me as I previously had two clear things in this section - Macintosh HD and Applications.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. I used to have a Clients folder in my dock and a Sites folder. Basically both of these contained other folders. In Tiger I was able to give a custom icon to the Clients and Sites folders so I could easily tell them apart in the dock.

Now in Leopard, they just look like folders because they show the first item in each...which is a folder.

Apple needs to allow us to make a custom icon for the stack, or turn off the stack for that item and revert back to the way Tiger did it.

-Kevin
 
kbmb said:
Apple needs to allow us to make a custom icon for the stack, or turn off the stack for that item and revert back to the way Tiger did it.
Click to expand...

Don't have Leopard so I'm probably wrong, but doesn't the dock only make a stack if you put it to the right of that dotted line thingy?
 
This is most definitely a workaround, but all you need to do is create a new folder titled 'Aaa' in the stack and assign it whatever icon you like. Since it's alphabetically first, the Stack will take the icon.
 
Gherkin said:
Don't have Leopard so I'm probably wrong, but doesn't the dock only make a stack if you put it to the right of that dotted line thingy?
Click to expand...

That's the only place you can put folders and drives...same as in Tiger.

-Kevin
 
kbmb said:
That's the only place you can put folders and drives...same as in Tiger.

-Kevin
Click to expand...

Hmm, guess it's obvious that I don't have any folders in my dock.

Stacks sounds like an awesome concept that could use a little more tweaking by Apple.
 
neiltc13 said:
So much for these new Stack things being useful - they have a horrid flaw which will really stop me using them.

The stack takes on the icons of the contents and does not allow you to change it. Specifically the stack takes on the icon of the first item inside of the folder it is linked to.

If you create a Macintosh HD stack this means it carries an Applications folder icon. This is infuriating for me as I previously had two clear things in this section - Macintosh HD and Applications.
Click to expand...

So make sure that the first thing in your folder isn't porn.
 
use a smart folder

neiltc13 said:
So much for these new Stack things being useful - they have a horrid flaw which will really stop me using them.

The stack takes on the icons of the contents and does not allow you to change it. Specifically the stack takes on the icon of the first item inside of the folder it is linked to.

If you create a Macintosh HD stack this means it carries an Applications folder icon. This is infuriating for me as I previously had two clear things in this section - Macintosh HD and Applications.
Click to expand...
This is hardly a "fatal flaw." Could we tone down the hyperbole just a smidge? :)

I don't have Leopard yet, but based on the advertising material, there seems to be several easy options for going around this "fatal flaw" (meaning that it isn't really a "fatal flaw" at all by definition.)

First, you could change the sort or create a new fake icon or folder with the icon you want, as noted by others above.

Secondly, it says in the Leopard tour that you can make "smart folders" in the Finder (just like smart playlists in iTunes), and that those smart folders can also be "stacks." What's to stop you from custom designing your own smart folder that corresponds to the hard drive and giving it any icon you want?

Finally, making a folder on your dock that accesses your entire hard drive is a bit silly IMO and I would venture to guess that there are maybe five or six people out there that want it. I am sure there will be a shareware option to turn-on the older functionality for the minority of people that really, really, really, really need it or they are going to die!!!!

(that was a hyperbole joke)
 
Apple should change it so that when you drag a folder to the dock it should remain as a folder like in Tiger, then, you right click it expands the folder, but includes an option to “Make Stack”.

As for icons, sure, you can create a subfolder folder and call it “_” and assign it an icon, but the user shouldn't have to be the one to do this. Still before people slate Apple we should at least wait to see how they respond to the user comments.

kbmb said:
That's the only place you can put folders and drives...same as in Tiger.

-Kevin
Click to expand...
Really? You can’t drag an folders to the left side of the dock?
 
gloss said:
This is most definitely a workaround, but all you need to do is create a new folder titled 'Aaa' in the stack and assign it whatever icon you like. Since it's alphabetically first, the Stack will take the icon.
Click to expand...

great tip, thanks.

just need a way to get rid of the horrid blue menu bar, and get back windowshade!
 
You've never been able to do that (drag an icon to the left side of the dock). You've also never been able to include minimized application windows in exposé, which seriously limits the usefulness of both the dock and exposé if you're the kind of person who frequently finds themselves doing complex adjustments to 50 or 100 images at a time. (things that can't be done consistently with actions or droplets or automator).

I was hoping this would change with leopard. Instead the dock folder functionality has actually gotten WORSE.

Stacks are less useful than what we had before. Oh well.
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
Finally, making a folder on your dock that accesses your entire hard drive is a bit silly IMO and I would venture to guess that there are maybe five or six people out there that want it. I am sure there will be a shareware option to turn-on the older functionality for the minority of people that really, really, really, really need it or they are going to die!!!!

(that was a hyperbole joke)
Click to expand...
I agree. If you use something regularly, add it to the dock. If you don’t use it regularly then accessing it via Finder/Spotlight shouldn’t be that much trouble.
 
benpatient said:
You've never been able to do that (drag an icon to the left side of the dock).
Click to expand...
Oh okay. I never new that. (I've only used Mac's at uni. Mine is arriving tomorrow)

benpatient said:
You've also never been able to include minimized application windows in exposé, which seriously limits the usefulness of both the dock and exposé if you're the kind of person who frequently finds themselves doing complex adjustments to 50 or 100 images at a time. (things that can't be done consistently with actions or droplets or automator).
Click to expand...
I would love to see this feature added.

In Photoshop or Firefox I tend to minimize windows I’m not currently working on/viewing in order to have a clean work area, but I would still like to have access to them in Expose.
 
I Agree

In the past if you put a networked drive on the dock, the icon of the Drive was what you saw. Now all you see is a folder icon or "stacked" items. I only want to see the network drive icon!! I am connected to five drives.:mad:
 
solution:

neiltc13
So much for these new Stack things being useful - they have a horrid flaw which will really stop me using them.

The stack takes on the icons of the contents and does not allow you to change it. Specifically the stack takes on the icon of the first item inside of the folder it is linked to.

If you create a Macintosh HD stack this means it carries an Applications folder icon. This is infuriating for me as I previously had two clear things in this section - Macintosh HD and Applications.
Click to expand...

All you need to do is make an alias of whatever folder you want in your "stacks" section (Applications or Mac HD) and drag that. It will open up a finder window when you click on it.
 
I just don't really care much for stacks. I liked my simple Applications folder in the dock that I could right click in Tiger much better.
 
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