I've been looking for an enhancement app for Finder, but I've had no luck. I get frustrated that I don't have more say-so in how files are arranged in folders...such as arranging my modified date. I can only arranage it by last modified and not earliest modified. I'm sure that's not a good explanation, but that's the best I can do right now.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What's wrong with the Finder?
- Thread starter TeddyNicholson
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Everything that is wrong with finder can be found in John Siracusa insanely in depth OS X reviews that can be found here: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/2
Quite honestly I hate the damn thing with a passion. The behavior is NEVER the same each time you open it, browse around in it, make changes, etc. The damn thing is horrid with network shares when you lose a connection. Previewing files as icons is inconsistent from one view to another and especially in the save as dialog which is just a joke. Sometimes you get a review icon. Sometimes you get the generic JPEG icon. What will it be? Who knows. Its like opening up a box of dang cereal ever time. Maybe you will get jack. Maybe you will get a prize. You can never tell. Oh then there is my favorite thing. I haven't tried doing this since .8 came out but previously you could put OS X into an infinite loop through spotlight, that I think is tied to finder, by searching for X files that could be in your file system numerous times. Highlight all of them, drag them to the recycle bin, and wait a few seconds. After 5 seconds or so spotlight sees that file in the recycle bin and tries deleting it....into the recycle bin, again and again and again. Eventually the system KP's after 30 seconds of this. That might not be finder's fault but the way files are managed in the recycle bin I'd assume that was all of OS X's finder responsibility. Finally I’ve lost count of the times where I have to move the entire window over because column view has somehow gotten to narrow to display the file names. So I need to move it over to the other side of the screen, expand the view at the base of the column bar, and go from there. Quite honestly neither Windows Explorer or Finder has gotten the file browser experience right but god knows you can tweak enough of the settings in XP’s Explorer to make it not only tolerable, but preferable. Enough so that with the address bar in File Explorer I can traverse 15 subdirectories deep in less then 5 seconds with the address bar’s autofill in feature. With Finder Apple threw something on the table and said have at it boys, and walked away. FTFF (Fix The Frack’n Finder.) isn’t just a phrase. I know many Mac users for whom it’s a battle cry.
PS- My biggest gripe about Finder more then anything is how it arranges files. I like Windows design where folders are at the top then files. If I know I'm looking for a file I can immediately skip over the directories and move to the alphabetical file listings below. Even now after about 8 months with my Mac I can't get use to this. Its annoying having to wade through files and folders.
Quite honestly I hate the damn thing with a passion. The behavior is NEVER the same each time you open it, browse around in it, make changes, etc. The damn thing is horrid with network shares when you lose a connection. Previewing files as icons is inconsistent from one view to another and especially in the save as dialog which is just a joke. Sometimes you get a review icon. Sometimes you get the generic JPEG icon. What will it be? Who knows. Its like opening up a box of dang cereal ever time. Maybe you will get jack. Maybe you will get a prize. You can never tell. Oh then there is my favorite thing. I haven't tried doing this since .8 came out but previously you could put OS X into an infinite loop through spotlight, that I think is tied to finder, by searching for X files that could be in your file system numerous times. Highlight all of them, drag them to the recycle bin, and wait a few seconds. After 5 seconds or so spotlight sees that file in the recycle bin and tries deleting it....into the recycle bin, again and again and again. Eventually the system KP's after 30 seconds of this. That might not be finder's fault but the way files are managed in the recycle bin I'd assume that was all of OS X's finder responsibility. Finally I’ve lost count of the times where I have to move the entire window over because column view has somehow gotten to narrow to display the file names. So I need to move it over to the other side of the screen, expand the view at the base of the column bar, and go from there. Quite honestly neither Windows Explorer or Finder has gotten the file browser experience right but god knows you can tweak enough of the settings in XP’s Explorer to make it not only tolerable, but preferable. Enough so that with the address bar in File Explorer I can traverse 15 subdirectories deep in less then 5 seconds with the address bar’s autofill in feature. With Finder Apple threw something on the table and said have at it boys, and walked away. FTFF (Fix The Frack’n Finder.) isn’t just a phrase. I know many Mac users for whom it’s a battle cry.
PS- My biggest gripe about Finder more then anything is how it arranges files. I like Windows design where folders are at the top then files. If I know I'm looking for a file I can immediately skip over the directories and move to the alphabetical file listings below. Even now after about 8 months with my Mac I can't get use to this. Its annoying having to wade through files and folders.
I don't think that's quite the expression you were looking for...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kitten-killing&r=s&pos=2
If you are in list view, click on the column header and it reverses the order.
"View Options..." lets you add/subtract columns (list view). It will apply the settings to either "This window only" or "All windows"
Column view lets you see the entire path from the selected folder, down to indivual files. The "View Options" lets you enable or disable the Preview window.
If the Finder seems to forget what you last set a window to, its preference file might be corrupted. There are probably threads that deal with a "forgetful" finder.
I've been using Transmit as my Finder. Love it. It's super-fast accessing my iDisk as well.
I tried Pathfinder and found it to be overkill.
I love OS X and all, but I agree with about 90% of that. I'm hoping Leopard is a lot better than what they've shown so far. After playing with the seed preview a bit, it's definitely an improvement, but not as good as I'd hoped. Yet.
There are a bunch of third party apps I use like Default Folder X, Witch, FruitMenu, Uno, Onyx, etc that help a little.
My biggest gripe with Finder is that it is NOT threaded. If I open the Finder and click on the external drive which is in standby, you literally won't be able to do anything in Finder until the drive wakes up.
The Finder really needs to improve in the Network aspect. For example:
In windows if I have a file on my network drive and open it in an application, I can simply re-open it after a restart by going into the applications "recent files." Windows remembers the path to my network drives.
In OSX on the other hand that won't work unless I manually connect my network drive before. It's really annoying.
I think that could be improved A LOT.
In windows if I have a file on my network drive and open it in an application, I can simply re-open it after a restart by going into the applications "recent files." Windows remembers the path to my network drives.
In OSX on the other hand that won't work unless I manually connect my network drive before. It's really annoying.
I think that could be improved A LOT.
Ahh found it... http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/finder.ars/1
Give it a read. I think John has some really good points.
Give it a read. I think John has some really good points.
That's a pretty old one, but it's sad the complaints are still valid. The one you posted above has some good points on part 18. Read it awhile ago, and as I said, have some of the same issues. Unfortunately, Vista doesn't seem like much of an improvement either. And forget about Pathfinder, totally screwed up my system the last time I tried it. Hated it anyway.
IMO OS X has the worst UI... except for all the other UIs (to plagiarize some Churchill for a second there).
Oh don't even get me started on Vista. I swear the developers took a break at the local pub, put a cocktail napkin on a dart-board while there, and used random dart throws to determine how they were going to setup the File Browser in Vista. Its a cluttered nightmare, a hallmark of Vista in general IMHO. The only saving grace for Vista's File Browser is you can turn off and generally configure the UI to your hearts content which IMHO I wish Apple would do with Finder but I think that was in intentional design. KISS...keep it simple stupid. While I'm a big fan of the group and the concept I'm not sure have everything turned off by default and hidden under a preference setting to turn on if you want more of a configuring experience would violate the idea of KISS.
What I've seen of Leopard sucks a little less. And there is some really cool new stuff. But if you're hoping for something huge, it looks like you might be disappointed. I'm hoping I'm wrong, since I've heard rumblings of a rewrite, but I haven't seen it. You have to kinda bend to the way Apple wants to do things, like it or not. It's hard to get used to, but like I said, there are some 3rd party apps out there that make it easier. Still planning on upgrading to 10.5, as it seems worth it for the extras, but I'll be disappointed if they don't deal with some of the problems of the Finder.
Not planning on upgrading to Vista anytime soon. Half wanting to go back to 2000 on my server (or 2003, but that pissed me off too), as I upgraded to XP for some software that wouldn't work with 2000 and it almost seems like a downgrade. Even with the "classic" theme. I'd complain, but if M$ didn't suck I wouldn't have a job.
Not planning on upgrading to Vista anytime soon. Half wanting to go back to 2000 on my server (or 2003, but that pissed me off too), as I upgraded to XP for some software that wouldn't work with 2000 and it almost seems like a downgrade. Even with the "classic" theme. I'd complain, but if M$ didn't suck I wouldn't have a job.
I have absolutely no complaints about the Finder. As many of you probably know, OS X is based on KB combos and buttons, not only buttons, because most of them are ugly.
I prefer the Finder much to Windows Pathfinder (ripoff ).
BTW, instead of enter to open a folder, press cmd+o.
I prefer the Finder much to Windows Pathfinder (ripoff
).BTW, instead of enter to open a folder, press cmd+o.
You must not do any Samba networking or cutting and pasting.
As I said, I love Apple, but there's all sorts of things wrong with the Finder, starting with the core system itself and how it was written. Apple has a lot of work to do to improve it, but they've made some improvements, and I expect it to only get better. Eventually.It needs to be rewritten, which is what I'm still hoping for in 10.5.
You must not do any Samba networking or cutting and pasting.
It needs to be rewritten, which is what I'm still hoping for in 10.5.
I wouldn't know. Today so many apps are centered towards collecting your apps in librarie. The only files I actually use the Finder for are text documents, of which I have very few. Like 3, and then my school stuff.
BTW, what is Samba networking, and what's wrong with copy and paste? I like drag and drop
better.
EDIT: Oooh, by the way. There's currently no application that supports more than 400 GB of porography, or am I dreaming?
Networking with Windows mostly. And I like drag and drop too, but it would be nice to cut and paste files names with the right mouse button in the Finder. I hate having to use the kb or having to go up to Edit. It's the little things. Springloaded folders are cool and all too, but not always as practical as other methods they could also implement.BTW, what is Samba networking, and what's wrong with copy and paste? I like drag and drop better.
After 8 months, try after over a year and a half!
But all I want, is to be able to cut, and, when two folders have the same name are put into the same folder, the contenst are added, not replaced.
They should have it as a feature. Like MERGE or something. I don't always want to add, sometimes I want to replace or just get a warning I've already moved something. That would be neat.
And something telling you the size. Like on Windows, only without sucking. I like more info when I'm moving or copying, even if M$ seems to go overkill with the options.
And something telling you the size. Like on Windows, only without sucking. I like more info when I'm moving or copying, even if M$ seems to go overkill with the options.
I've had mixed results from the Onyx solution. Great app though. Combine that with things like UNO, FruitMenu, and DefaultFolderX and you eliminate a lot of the hassles, but still not all of them. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Dave and networking. Still have issues.
Explorer still pisses me off to no end though too. Even in Vista. I miss BeOS.
Explorer still pisses me off to no end though too.
Even in Vista. I miss BeOS.