The 10.3 Finder is pissing me off
Posted on November 16, 2003
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 90 views |
Some minor changes were made to the Finder for 10.3 that weren’t readily apparent when I first started using this version but are now starting to really get on my nerves:
1. I used to be able to create a new folder while in Columns view, rename that folder, click it to select it, and rely on the automatic sorting mechanism to sort the folder to it’s proper position. Result: my selection would now be on the newly-created folder and I’d be looking at it in the view.
Try that in 10.3. The process is now: create a new folder while in Column View, rename that folder, click to… the sorting mechanism sorts the newly-named folder before the click can select it resulting in the disappearance of the newly-created folder and no change in selection. In a nutshell: 10.3 sorts the folder before I can click it which means that in a folder of a few hundred files I now have to spent time going and searching for my new folder every time I create it.
Minor? Yes, but it’s a process I came to rely on for rapidly sorting vast amounts of files. Now it just pisses me off.
2. Shift-selecting has gotten weird. Try this: select a file in column view. Use an arrow key to move to another file item. Now shift-click on a third. Used to be that all items between the selected item and the clicked item would get selected. Now, instead, the clicked item gets selected. In a nut-shell: the shift is ignored at this point.
Minor? Yes, but it too is a process I came to rely on for rapidly sorting vast amounts of files. Now it too just pisses me off.
3. Click-through. Dear Apple: this has got to stop! Not every interface item should respond to click-through, especially if the resulting click doesn’t work properly.
Numerous X users have already written about the more glaring problems with pervasive click-through so I’m just going to mention the one that - you guessed it - pisses me off:
Do this: open a Finder window in Column view that is about half-full of items so that there’s some emtpy space in the column. Select one of the items in the column. Now switch to a window in another application so that you can still see the column view behind it (ie: a TextEdit document or browser window).
Now click on the Finder column view in the blank, no-items-in-it space. Note what happens: the Finder window comes to the front and your selection is lost; nothing is now selected.
Set it all back up as before, with one item selected and an application window in front. Now click on the Finder column view but this time click on an item in that view. Note what happens: the Finder window comes to the front but your selection remains the same rather than selecting the item you actually clicked on.
Which is it Apple? Does clicking on a non-selected space in a Finder window move the selection or not? Is it destructive or not?
The Finder is certainly faster in 10.3 and it certainly looks sexier but IMO it seems to be regressing in usability. I’m going to join the call of all the others getting annoyed by inconsistent, seemingly inane Finder behavior and request that Apple convene a team of competent usability specialists to sit down and define exactly how it ought to behave in all cases. The mash of a guessing-game it is becoming is getting thoroughly annoying.