Well, okay, maybe that’s a little mean. But, for the core of my Mac experience, that little blue smiley face certainly does some dumb things.
- The Path Bar – Well, at least there is one in Leopard. But it isn’t spring loaded. Whereas almost every other representation of a folder (dock icon, finder icon, icon in the Finder sidebar, etc.) will open if a file is hovered over it, the path bar doesn’t work this way. I can drag a file onto the icon in the path bar and drop it that way, so why can’t I hover to go back into that folder?
- No “Sticky Move” – Yes, I deliberately avoided calling it cut-and-paste because that’s not the point. The point is, there should be a shortcut I can use to “pick up” a file, and another shortcut I can use to “put it down” in another place. Perhaps Cmd-X and Cmd-V. Perhaps. And no, copy-and-paste-and-go-back-and-delete-the-original-file is not the same thing.
- Remember the Freaking Size of Windows! – Please. Just because a DMG decided to open itself in a smaller, specialized window shouldn’t mean every single Finder window thereafter should take on the same behavior.
- The Trash Can – Possibly the stupidest part of the Finder is the Trash can. First of all, things get stuck in it way to often. And what alert do I get when a file is stuck? It tells me that the file cannot be deleted because it is “in use.” In use by what!? At the very least, Finder could have the decency to tell me what I need to quit in order to trash it. Why doesn’t it tell me, or better yet, give me a button to quit the offending application? Because it really doesn’t know. I can have every single application quit and a file can still get stuck in the trash anyway.
What would you add to this list? Are you perhaps a spatial Finder fan? Or do you like the little Finder just the way it is? Sound off in the comments below!
There is a way to delete files that are in use without having to quit apps. Hold alt/option when you delete the trash.
Which works… only when a file is ACTUALLY in use. But often Finder will tell me files are in use when they aren't. And Secure Empty doesn't do anything then.
lsof | grep -i searchterm
That will show you what is using a file – I use that often. Usually it's the finder itself.
9 times out of 10, a file won't delete simply because I used Quick Look on it before moving it to the Trash. I often double check things before moving to the Trash by using Quick Look. However, what's the point of such a feature when it then won't allow you to delete the file just because it was the last thing you looked at? The way to get around it is to use Quick Look on anything else, even a folder. Then your trash can be deleted.
Really, really stupid.
There are too many times when option+trashempty doesn't work either. Finder should show a list of applications and open/stuck files.
For the platform that evangelized cut/copy/paste, it's really shameful to not have cut/paste for files and folders in the finder. While there are so many things wrong with Vista, I'm constantly annoyed that it makes managing files far easier than the Finder or any of the flaky Finder replacements that we have tried with Leopard.
I agree absolutely that Finder picks the dumbest settings to repeat (misplaced windows, tiny windows, narrow collumns) while never remembering desirable folder-related settings that I need to be efficient (column settings, window positions, windows sizes).
The CoverFlow view of pictures is too small and has too few viewing options. Again, it's very disappointing that Vista is so much better for its similar function.
The most annoying problem is OS-wide, however! No ability to grab top window edges or corners to re-size! That is absolutely dark-ages dumb. If a Window is too big to fit the screen, like if a large monitor is used with a laptop, but then you go mobile, it takes a script to smack all program windows upside the head to make them fit the screen. That is maximum user unfriendliness.
The main problem that I have with most UIs is inconsistent behaviour. The Finder is the King of behaviour inconsistencies in OS X. Which is why I believe that John Siracusa's <a href="proposalhttp://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2003/04/finder.ars">proposal</a> for a spatial Finder is so appealing.
I have to agree with this article, just based on my experiences with the Finder in different versions of the Mac OS. Even with the Finder's irritations, however, I'd take it over Windows Explorer any day. At least it doesn't crash like Explorer—even ordinary use of Explorer would result in the "Windows Explorer has stopped working" message.
I find that the "item is in use" error message pops up when I delete an image that's recently been opened in Preview. It doesn't happen to me for any other kind of file. The solution is usually just to quit Preview—then the Finder will allow you to delete the offending files in the Trash.
I hope that Apple has improved the Finder in Snow Leopard. I'm still on Leopard, as I'm on a PPC Mac, but I'll be getting an Intel one later this week, and hopefully it's at least halfway better than what Apple's put out so far.