Windows Explorer vs Mac OS X Finder

[QwertyManiac]

El Jobso has made Mac so easy , that any idiot can use Mac. Infect most of the idiots in this world use Mac . Including 3 people in this forum.

.

 

[nepcker]

@gx_saurav:

Do you mean an address bar like shown in the below picture?
*arstechnica.com/paedia/f/finder/images/browser.jpg

 

[iMav]

yup how can we get that in tiger ? please after cut this is the next thing that i disparately need

 

[goobimama]

That's not finder is it? Must be Pathfinder or something. Anyway, for what its worth, I don't know what the fuss is all about...with the address bar n all.

And as for that breadcrumbs bar, thanks a lot gx, for I was confused all along thinking what that 'drop down' actually was...

 

[iMav]

na its not path finder i have path finder ... well its easier to reach the directory when u know the address rather than clicking jumping springing

 

[aryayush]

This is how the "Path" works in Mac.

It shows you the path up to root drive from where u r. You can jump to any folder directly in the backward tree.

This is how the Breadcrumb address bar in Vista works.

*img128.imageshack.us/img128/2158/breadcrumbgx6.th.jpg

See the difference, just by clicking the address bar arrow I can jump directly to any folder inside a folder from where I came from.

I can also copy the address bar text. This comes in handy in situations such as

1) i am changing icons using Icon Packager. Now, I select a to change system folder icons & the icons are saved in d:\downloads\vista. Insted of going to that folder again & again, i can simply copy the address & paste it in open dialog to directly jump to that path.

There are several ways in which address bar comes in handy. The reason we Windows users don't open many explorer Windows & drag & drop because

1) We can do everything related to file management from one Explorer windows only.

2) We can jump from anywhere, to anywhere using the tree navigation

3) We can jump anywhere to anywhere using the breadcrumb bar

Just now, I had this image of breadcrumb bar saved somewhere in my computer. I just opened ACDSee & searched for "bread" & it showed me this pic. I copied the address of the folder where this file was & pasted the address in open dialog to jump directly to this image.

That is because you insist on not using the Column view. There is nothing better than the column view.

 

[goobimama]

^^ Spot on!

 

[iMav]

There is nothing better than the column view.

there is something known as the breadcrumb bar and tree view which are better than a simple column view but they apparently feature in an OS made by a company which for some absurd reason u want to show as if u hate so u wont accept as it is better than the 1 u r using coz at the end of the dsay u will always remain as the un-paid salesman for apple

 

[gxsaurav]

That is because you insist on not using the Column view. There is nothing better than the column view.

According to your opinion. Not mine. If u like something it doesn't mean that I will like it too. I find one Window approach of tree view or breadcrumb bar better then small columns. Using tree view we don't need to have multiple Windows for drag & drop, just drag from one folder to another in tree in the same Window. All file management can be done in one Windows & thats why we don't open multiple Windows in Windows Vista & Explorer cos we don't need it.

Drag & drop looks fancy, but nothing too good.

Hey arya, let me know if you have something like this in Finder. I can send any file from anywhere using this too, without even using command+mouse drag. Now this is called convenient. The SendTo menu in Windows Explorer.

*img518.imageshack.us/img518/6752/untitledyl6.jpg

What we can do in Windows with one keyboard button (delete) we need to do with multiple keyboard buttons in Mac (command+backspace)

coz at the end of the dsay u will always remain as the un-paid salesman for apple

you hurt his ego & the only way to get Apple product for cheap

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

That is because you insist on not using the Column view. There is nothing better than the column view.

Oh yeah , and God forbid if you want to write a simple program or a shell script , then you'll have to manually trace out the whole address and then type it too , rather than just copy-paste it into your script .

 

[iMav]

^^ thats the mac way ... its amazing aint it

 

[sakumar79]

@gx, there is one feature in column view that is missing in tree view, or any combined view in Windows... In column view, as we browse the hierarchy of a folder, we see all the subfolders and files in the parent folders. For example, if you are in C:\WINDOWS\system32\DirectX\Dinput, you will see the files and folders of C:\, C:\WIndows, C:\Windows\system32, C:\Windows\system32\DirectX in the corresponding column. This feature is useful in some cases. And I am not sure if that is the only advantage of column view. But it is the most obvious (to me atleast)... I did find this feature in a explorer replacement utility called UltraExplorer. The software was slightly painful to use because of a tendency it had to occasionally go out of focus after completion of some mouse drag-drop operation, but on the whole, it was useful for my backup work.

Arun

 

[goobimama]

^^ thats the mac way ... its amazing aint it

As for me, I wouldn't say the column view is the heart and soul of what OS X is. But just for argument sake, the same way you cannot live without the "cut" feature in OS X, I can't live without the column view in Windows...

 

[gxsaurav]

For those users saying that "Zoom" is better then "Full Screen Maximise" in Windows. I made these 2 videos showing the benefit.

1) This is when finder is working in full screen. As you can see, i m cycling through folders & every file is showing completely in folders. Whether a folder has 10 files or 2 it is showing it completely.

2) This is when I m using the Zoom functionality of Mac OS X. As you can see how bad it works. Suppose I m in a folder with 20 files, & using the zoom feature it zoom accordingly. Now if I go to another folder with only 2 files & zoom, the finder Window resizes. Now If I again & go to a folder having 20 files...boom, the folder needs to be zoomed again. You need to zoom the finder window every time if u are cycling multiple Windows.

Just tell me how is Finder convenient.

 

[sakumar79]

@gx, you have occasionally "missed" my points (I am sure aryayush will say you have missed most of his points, but thats besides the point that I am making. I would like to point out that the pun with the word points is pointless, but just for fun... ).

I request you again to comment on my earlier post regarding column view's use.

Also, I request aryayush, nepcker, goobimama, etc. to also comment on my views on the column view layout and point out (for my knowledge at least) any additional feature this view gives.

Arun

 

[gxsaurav]

Oh! I am sorry, I was busy chatting. Anyway, let me clear a misconception.

as we browse the hierarchy of a folder, we see all the subfolders and files in the parent folders. For example, if you are in C:\WINDOWS\system32\DirectX\Dinput, you will see the files and folders of C:\, C:\WIndows, C:\Windows\system32, C:\Windows\system32\DirectX in the corresponding column.

Yup, Windows Explorer doesn’t show it in the viewport. But we do have this feature in Vista in the breadcrumb bar. I guess you are talking about something like this.

*img530.imageshack.us/img530/4072/imagehj1.jpg



Using this, we can jump from DirectX folder to any folder in the path backward same way in column view. However Vista does it much better by allowing you to use the viewport for the the folder in which u r right now by showing the icons in any size. The Icons in column view are 16p, very small. If they would have allowed big icon size then yeah, it might have been good. However it is nothing that we miss in Windows Explorer

 

[sakumar79]

Since I dont have Vista (still using XP), I dont know much about the breadcrumb bar, so I cant say anything with full certainity... But, please clarify this - 1. In the drop down list from the breadcrumb bar, does the list include folders only or files and folders. 2. Can we drag-and-drop from source to destination by using breadcrumb bar different subfolder as destination (ie, in the above screenshot of yours, showing directx subfolder in the main window, drag a file and drop it into catroot32 subfolder) or cut and paste through right-click on the different subfolder. (For drag-and-drop, please confirm how you get the drop down to initiate while holding the dragged file - hold over for a while like the tree view?

Big icon size in column view doesnt seem like a good idea, considering the difficulty it would cause to scroll... Of course, giving the user an option to modify the size will be useful, and I will leave to aryayush and co. to enlighten me on the possibility of doing it.

Maybe breadcrumb bar is a sufficient alternative to the column view. I dont know. Having used neither, I cannot make a comment... However, with what little I have found about column view, I know that there is no alternative to it in Win XP Explorer, except through the third party replacement application, which still needs some work.

Arun

 

[iMav]

well arun i would rather go for explorer's breadcrumb setup and the tree view coz it gives me more ability and flexibility to work as compared column view which only shows all files in the previous folder the tree view and breadcrumb bar give u the flexibility to move around within 1 windows and also enable u to copy, cut create shortcuts

this is 1 major reason why i hate the column view ... it doesnt group the files and folders which means as u can see i have a folder in which i wanna move the file or select ... i will have to go thru the entire content list

now u see arun we just dont say something's not good unless it isnt the case but mac boys only choose to bash competitor's work

*img405.imageshack.us/img405/9400/screenshot02ht3.th.jpg

also if u wanna open a particular file type it will show u all the files in the folder ... which means u wanna open a psd file which in a folder which contains txt, docs, exe etc all the files will be shown they will be greyed but will be showed which is absolutely not necessary

 

[aryayush]

Oh, Mac applications have the 'File >> Open...' command too? You mean to say there actually are people in this world who use Macs and do not drag files to their respective dock icons to open them? WOW, never knew that!


@sakumar79, yes, it only shows you the folders in the bread crumb bar and no, you cannot drag things over to it. Like I've said before, it is a very poor implementation of the column view.

 

[iMav]

what are u talking man