4 ms·

Those things are still possible in the current Mac OS. Is there some important characteristics that were lost in Mac OS X ?

wmf 5y ago
In the classic spatial Finder, every folder always opened in a new window. I'm not sure if it's possible to force that behavior under the current Finder.
- TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago
  The current Finder does that thing sometimes, and other times it doesn't. I'm not sure what the rule is, it might be related to whether it's a folder you double-click directly from the desktop.
  - Wowfunhappy 5y ago
    It does it on read only filesystems. So you’ll see it if you plug in an ntfs drive, for example (unless you’ve installed third party ntfs drivers).
    - blkhp19 5y ago
      which has never made any sense to me - what's different about a read-only FS that would make me want every single navigation action to open a new window?
- marcellus23 5y ago
  I think the closest you can get is holding down CMD when you open a folder. There doesn't seem to be a way to get that to be the default.
  - nielsbot 5y ago
    Seems there is an option? https://www.igeeksblog.com/open-folders-in-new-windows-instead-of-tabs-in-mac-os-x-finder#method-2-making-new-windows-your-default-option https://www.igeeksblog.com/open-folders-in-new-windows-inste...
    - marcellus23 5y ago
      That seems to just control whether holding down CMD and opening a folder will open in a tab or a window. Even with that unchecked, folders still open in-place by default.
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
It's not just that a new window is opened each time, it's that the interface actually remembers where you positioned the window for that item the last time you opened it. So in theory you could develop a muscle memory around it. This might make even more sense now with our very large monitors. But we also deal with a lot more files now. I'm frankly not sure that spatial organization is really the reason the classic Mac Finder is superior. I also think the placement of window gadgets and other details is key. It was just very coherent. The Lisa Office System' desktop was also excellent, and potentially superior as well. As was the Xerox Star, which at least partially inspired it. But many of theses things (which focus on documents and office tasks and metaphors around them) make a lot less sense now that most people mostly just use their computer through a web browser and little else. Our computers are less and less "office automation systems" and more just an end in themselves.

wmf 5y ago

In the classic spatial Finder, every folder always opened in a new window. I'm not sure if it's possible to force that behavior under the current Finder.

TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago
The current Finder does that thing sometimes, and other times it doesn't. I'm not sure what the rule is, it might be related to whether it's a folder you double-click directly from the desktop.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  It does it on read only filesystems. So you’ll see it if you plug in an ntfs drive, for example (unless you’ve installed third party ntfs drivers).
  - blkhp19 5y ago
    which has never made any sense to me - what's different about a read-only FS that would make me want every single navigation action to open a new window?
marcellus23 5y ago
I think the closest you can get is holding down CMD when you open a folder. There doesn't seem to be a way to get that to be the default.
- nielsbot 5y ago
  Seems there is an option? https://www.igeeksblog.com/open-folders-in-new-windows-instead-of-tabs-in-mac-os-x-finder#method-2-making-new-windows-your-default-option https://www.igeeksblog.com/open-folders-in-new-windows-inste...
  - marcellus23 5y ago
    That seems to just control whether holding down CMD and opening a folder will open in a tab or a window. Even with that unchecked, folders still open in-place by default.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

It's not just that a new window is opened each time, it's that the interface actually remembers where you positioned the window for that item the last time you opened it. So in theory you could develop a muscle memory around it. This might make even more sense now with our very large monitors. But we also deal with a lot more files now. I'm frankly not sure that spatial organization is really the reason the classic Mac Finder is superior. I also think the placement of window gadgets and other details is key. It was just very coherent. The Lisa Office System' desktop was also excellent, and potentially superior as well. As was the Xerox Star, which at least partially inspired it. But many of theses things (which focus on documents and office tasks and metaphors around them) make a lot less sense now that most people mostly just use their computer through a web browser and little else. Our computers are less and less "office automation systems" and more just an end in themselves.