An alternative idea to Coverflow in Leopard Finder.

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I find coverflow to be limiting because I can only see previews of a small number of files at one time. It's a great idea for the iPhone but not as good for the Finder IMHO. What if, instead, or perhaps as an alternative, we take the idea of dock magnification and apply it to the icon view in Finder. Mouse over an image or pdf file and it magnifies to a preset size. Ideally, this is something you'd want to be able to toggle on and off easily.



It may be more difficult from a technical standpoint to provide a smooth experience like you have on the dock and some really smart pre-caching would be required but it might be possible.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Daffy_Duck View Post


    I find coverflow to be limiting because I can only see previews of a small number of files at one time. It's a great idea for the iPhone but not as good for the Finder IMHO. What if, instead, or perhaps as an alternative, we take the idea of dock magnification and apply it to the icon view in Finder. Mouse over an image or pdf file and it magnifies to a preset size. Ideally, this is something you'd want to be able to toggle on and off easily.



    It's called Quick Look.



    Seriously, you just go into icon view (or list view as it shows icons now too), select an icon and use Quick Look (I can't remember if space bar works in icon view but there is a button you can put on the Finder toolbar). Quick Look will stay open at whatever size you want as you use the arrow keys to move through your documents.



    A mouseover wouldn't work because it would change your image if you wanted to resize the preview.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Apple is incorporating CoverFlow as a pre-emptive measure, assuming there will be other ways to access your main computer with iPhone and other multi-touch products that may or may not come to fruition.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    It's called Quick Look.



    Seriously, you just go into icon view (or list view as it shows icons now too), select an icon and use Quick Look (I can't remember if space bar works in icon view but there is a button you can put on the Finder toolbar). Quick Look will stay open at whatever size you want as you use the arrow keys to move through your documents.



    A mouseover wouldn't work because it would change your image if you wanted to resize the preview.



    Actually, Quick Look launches a new windows within Finder, which would make it faster since you don't have to open up Preview.



    What he is talking about is just mouse over something, and there you have a mini preview, and when you scroll over icons in Finder, it would do the wave.



    Problem here is that is a lot of eye candy....and it may just be a little too much, something you would want to turn off during heavy usage times (something you mentioned, Daffy Duck).



    But it's a great idea.
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