Briefly: Snow Leopard Finder icons support QuickLook

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Apple's upcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system will reportedly see support for the company's QuickLook technology extended from specialized preview windows to Finder icons themselves.



One person familiar with the pre-release software notes that hovering the mouse pointer over an audio file in Snow Leopard's Finder will trigger a triangular 'play' button to appear on the icon itself.



Clicking the button will allow the audio file to play within the Finder, but without opening a specialized preview window. The audio file will continue to play uninterrupted even if the user brings an application to the forefront, but will halt when another file or window selection is made from within the Finder.



As the audio file is playing, a ring will form around the play button and slowly fill to indicate the length of the track that remains. A similar technique works for video files, displaying the video within the icon itself.



For both audio and video files, Snow Leopard testers users can currently press the spacebar to alternate between the icon preview and the traditional Quick Look view as it exists in 10.5 Leopard without any playback hiccups.



For other files, such as Pages, Keynote and Number documents (and their Microsoft equivalents), similar buttons appear on Snow Leopard icons to let users flick between pages or slides in icon view.







The latter features don't appear to be much use, people familiar with the software say, unless the user has their Finder's icon size cranked all the way up.



Separately, it's reported that another change in Snow Leopard will require users to enter their administrative password twice as part of any software install process: once when the installer application launches, and again right before the actual install process begins.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Multi-touch UI for everything. I'm over it already.
  • Reply 2 of 42
    probablyprobably Posts: 139member
    What's the justifiable rationale for two password prompts?
  • Reply 3 of 42
    I'm not quite sure how useful these new features are. When I'm previewing things I generally want a separate window with a controller so I can scrub through it, since the beginning few seconds aren't always enough to identify it. I guess there is nothing wrong with adding new features if older features aren't taken away, but they could probably spend time on more useful things though. But perhaps these features fit other people's usage patterns more.



    And the double authentication, I hope it doesn't turn into Vista's UAC that Apple is always making fun of.
  • Reply 4 of 42
    ringoringo Posts: 329member
    The icon previews might actually work fairly well with higher-dpi displays. The image won't be large, but the resolution could be high enough.
  • Reply 5 of 42
    -cj--cj- Posts: 58member
    we've been able to preview audio and video files without opening anything for years now if you are viewing your finder in column view. i have too many files to use icon view so i will probably never use this feature.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    gastroboygastroboy Posts: 530member
    There are downsides to all this interactivity as I am already finding in Leopard.



    I have a lot of previewable graphics and when they appear in a folder, even in list view, the Finder spends a lot of time previewing them in the icons. This interferes with and cuts out mouse selections as well as typing and can be quite irritating, as is the slowed down scrolling.



    Also the support seems intermittent, with some icons not previewing, or appearing hashed out just like I remember damaged icons appeared in the Classic OS.



    My machines is not slow either, it is a brand new 24" iMac 2.8GHz with 2Gb of RAM.



    Despite these shortcomings, the one thing I really appreciate in Leopard is these previews and coverflow. I have comparatively little need for cataloging software now. It is still needed to zero me on a collection but once I can see the files I can then make my selection directly in the Finder.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    minderbinderminderbinder Posts: 1,703member
    This doesn't sound useful.



    Earlier versions of OSX had better audio preview, in column view you actually got a mini transport including a timeline bar you could drag. Now you need to open quicklook for that, it's a bit of a step back.



    It's also annoying to not have a way to play and pause files in quicklook - obviously spacebar is taken, but some way to control playback from the keyboard would be nice. As would a preference to have audio and video files keep playing when you switch away from the finder to another app.
  • Reply 8 of 42
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by probably View Post


    What's the justifiable rationale for two password prompts?



    Think about security, applescript, regular expressions, stored shadow passwords, sudo and bots.
  • Reply 9 of 42
    guinnessguinness Posts: 473member
    Why two passwords? That's likely directly out of Microsoft's playbook of annoying users with UAC...will it stil also ask then, that before launching said newly installed app for the first time, are you really sure you want to?
  • Reply 10 of 42
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    I'm starting to really dislike icon previews. I prefer the old application icons because I find that I am constantly looking around the desktop to find a file I just saved, be it a PDF or JPG - they all start to look the same after awhile and are mostly too small to be useful in identifying the content anyway.
  • Reply 11 of 42
    macfandavemacfandave Posts: 603member
    From the example given, it seems that Snow Leopard won't include a Taste Filter.



    My Sharona?!? What, couldn't find your MP3 of Billy, Don't Be a Hero?
  • Reply 12 of 42
    ivladivlad Posts: 742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I'm starting to really dislike icon previews. I prefer the old application icons because I find that I am constantly looking around the desktop to find a file I just saved, be it a PDF or JPG - they all start to look the same after awhile and are mostly too small to be useful in identifying the content anyway.



    Perhaps organizing files into folders will help.
  • Reply 13 of 42
    probablyprobably Posts: 139member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Think about security, applescript, regular expressions, stored shadow passwords, sudo and bots.



    That doesn't answer anything. None of those things - if touched in any given installer - are visible. The OP describes it as if it asks twice always now, whether it's a pointless installer moving a *.app to /Applications for you or something more extensive.
  • Reply 14 of 42
    lafelafe Posts: 252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -cj- View Post


    we've been able to preview audio and video files without opening anything for years now if you are viewing your finder in column view. i have too many files to use icon view so i will probably never use this feature.



    I'm like you -- I vastly prefer column view. But I can still see this being useful for icons that I have out on my desktop.



    I've always wondered why on video files, though, the icon takes the appearance of some random frame towards the beginning of the file. Many times it's a blank screen (black rectangle icon! Oooh!). I'd like to click the play symbol, find a scene that means something, and make that the "key frame" that sticks with the icon. That would be pretty cool. Like making a photo in an event its key photo in iPhoto.
  • Reply 15 of 42
    joedrcjoedrc Posts: 86member
    I can see someone making a big deal out of entering the password twice...\
  • Reply 16 of 42
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder View Post


    Earlier versions of OSX had better audio preview, in column view you actually got a mini transport including a timeline bar you could drag. Now you need to open quicklook for that, it's a bit of a step back.



    Well, hitting the space bar is not really more complicated then clicking on a play button. And having to start playing something before you can drag the timeline is a really minor inconvenience, not at least given that the timeline in Quickview is much larger, making a precise positioning rather easier.

    Quote:

    It's also annoying to not have a way to play and pause files in quicklook - obviously spacebar is taken, but some way to control playback from the keyboard would be nice.



    Except that spacebar still does exactly this, it pauses and resumes playing the audio.



    If you want to keep audio and video playing after switching to another application, simply double-click the file instead of using the spacebar (you can set iTunes to not copy files into its library you open (play) with it).
  • Reply 17 of 42
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iVlad View Post


    Perhaps organizing files into folders will help.



    Thanks for the tip. Perhaps you didn't realize that the desktop is a folder.
  • Reply 18 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macFanDave


    My Sharona?!? What, couldn't find your MP3 of Billy, Don't Be a Hero?



    That's the Polysics version of My Sharona just so you know. Anyways, keep your music tastes to yourself :P



    By the way, I'm the person who reported this little feature.



    I'm a little miffed they didn't put my name down anywhere in the article ¬_¬ but ah well. I haven't found any more features except for a couple more items in right click menus to make changing view options easier. Nothing exciting. When I get the next developer release, I'll let you all know if I find anything (perhaps a preview of QuickTime X is in the cards....). I can't see Apple not bothering with any new features. I'm betting they're telling people that it won't have any new features, then announce some really big ones nearer release. I can see the Stevenote now....



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve Jobs in the future


    Now, you'll remember earlier this year we announced Mac OS X 10.6: Snow Leopard and how it would simply be a huge performance increase as we incorporate 64-bit and multiple core processors. However, we may have a lied a bit there....



    How will that Stevenote end? Only time will tell......



    <cue x-files music>



    EDIT: Oh, another thing I noticed is that they fixed the folder opening animation when you open a folder or a drive from the desktop. When you first do this after booting into OS X Leopard, the window appears, half animates and jutters a bit. Snow Leopard opens the window with a smooth animation straight off without a problem. I'm glad they've fixed this as it's been annoying me in Leopard.
  • Reply 19 of 42
    minderbinderminderbinder Posts: 1,703member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post


    Well, hitting the space bar is not really more complicated then clicking on a play button. And having to start playing something before you can drag the timeline is a really minor inconvenience, not at least given that the timeline in Quickview is much larger, making a precise positioning rather easier.



    I'm not complaining about quickview. I just don't get why they had to make the preview in column view a little bit worse - is there any reason they couldn't just add quickview and leave the column view preview alone?



    Also, why don't finder previews of audio and video files show durations?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post


    Except that spacebar still does exactly this, it pauses and resumes playing the audio.



    Spacebar doesn't just stop it, it closes the preview window. Not a big deal for audio, but kind of annoying if you want to stop on a frame of video. A way to easily go frame by frame like in QT apps would be nice as well.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post


    If you want to keep audio and video playing after switching to another application, simply double-click the file instead of using the spacebar (you can set iTunes to not copy files into its library you open (play) with it).



    Sure, that works. But it would still be easier to let it keep playing in the finder - I wish they'd add that as an option.



    Quickview also doesn't let you start an audio file playing and continue working in other finder windows while it plays - another step back from what was a pretty cool preview feature in 10.4 and earlier.
  • Reply 20 of 42
    martinzmartinz Posts: 92member
    Not to mention that all the work with spotlight and such technologies, even the ones being discussed here, seem heavily aimed at going past the file folder concept. Personally I don't like the way Apple seems to keep changing its mind, 'icon view is dead', 'ooh but now column view is less useful, let's make icon view exciting again, and icons that fill the screen!'



    Seriously though, I can't think of much that I'd less rather they were spending time on. If we had stories about say they had finally fixed graphical corruption on recent machines, or the iTunes dashboard widget actually works, or that they sorted out sleep so it's as reliable as before ... Then I'd be cheering .
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