What happened to Finder search view in Leopard?
Hi
Below is a feedback that I have sent to Apple regarding my user experience with Leopard and how things have changed, with the disappointing loss of features and functionality that was present in Tiger. I place this oversight, on Apple's part, on the same level of the disappearance of the hierarchical menus on folder in the Dock. For me it is worse as I never actually used folders in the Dock this way. I do understand the frustrations of those that do though.
Read on.
I am repeating this feedback because I find it unbelievable what has happened to Spotlight Finder searches and Smart Folders in the transition to Leopard.
Spotlight searches have improved with added functionality but when it was introduced in Tiger the most exciting and visually usable feature of it was the separation of files into different file type categories in the Finder. I believe this was referred to as the search view and it used blue lines as separators. There was even a search view icon in the tool bar, where the column view usually is, to activate it and this was the default view when using the Finder to search and with smart folders.
This was very useful when working on a project. If I had a history of art project with images for a Picasso, Slavador Dali and Matisse these would be grouped together in a smart folder search and I could jump directly to a slideshow to view them. Now al I get is a jumble of files, images and text documents all together. Yes you can group them by kind but there are a lot more steps involved as there dose not seem to be a default view that sticks in this area: It is a moveable feast.
In any event the older search view was far superior, far more user friendly, and better to look at. The loss of this functionality is a big disappointment in Leopard and I am really surprised that this is not noticed by Apple
The other aspect of Spotlight/Finder/Smart Folder searches which is regressive are the location options at the top of the search windows, below the tool bar. The Options are This Mac or the current folder from which the search is initiated. If you decide that you should have applied the search on the Home folder you get backed out of the search when you you click the Home icon in the Finder sidebar. You then need to type the search word again in the search field and then change the location from This Mac to your user name.
In Tiger there were up to five location options that you could jump to within the search: Server, Computer, Home, the folder location from which you started the search and Others. This allowed searches to take place with far less steps.
The usefulness of the criteria Contents and File Name I would place as a far lower priority.
I hope that Apple can take into account that these criticisms highlight serious flaws in the design and ease of use of Leopard.
What do you think?
Below is a feedback that I have sent to Apple regarding my user experience with Leopard and how things have changed, with the disappointing loss of features and functionality that was present in Tiger. I place this oversight, on Apple's part, on the same level of the disappearance of the hierarchical menus on folder in the Dock. For me it is worse as I never actually used folders in the Dock this way. I do understand the frustrations of those that do though.
Read on.
I am repeating this feedback because I find it unbelievable what has happened to Spotlight Finder searches and Smart Folders in the transition to Leopard.
Spotlight searches have improved with added functionality but when it was introduced in Tiger the most exciting and visually usable feature of it was the separation of files into different file type categories in the Finder. I believe this was referred to as the search view and it used blue lines as separators. There was even a search view icon in the tool bar, where the column view usually is, to activate it and this was the default view when using the Finder to search and with smart folders.
This was very useful when working on a project. If I had a history of art project with images for a Picasso, Slavador Dali and Matisse these would be grouped together in a smart folder search and I could jump directly to a slideshow to view them. Now al I get is a jumble of files, images and text documents all together. Yes you can group them by kind but there are a lot more steps involved as there dose not seem to be a default view that sticks in this area: It is a moveable feast.
In any event the older search view was far superior, far more user friendly, and better to look at. The loss of this functionality is a big disappointment in Leopard and I am really surprised that this is not noticed by Apple
The other aspect of Spotlight/Finder/Smart Folder searches which is regressive are the location options at the top of the search windows, below the tool bar. The Options are This Mac or the current folder from which the search is initiated. If you decide that you should have applied the search on the Home folder you get backed out of the search when you you click the Home icon in the Finder sidebar. You then need to type the search word again in the search field and then change the location from This Mac to your user name.
In Tiger there were up to five location options that you could jump to within the search: Server, Computer, Home, the folder location from which you started the search and Others. This allowed searches to take place with far less steps.
The usefulness of the criteria Contents and File Name I would place as a far lower priority.
I hope that Apple can take into account that these criticisms highlight serious flaws in the design and ease of use of Leopard.
What do you think?
Comments
I agree with your observation. But on a note, spotlight in Leopard is significantly faster for me. Again, all it needs is a change on how you use the search feature.