finder icon in dock - bug or feature?
folks,
since jaguar i casually ask myself: why, for christ sake, is there a finder icon in the dock? it is pure waste of space. the user should have at least the possibility to make the icon disappear.
ok, i calmed myself, if you have tons of windows of tons of apps in the same time open, you click on "finder icon" and there you are: finder.
BUT the problem starts here.
a) You need another click to hide all open windows to finally get in the state to use the finder, - unless you have at least one finder window left.
b) if there is at least one finder window open, one click onto "finder dock icon" creates ... nothing. that is ridiciouless imo. a huge waste of space.
The mouse action should at least create a new finder window, or should hide others than finder windows. or both. or you should have options to manage how that nas** icon behaves.
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since jaguar i casually ask myself: why, for christ sake, is there a finder icon in the dock? it is pure waste of space. the user should have at least the possibility to make the icon disappear.
ok, i calmed myself, if you have tons of windows of tons of apps in the same time open, you click on "finder icon" and there you are: finder.
BUT the problem starts here.
a) You need another click to hide all open windows to finally get in the state to use the finder, - unless you have at least one finder window left.
b) if there is at least one finder window open, one click onto "finder dock icon" creates ... nothing. that is ridiciouless imo. a huge waste of space.
The mouse action should at least create a new finder window, or should hide others than finder windows. or both. or you should have options to manage how that nas** icon behaves.
best
Comments
What do you mean "If no other Finder windows are open you have to hide all windows to use Finder"???
Try Cmd-N. Boom. Finder window.
You aren't still in 'double-click on hard drive icon on Desktop like in MacOS 9' mode are you?
Making the Finder Dock icon be *special* is just another way to screw up the UI.
Hold down Cmd-option and click the Dock icon. Boom. All other windows hidden, Desktop exposed.
Press F11 in 10.3. Boom. Expose triggers, all windows gone, Desktop exposed, double-click on hard drive.
Whole lotta 'Boom's without the need to muck with the icon behaviour.
1. minimize all open windows at once
2. hide all windows at once
3. open finder window
4. desktop expose
Originally posted by Algol
I sent apple feed back on the finder icon. I said that they should have a way to change would it does.
1. minimize all open windows at once
Okay, you got me on this one, but I fail to see the utility.
Quote:
2. hide all windows at once
If you mean all *other* windows...
Cmd-Opt-Click on Dock Icon.
Just like every other app.
Quote:
3. open finder window,
If there are none open, it does this. If there are, then Cmd-N.
Just like (most) every other (Apple) app.
4. desktop expose
F11.
Just like every other app.
I sense a trend here...
The Finder icon acts exactly as all other icons do. Click it and all its windows are brought to the front. If it has no windows, a new "default" one is created. If you want to show only that app or to hide it, you use the same keystrokes as you would on other icons. It's the same as all good Mac OS X apps. As Steve Jobs himself said, the Finder is now literally "just another app."
Consistency. It's a good thing.
Also, if you *really* want to get to the desktop in a hurry, you'll use Expose. Use the right tool for the right job.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Whahuh?
Making the Finder Dock icon be *special* is just another way to screw up the UI.
agreed with everything you've mentioned above.
BIG BUT: WHAT ABOUT FINDER DOCK ICON ITSELF? It has simply no sense, no destination, plain and clear. sorry to bother;-)
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Originally posted by Brad
Consistency, my friend. ...
The Finder icon acts exactly as all other icons do.
accept that i can't drag it away, ifi want that, ... just thinking about consistency;-) IT IS NOT.
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Originally posted by Vox Barbara
accept that i can't drag it away, ifi want that, ... just thinking about consistency;-) IT IS NOT.
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Apple expects the Finder to be always running.
You know what would be a mind-****? A Dock icon in the Dock. ... Maybe not.
Originally posted by Eugene
Apple expects the Finder to be always running.
You know what would be a mind-****? A Dock icon in the Dock. ... Maybe not.
I'm confused now...
Originally posted by Eugene
Apple expects the Finder to be always running.
i have understood that sort of concept;-) the finder is just another app and its always running in background. the icon represents its (app) sheer existence and here we go: it simply behaves not like any other normal app.
perhaps i just want get rid off that stupid icon, - like any other icon that represents a normal app. that would satisfy me.
sorry to bother, but that is my humble feeling, and i'm not alone;-)
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I can see why it might seem superfluous to have a Dock icon when an app is perpetually running. But what happens when all its windows are closed? In the case of the finder, you have an out: the desktop. But it's a pain to un-bury the desktop and create a new Finder window or burrow down through my hard drive icon (something I do not leave on my desktop anymore) to my stuff as opposed to clicking on the Finder's dock icon and having my home folder or frontmost open folder in front of everything immediately with one click.
While I wouldn't seriously suggest doing anything about this, the desktop and hard drive icons on the desktop are more superfluous to me than the Finder Dock icon.
Oh yeah, and I hate the Dock icon for the Finder too.
Originally posted by Vox Barbara
i have understood that sort of concept;-) the finder is just another app and its always running in background. the icon represents its (app) sheer existence and here we go: it simply behaves not like any other normal app.
...and that's where I think this post already falls apart.
The Finder is not "running in background" any more than Safari or TextEdit or iTunes. It has windows. It has an interface that can be brought to the front. It does act like all other apps do. Its Dock icon activates the app and the windows act like all other apps' windows do. Several of us have already pointed that out. Where do you disagree? Any app with which you interact regularly or for that matter one that simply has a GUI is certainly not a background app. A background application would be something like the web server daemon -- it runs invisibly in the background and the user never interacts with it directly via its GUI.
The Finder is essentially the root app for Mac OS X from the user's perspective. You need the Finder to get anything done. Answer me this: how would you get back to the Finder without its Dock icon? You need the Dock icon to get to it. You certainly can't launch it from a Finder window in you don't have, um, a Finder window.
If you really want to get down to nitty gritty specifics, there are only two things that are different about the Finder icon in the Dock: it can't be moved and it can't be quit from the Dock. These two points have already been explained by Eugene and myself: Apple expects the Finder to always be running. If it's not running for some reason, you will need some way to get it back. A permanent icon in the Dock allows that.
Originally posted by Brad
... Answer me this: how would you get back to the Finder without its Dock icon? You need the Dock icon to get to it. You certainly can't launch it from a Finder window in you don't have, um, a Finder window.
...um... i still mull over;-)
well, i can't come up with a solution for the time beeing. Everything you (and other well respected people in this forum) say is certainly right. Maybe the sheer fact that i can't remove that particular icon disturbs me, it't nothing rationaly explainable;-) Period.
To answer your question: just click into free space on desktop, there you are, finder. Maybe classic thinking. Maybe it's just me, who confuses "desktop" and "finder", as someone mentioned earlier. But on a basis of daily usage, the distinction between these two concepts (finder & desktop) is almost a mere shine, isn't it?
The average user, who just wants to get his work done quickly, doesn't think about it. He just use it, more or less, with his very own skills of intuition. And thats it: the UI should be intuitive. And my concern is: os X is less intuitive than classic. I watch many mac newbiees (yes, i'm responsible for many many switchers to the beloved mac-plattform;-)), how they treat their computer. And it's almost never ...um...flawless...
But that is another subject for another thread...
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