[cmeisenzahl]

Saw this earlier today. I've only used Spotlight for very basic functionality so I haven't tried most of what is described here. But if true, a few of the points are pretty notable. Not being able to search by phrase, and poor symbol searches for example.

Anyway, here it is, interested in everyone's thoughts.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/11...ysis/index.php

Chris

[CharlesS]

There actually is a way to do a basic filename search. If you encapsulate your search query in quote marks, it searches by filename.

Of course, that means that it's impossible to use the quote marks to do a phrase search, another of his complaints.

edit: at least, that's the way it used to work. It doesn't seem to be doing this anymore...

[Weyland-Yutani]

A fair article. This guy has apparently spent way more time using Spotlight than I have and I don't recognize all his gripes but many are familiar to me. Frankly because of the beta feeling of Spotlight I rarely do searches any more. I miss the old "Find" feature. I agree with this guy that live searching should be something that the user can turn off and that *everything* should be indexed by Spotlight. System files included. Shame about the fragility of the Spotlight comments too.

It is a nice tech demo as it is. Yet again we find ourselves betatesting an unfinished product for Apple. In a way irritating but in another pretty good because then we - the users - have a more direct affect on how the product is developed.

cheers

W-Y

[Anand]

I hate spotlight. Depending upon what "find" window you use, it is different. Very un-mac like.

[Athens]

I cant stand spotlight, my Computer is a mess first off, files all over the place. Second spotlight slots it down to much, hoping this will change when I get more ram put in later on for W0W. Third I don't like its interface to be honest after a few days I turned it off and never really looked at it much since then. I'll prob end up liking it more when the next version comes out with tweaks to correct issues with the first version. Its still better then Windows Search system.

[Cadaver]

Athens, Spotlight should only slow things down while its actively indexing for the first time (you'll see a dot inside the magnifying glass at the right of the menu bar). Depending on how many files you've got, and what kind they are, it might take a few hours to complete. After that, new files/changed files are re-indexed in real time.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

edit: at least, that's the way it used to work. It doesn't seem to be doing this anymore...

Does for me.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Most people complain about Spotlight but have only used it from the top-right corner. I cry for them. Granted, the Spotlight interfaces are pretty weak right now.

[Hal Itosis]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

There actually is a way to do a basic filename search.
If you encapsulate your search query in quote marks,
it searches by filename. ...at least, that's the way it
used to work. It doesn't seem to be doing this anymore.

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

Does for me.

Horsepoo,

But... are the results of such a "filename" search really accurate?
If you search for "the" in the content slot (using the quotes trick),
do the filenames of all results contain "the"? Or, are there some
results with no sign of the string "the" in their names?

[msuper69]

Spotlight isn't perfect but I use it every day to find stuff. No complaints.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally Posted by Hal Itosis

Horsepoo,

But... are the results of such a "filename" search really accurate?
If you search for "the" in the content slot (using the quotes trick),
do the filenames of all results contain "the"? Or, are there some
results with no sign of the string "the" in their names?

Hmmm...you're right...there are files with no signs of 'the' in their name. Odd.

Anyways...a lot of people want Spotlight to default the search to file name but this would defy the purpose of Spotlight. Apple just needs to work on a better interface.

You can already search by name in the Finder...it's just a multistep process. Hit spacebar in the Finder's search field. Hit the '+' button to add a criteria. Name -> Contains, Begins with, End with, Is. This method definitely finds files by file name. Dunno if it's been done yet, but a developer could create an app that simply finds files by "name" and he'd make a killing. With some folks.

I'm sure 10.5 will bring some much needed improvements to Spotlight interfaces. I'm hoping for metadata browsing ala iTunes.

---

I don't know what this fetish is about file name but in the real world not everything is labeled with a name...at least not a proper name, most have generic names...if you're looking for a telephone bill, it doesn't have a name, but you know it's a "bill" for your "phone account", you may also know the name of the company and/or the date range of the bill you're looking for...but there's no name.

You're looking for a sweater...it's not called "Red sweater with green logo.swtr". But you know you're looking for a sweater, it's red, and it's got a green logo on it.

Looking for a set of keys. It also doesn't have a name. But you know they contain "keys" to the "house" and the "car".

Sure, file names are dandy (especially back in the days when we had no choice but to use them to remember and find files) but they're not the end-all metadata. Just like in real life, most documents could have no particular name at all and it would still be easy to find them via an elimination process that uses metadata *other* than file name.

It's much easier to remember a few general object characteristics than remembering the exact name...more so if you weren't responsible for naming said object. The specific and unique name should be an extra piece of metadata used as a stopgap if all else fails. But chances are, if you don't know what the object/file's characteristics are, you won't have a damn clue what its name is.

It's human nature to remember features instead of name. You'll commonly find people trying to describe a thing they can't name. Rarely will you find someone able to name a thing they can't describe.

I know this ideal won't come for the next decade...the current OSes are too dependent on file paths and file names, to make a shift towards file characteristics that aren't file path or file name related. It's too bad too...most people use file names and/or nested folders as a mean of 'tagging' multiple metadata to a file. I mean, how else would you find a file amongst many similar ones if you didn't sort them by date in little folders or put the date right in its name.

[gadster]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

It's human nature to remember features instead of name. You'll commonly find people trying to describe a thing they can't name. Rarely will you find someone able to name a thing they can't describe.

Too true. I've heard people say they never forget a face, but are bad at remembering names. I've yet to see someone say the converse.

[mikelauder]

I you want 'search by filename' then the best little app I've found is Easyfind.

I've got it set to Command F1 in Butler so that it's easy to open.

It would be nice if apple built this kind of functionality into Tiger, maybe by letting the user select what type of search they want in the different locations.