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bborofka · Jun 30, 2003, 10:56 PM

The Preview function in the Finder would be so much better as a drawer. Then we could do file previews in List and Icon view... but the Preview function is currently limited to Column view. Additionally, it would be easy to hide/show the Preview drawer quickly with a toolbar button or something. Hasn't Apple thought of this? Are drawers only available to pure Cocoa applications?

Socially Awkward Solo · Jul 1, 2003, 12:50 AM

I think it would be a stupid waste of space.

Developer · Jul 1, 2003, 02:07 AM

Originally posted by eVo:
The Preview function in the Finder would be so much better as a drawer. Then we could do file previews in List and Icon view... but the Preview function is currently limited to Column view. Additionally, it would be easy to hide/show the Preview drawer quickly with a toolbar button or something. Hasn't Apple thought of this? Are drawers only available to pure Cocoa applications?

I thought the same. A drawer would be ideal for preview for the reasons you mentioned.

Drawers are available for Carbon applications since 10.2.

Superchicken · Jul 1, 2003, 02:10 AM

would be a good idea if the Finder went back to a normal Aqua setup.

LightWaver-67 · Jul 1, 2003, 05:19 AM

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
I think it would be a stupid waste of space.

No, I think the point was... by default, we AUTOMATICALLY have a preview in Column-view... why not make it optional, similar to how drawers work. You would actually SAVE space if you disabled the preview.

...or am I misunderstanding it...?

wulf · Jul 1, 2003, 06:25 AM

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
No, I think the point was... by default, we AUTOMATICALLY have a preview in Column-view... why not make it optional, similar to how drawers work. You would actually SAVE space if you disabled the preview.

...or am I misunderstanding it...?

No, I think you're bang on the money.

No-one wants/needs a Finder preview all the time. The drawer idea makes sense to me. In fact, it would actually be one of the few occasions where the use of a drawer would be appropriate...

delete · Jul 1, 2003, 08:11 AM

Originally posted by wulf:
No, I think you're bang on the money.

No-one wants/needs a Finder preview all the time. The drawer idea makes sense to me. In fact, it would actually be one of the few occasions where the use of a drawer would be appropriate...

Check out how Path Finder does the preview drawer. It's kinda nice.

keston · Jul 1, 2003, 10:06 AM

When in column view, i don't think space is a big concern. I'm usually going down into folders etc. The space tat the preview is in just turns into another level if i click on a folder... I don't think i want to be turning that space on and off just because the preview sometimes shows up there. Column view isn't used just for the preview, making a drawer just for one function of that view would be the waste. I don't position column windows side by side that i would need the extra space at the side... do you?

keston · Jul 1, 2003, 10:09 AM

Also, i think you have the option for collapsing previews now for the sake of not wanting the stall that sometimes happens when you hit a big media file, etc (movies, large jpegs, mp3s)

RooneyX · Jul 1, 2003, 10:17 AM

Here's an idea for the guys at Apple.

The Preview pane and the Preview.app itself should have a plugin feature where application installers can install a plugin that allows people to see previews for files Apple doesn't support.

So for example, when you install Lightwave it installs a plugin that allows you to see Lightwave 3D objects in the Preview pane and Preview.app in real time 3D. This could allow OSX users to see all the files they are working on without opening the applications they were created in. Just for previewing. That's the way it should work.

Judge_Fire · Jul 1, 2003, 12:25 PM

I'm all for the drawer. With it, I could:

- See a full-size preview in list and icon view modes, too

- See a data view on folders, apps and volumes, like their size, item count, space available, attached scripts etc. A bit like Get Info, but right there.

The latter is one of the few things Windows does better, IMHO.

J

bborofka · Jul 1, 2003, 01:10 PM

Another annoying thing about the current Preview pane in the Finder...

If you want to preview a movie in column view, but the box is too small, you have to make the column wider which makes ALL the columns wider. If the movie preview was just a Drawer, we could drag the Drawer wider to show a bigger movie preview, while leaving the columns the same width.

iPond317 · Jul 1, 2003, 01:38 PM

Originally posted by eVo:
Another annoying thing about the current Preview pane in the Finder...

If you want to preview a movie in column view, but the box is too small, you have to make the column wider which makes ALL the columns wider. If the movie preview was just a Drawer, we could drag the Drawer wider to show a bigger movie preview, while leaving the columns the same width.

Hold down option while resizing the column and you can resize just that one column (been there since 10.1)

teszeract · Jul 1, 2003, 03:48 PM

Originally posted by iPond317:
Hold down option while resizing the column and you can resize just that one column (been there since 10.1)

wow. every day is a new experience.