[Cipher13]

Okay, seriously, the sidebar is completely redundant with the large titlebar.

That's fine, you can hide it, cool. I want to use it, anyway.

But what about the toolbar? I don't want to waste that much space on EVERY Finder window just for one tool or so! A search box, and the back/forward arrows.

What a completely stupid waste of space.

Even removing all items, you can't get rid of that space. Idiotic.

Then you have the button in the top right which hides BOTH. Wtf?

Nice work, Apple.

[redJag]

See the dot on the bar to the right of the sidebar? If you click/drag that all the way to the left of the window, it completely hides the sidebar. Or did you mean something else? That's my interpretation of your post

[Developer]

Originally posted by redJag:
See the dot on the bar to the right of the sidebar? If you click/drag that all the way to the left of the window, it completely hides the sidebar. Or did you mean something else? That's my interpretation of your post

I have a totally different interpretation. You can hide the sidebar. That's obvious. You pointed out how to do it. But how can you hide the toolbar? That should be obvious. That's what the toolbar window widget for. But that also hides the sidebar. Why is that? There is a perfectly good widget to show hide the sidebar (the dot), so why connect that with the toolbar window widget?

I didn't make the point easier to understand, did I?

But I have to chime in with Cipher: wtf?

[DP Roberts]

I don't know if this is what you want, but try Command-Clicking on the Toolbar widget. It progressively cycles through fewer and fewer features on the toolbar. Ultimately, you can have just small tool lables that take up very little space, though not quite as small as no toolbar at all.

[lookmark]

The method to Apple's madness, as I see it: 'cause hitting the toolbar button in the Finder changes the window to a different mode of behavior (spatial, not browser), and Apple needed a a visible button for showing this change.

So they chose to link it to the Finder toolbar. IE, you can still use the Finder as the browser with the Sidebar snapped shut, but can't use the Finder as a browser with the toolbar off.*

Yeah, it's a little quirky.

And yeah, it's irritating that the toolbar is linked to this behavior shift and you can't hide it w/o making this change. But that was the compromise.

Personally, I too find it a bit annoying, but like the Sidebar *and* improved search in the toolbar so much I'm generally happy. The extra-long toolbar on very large windows sure does bother the hell out of me though.


* Er, except if you you're browsing with column view in "spatial" mode. Sigh.

[JKT]

Originally posted by DP Roberts:
I don't know if this is what you want, but try Command-Clicking on the Toolbar widget. It progressively cycles through fewer and fewer features on the toolbar. Ultimately, you can have just small tool lables that take up very little space, though not quite as small as no toolbar at all.

Add that to the list of things fixed in Panther as, previously, the toolbar in the Finder did its own thing™

[Link]

A friend of mine discovered a little secret about panther's finder.

It's not REALLY rewritten. That sidebar is just a fancy add-on. Take a folder and drag it up into the finder toolbar, now, while dragging over, HOVER over a spot (preferably over the magnifying glass on the search thing), and you'll see a flexible space, drop it where you want and boom you have it.

BTW you can right click it to have icons & text too, or go into customize toolbar to get all the other options.

If only you could still get the 'sidebar' features with it (in open/save dialogs)

[Toyin]

Originally posted by Link:
A friend of mine discovered a little secret about panther's finder.

It's not REALLY rewritten. That sidebar is just a fancy add-on. Take a folder and drag it up into the finder toolbar, now, while dragging over, HOVER over a spot (preferably over the magnifying glass on the search thing), and you'll see a flexible space, drop it where you want and boom you have it.

BTW you can right click it to have icons & text too, or go into customize toolbar to get all the other options.

If only you could still get the 'sidebar' features with it (in open/save dialogs)

The Finder is new and is SOOO much more than the toolbar. What you mentioned isn't a hidden feature, it's supposed to work that way. Old habits die hard and this allows us to use the Finder exactly like 10.2

To Cipher where would you suggest the search bar and back/foward buttons go? Personally I like having the toolbar and using it for different action buttons (ie delete, burn, get info) instead of locations. When I'm using my laptop sometimes I prefer just to click instead of cntrl-clicking items.

[Nonsuch]

I like the new Finder layout a lot. I keep my local folders in the sidebar and some network favorites on the toolbar, along with some app aliases that I tend to use in a quick drag-and-drop fashion: QT player, Preview, DropStuff, etc. Very handy.

[Back up 15 and punt]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Okay, seriously, the sidebar is completely redundant with the large titlebar.

That's fine, you can hide it, cool. I want to use it, anyway.

But what about the toolbar? I don't want to waste that much space on EVERY Finder window just for one tool or so! A search box, and the back/forward arrows.

What a completely stupid waste of space.

Even removing all items, you can't get rid of that space. Idiotic.

Then you have the button in the top right which hides BOTH. Wtf?

Nice work, Apple.

There is a button up in the right hand corner of the finder window. It doesn't appear to be active but I can assure you it is. Click this button because I believe it will do exactly what you want.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally posted by Link:

It's not REALLY rewritten. That sidebar is just a fancy add-on. Take a folder and drag it up into the finder toolbar, now, while dragging over, HOVER over a spot (preferably over the magnifying glass on the search thing), and you'll see a flexible space, drop it where you want and boom you have it.

Ha! Thanks for the tip!

[hadocon]

I must say that I prefer the 10.2 Finder and I am glad that I can make the new Finder act like the old one... except for one thing: When I open a new Finder windoow it automatically opens to my user account - and not to teh root level of the computer. in 10.2 we used to be able to choose if we wanted it to open at the user or root level. I can not find any option that will allow me to get to root level. I suppose I could put the "Computer" icon on the toolbar, but that would add an extra click to my finder actions.

Again, WTF?

[Chris Grande]

To change the default Finder window location go to Finder -> Preferences -> General -> New Finder windows open: Then select from the list.

Hope this helps!

[JKT]

Originally posted by hadocon:
I must say that I prefer the 10.2 Finder and I am glad that I can make the new Finder act like the old one... except for one thing: When I open a new Finder windoow it automatically opens to my user account - and not to teh root level of the computer. in 10.2 we used to be able to choose if we wanted it to open at the user or root level. I can not find any option that will allow me to get to root level. I suppose I could put the "Computer" icon on the toolbar, but that would add an extra click to my finder actions.

Again, WTF?

Finder>Preferences



Personally, what I'm finding truly annoying/dumb is that you can't go up the hierarchy of folders from the topmost one you select in the sidebar.

[hadocon]

Originally posted by JKT:
Finder>Preferences

...Thanx, I knew this must be there somewhere. I guess I was in such Shock and Awe that I missed that.

[RooneyX]

I'm used to the new Finder and like it. I used to have a few Finder windows open but now just navigate using one most of the time.

[neilw]

Originally posted by DP Roberts:
I don't know if this is what you want, but try Command-Clicking on the Toolbar widget. It progressively cycles through fewer and fewer features on the toolbar. Ultimately, you can have just small tool lables that take up very little space, though not quite as small as no toolbar at all.

Whoa, that's pretty cool....

[chris v]

Originally posted by Link:
A friend of mine discovered a little secret about panther's finder.
Take a folder and drag it up into the finder toolbar, now, while dragging over, HOVER over a spot (preferably over the magnifying glass on the search thing), and you'll see a flexible space, drop it where you want and boom you have it.

Ah Hah! Cool , and congratulations on your first useful post!

CV

[Toyin]

Originally posted by JKT:
Personally, what I'm finding truly annoying/dumb is that you can't go up the hierarchy of folders from the topmost one you select in the sidebar.

command - up arrow

[Sage]

Originally posted by DP Roberts:
I don't know if this is what you want, but try Command-Clicking on the Toolbar widget. It progressively cycles through fewer and fewer features on the toolbar. Ultimately, you can have just small tool lables that take up very little space, though not quite as small as no toolbar at all.

Pretty cool. You should submit it to MacOSXHints.

[posthumanus]

what aggravates me most is that switching between toolbar and no-toolbar or opening new finder windows or basically doing anything in column view, the finder NEVER holds its settings.

i mean, how hard can it be.

the finder is the 'port of entry' for just about everyone.

it should stay where i damn well put it.

[Cipher13]

Not a single person has understood my post.

That's my fault, I didn't phrase it well.

I'm aware of everything that has been posted; the command-clicking thing only does the same as changing options via the 'customise toolbar' window.

HERE's what I'm saying.

I like using the sidebar. Therefore, I have no use for the toolbar, but I cannot get rid of it. THAT is the problem. I'm not USING it, and it's STILL taking up space. All that space is being used ONLY for the back/forward buttons. That's it!

I don't need any of the other crap in there.

Stupid. I want to be able to get rid of it entirely.

[juanvaldes]

your right man, this can be refined alot. The best i can come up with is remove everything from your toolbar and set it to text, but there is still wasted space, just not as much.

[thePurpleGiant]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
I like using the sidebar. Therefore, I have no use for the toolbar, but I cannot get rid of it. THAT is the problem. I'm not USING it, and it's STILL taking up space. All that space is being used ONLY for the back/forward buttons. That's it!

I getcha. But seriously - using just text on the toolbar is pretty damn close. I wish Apple would ditch the whole 'toolbar widget activates spatial mode' cause no one uses it.

10.4: Make that widget close the toolbar as is standard practice. make the little bump thing ditch the sidebar.

Anyway Ciph, I reckon you can get by with this extra 10 pixels at the top:

[Brass]

Originally posted by Toyin:
command - up arrow

Excellent! This is one tip I will make use of (provided I don't forget it first). It's always annoyed me that clicking an item in the sidebar didn't allow you to navigate up the heirarchy from there, only down. I'd still prefer it to be able to be done by scrolling left, but this is the next best thing. Thanks!

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
I getcha. But seriously - using just text on the toolbar is pretty damn close. I wish Apple would ditch the whole 'toolbar widget activates spatial mode' cause no one uses it.

10.4: Make that widget close the toolbar as is standard practice. make the little bump thing ditch the sidebar.

Anyway Ciph, I reckon you can get by with this extra 10 pixels at the top:

It's still a waste of space for me though... and just having "back" there in text mode is annoying.

Additionally, I don't use column view (I hate it), so yeah.

It just seems like a stupid oversight on Apple's part

But, yeah, making it text-only is as close as I can get unfortunately.

Originally posted by Toyin:
The Finder is new and is SOOO much more than the toolbar. What you mentioned isn't a hidden feature, it's supposed to work that way. Old habits die hard and this allows us to use the Finder exactly like 10.2

To Cipher where would you suggest the search bar and back/foward buttons go? Personally I like having the toolbar and using it for different action buttons (ie delete, burn, get info) instead of locations. When I'm using my laptop sometimes I prefer just to click instead of cntrl-clicking items.

That's the problem. I don't know where they could go, but if removed completely, so should be the space they occupied (given that it's being completely unused).

I don't use any toolbar items, as I just use the keyboard... command-delete, command-f, command-i, command-k... I don't see them as being the least bit useful. That's to me, of course.