[andy06]

I want image folders to be in Icon view and then be able to view the pics and cycle through them in the same order that they are sorted in Finder.
Basic image viewing essentially.

I recently switched to OS X and realised there is almost no way to achieve this, so I'm guessing there are some workflow differences at play.

I've already tried the usual things:

1. Quick Look does not cycle through the images (pressing right arrow - next only works till end of "line", so 4-5 images tops in icon view).

2. Quick Look + Tab key does not help either, since while this DOES cycle all the way through, it ONLY does so in Alphabetical order.

3. Coverflow. Ugh

4. List view + Quick Look + Down arrow works but then you lose the icon previews, so its kinda pointless for image files.

Is everyone on OS X using some other method? iPhoto?

Thanks

[Waragainstsleep]

You could use Quicklook and column view if you really must retain the icon previews.

[andy06]

By Icon Previews, I meant the large icon thumbnails that enable you to differentiate between photos
Column view doesn't have that. Only icon view does.

For example: On Linux (Nautilus/Dolphin) and Windows (Explorer), you can see a grid of thumbnails and then choose to flick between 2 or 3, then skip a few, then check out a few more.

How do you do that on a Mac? Like what method do long time Mac users apply?

Thanks

[moonmonkey]

click on an icon - press space bar to open quick look
then use the arrow keys to cycle through them.

[andy06]

That doesn't work. It stops at the end of the 'line'. So if the images are in a 4x4 grid, and I do this on #1, it will stop at #4, then I have to redo it at #5 and it will stop at #8 and so on

[gradient]

What's the end purpose here? iPhoto does what you're talking about if pulling your photos into there is an option.

[Curiosity]

If you want to look at a whole folder full of pictures, Xee is a nice image viewer. It has arrows in the toolbar to load the next or previous image, or you can use keyboard shortcuts with the Cmd key and the left and right arrows.

[P]

Originally Posted by andy06 

How do you do that on a Mac? Like what method do long time Mac users apply?

Long time users probably use an application like iPhoto. Since it used to be free and is included with (most) new purchases, pretty much everyone has a copy. The intended way these days is probably Cover Flow.

[Waragainstsleep]

You can use the up and down arrows with Quicklook too you know.

[OreoCookie]

Or you can select a bunch of images, activate Quick Look by pressing the space bar and go to full screen

[andy06]

You can use the up and down arrows with Quicklook too you know.

That won't work. It'll again stop at end of the line, just that now it will stop at the end of a vertical column rather than a horizontal row as in the case of the left/right arrow key.

Or you can select a bunch of images, activate Quick Look by pressing the space bar and go to full screen

Thanks! That does seem to approximate what I'm trying to do but not exactly since it requires bunch of pictures to be pre selected. In the case that I only want to view say 20 out of 100 photos (5 in the beginning, 10 in the middle, 5 at the end), I'd have to pre-select 3 times. That'd be somewhat clumsy.

What's the end purpose here? iPhoto does what you're talking about if pulling your photos into there is an option.

Basically to reiterate, I'm trying to get image viewing functionality similar to say Facebook, Google+, Flikr, Picasa, Windows or Linux. (Grid of pictures, freely open any and cycle onwards).

Long time users probably use an application like iPhoto. Since it used to be free and is included with (most) new purchases, pretty much everyone has a copy. The intended way these days is probably Cover Flow.

Ah ok. So the recommended way to view images is through iPhoto then? I tried that and it does indeed offer what I need (apart from the small matter of having to import them first of course ) but I guess I'll have to change habits.

Re:Coverflow, it doesn't seem to cut it for this use-case. Is there another workflow/viewmode+quicklook combination I'm missing? Or is Finder in OS X not meant to be used for image viewing and Apple intends people to do all image related things within iPhoto?

Thanks

[P]

iPhoto would be what they are intending. Alternatively, just move the pictures you're interested -or aliases thereof - in to a new folder and do coverflow on that.

[andy06]

Alternatively, just move the pictures you're interested -or aliases thereof - in to a new folder and do coverflow on that.

Hehe. Kidding or Serious?

I'll use iPhoto.
Just as a follow up: Is Apple deprecating the Finder as a File management tool gradually along with de-emphasising the Filesystem? It din't occur to me that the missing features (Cut, photo viewing, folder separation) may have been by design as they want to push people towards using dedicated apps as on iOS rather than all-singing, all-dancing File Managers/Explorers.

[Waragainstsleep]

Is there a reason you are restricted to using either left & right or up & down arrows but not all of them to navigate?

You can open multiple images in Preview which gives you larger thumbnails down one side and various other view options.

[P]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Hehe. Kidding or Serious?

It would work. I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here, why it's a problem to navigate the entire folder.

Originally Posted by andy06 

I'll use iPhoto.
Just as a follow up: Is Apple deprecating the Finder as a File management tool gradually along with de-emphasising the Filesystem?

Sort of. They're not dumbing it down and removing features, but they're adding those features to apps like iPhoto and iTunes (and Spotlight) while MS seems to add them to Explorer.

Originally Posted by andy06 

It din't occur to me that the missing features (Cut, photo viewing, folder separation) may have been by design as they want to push people towards using dedicated apps as on iOS rather than all-singing, all-dancing File Managers/Explorers.

"Cut" is present in Lion. Hit Command-C for copy and then Command-option-V when pasting to move instead of copy. Different name, same feature - and the name better reflects what actually happens. Photo viewing is certainly there through CoverFlow and Quicklook - still not sure what you are missing there. What do you mean by folder separation?

[andy06]

Is there a reason you are restricted to using either left & right or up & down arrows but not all of them to navigate?

Imagine photos in a 4x4 grid.

A1 A2 A3 A4
B1 B2 B3 B4
C1 C2 C3 C4
D1 D2 D3 D4

With Quicklook, you have to got from A1 to A4, then it will stop working (it won't warn or tell you why), you have to guess and press down arrow, but then you don't go from A4 to B1, instead you get booted to B4!
Remember, when in Quicklook or Preview, you can't actually see the grid to see where you're going (since you're not always moving sequentially)
Similar thing if you use down arrow (though down arrow doesn't make sense in icon mode so won't cover that).

You can open multiple images in Preview which gives you larger thumbnails down one side and various other view options.

Yeah, but not practical to scroll a folder full of 200 photos vertically to view only some of them.

What I want is Picture viewing like in iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), FB, G+, Flickr, Picasa, Explorer or Nautilus. Any photo utility elsewhere basically on any platform.

You have icons sorted by date. You can then open any image and then go next, next, next to cycle through them. That's all

Lets say you have 200 vacation pictures sorted by date (so that they aren't mixed and jumbled)
You have them in Icon view so that you can see which picture is which (list view is not optimal for photos, which is why no platform uses it)
You want to view couple of pics that catch your eye (6 pictures taken in the bar at the beginning, 4 on the beach taken in the middle) etc.

Just image browsing basically. Every platform listed above (including Apple ones) handles it in one very intuitive and specific way. Finder+Quicklook+Preview make a mess of it.

I'll fire up iPhoto soon and try to play around in that as I think this is a case of Apple not wanting people to use Finder for these kind of tasks and that is why maybe the workflow isn't optimised.

Having said that, most of my friends who use Macs don't seem to use iPhoto (dislike separate apps and its duplicate database) and just view pics in List view. Why or How anyone can live like that is beyond me . But they're fairly homogenous in adopting that workflow. Is this the norm?

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by andy06 

That doesn't work. It stops at the end of the 'line'. So if the images are in a 4x4 grid, and I do this on #1, it will stop at #4, then I have to redo it at #5 and it will stop at #8 and so on

That is not true. I have a folder full of images selected in icon view, and when I get to the end of the line in quickview it keeps on going.

However, for lots and lots of images iPhoto has better previews, or more professionally you could use Adobe Bridge.

[P]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

That is not true. I have a folder full of images selected in icon view, and when I get to the end of the line in quickview it keeps on going.

True. You can also select just the files you want and double-click one to open them in preview. That then places them in a list (with thumbnails) and you can step through them.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Just as a follow up: Is Apple deprecating the Finder as a File management tool gradually along with de-emphasising the Filesystem?

You need to kiss good-bye your twisted view of a File Manager that you got from Windows.
Windows Explorer is a horrible product. It does too many things, and nothign really logically and well.

I hate when people "manage" their photos in Windows folders via the Explorer, and think this is the best thing since sliced bread (My dad does that, drives my Mac-using mom nuts). iPhoto is there for a reason, not just spite.

Originally Posted by andy06 

I'll use iPhoto.

Bingo.

-t

[andy06]

That is not true. I have a folder full of images selected in icon view, and when I get to the end of the line in quickview it keeps on going.

Only if you pre-select them. Not sure when you say "Selected" do you mean the Cmd+A "select all" or simply have them "shown" in icon view
The initial suggestion was to quicklook a pic and then use the arrow keys to move sequentially. That *does not* happen. It won't move to the next line.

And pre selecting them is not practical (coz you have to do ALL of them and view ALL, and there could be 400 and you may only want to view maybe 20 OR you have to pre-select them in small sequential bunches over and over again).

[andy06]

You need to kiss good-bye your twisted view of a File Manager that you got from Windows.
Windows Explorer is a horrible product. It does too many things, and nothign really logically and well.

I hate when people "manage" their photos in Windows folders via the Explorer, and think this is the best thing since sliced bread (My dad does that, drives my Mac-using mom nuts). iPhoto is there for a reason, not just spite.

I will try and adapt and integrate iPhoto as my primary photo management tool. I think there is merit to your view that the File Explorer/Manager should not be used to "manage" photos or view them.

However, I couldn't disagree more that its an all-around horrible product

IMO, it spanks Finder for actually.....managing Files. Of the top of my head, when I first saw Snow Leopard:

It had no ability to cut (Lion fixed that, sort of, it still has no UI)
No ability to merge (Lion fixed that, kind of). It would destructively replace data!
No ability to batch rename multiple files
No ability to separate Folders from Files and group them separately (Lion fixes this, kind of, not really though since it doesn't work in all view modes)
No ability to easily work in two pane/two window mode (made worse by SL limitations of window resizing and maximising).

Explorer had all that built in, along with nifty OS help such as Aero Snap and even some popular OS X features such as Spring Loaded Folders and better implementation of Move operations (Due to Aero Snap).

What do you mean by folder separation?

Separating folders from files (not mixing them or scattering folders between files) in all view modes. The folders are neatly listed at the beginning or end. OS X doesn't do this at all in some modes (Icon) and has a bad implementation in List view.

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Only if you pre-select them. Not sure when you say "Selected" do you mean the Cmd+A "select all"

yep this, it's the only way I use quickview. If I knew which pictures I wanted i wouldn't be viewing them in quickview, I'd just select them and drag them to photoshop.

[P]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Separating folders from files (not mixing them or scattering folders between files) in all view modes. The folders are neatly listed at the beginning or end. OS X doesn't do this at all in some modes (Icon) and has a bad implementation in List view.

I hate that feature with a passion whenever I have to use Windows, because it breaks type ahead. Windows type ahead is at best semi-functional anyway, but this truly breaks it. The Mac way is more flexible, because you can fake this separation many ways (easiest perhaps is to add a label to them and then keep arranged by label) while the Windows setup is to arbitrarily move one type to the top without asking. The absurdity of this scheme is best shown by adding a shortcut to a folder. It will not be sorted with the folders, but with the files.

[andy06]

I hate that feature with a passion whenever I have to use Windows, because it breaks type ahead. Windows type ahead is at best semi-functional anyway, but this truly breaks it. The Mac way is more flexible, because you can fake this separation many ways (easiest perhaps is to add a label to them and then keep arranged by label) while the Windows setup is to arbitrarily move one type to the top without asking. The absurdity of this scheme is best shown by adding a shortcut to a folder. It will not be sorted with the folders, but with the files.

Can you explain a bit
What context is it breaking Type ahead in? Search

yep this, it's the only way I use quickview. If I knew which pictures I wanted i wouldn't be viewing them in quickview, I'd just select them and drag them to photoshop.

Photoshop? I don't want to edit them in my case
I just want to be able to view some of them of icon view.
That's all I want to do, view *some* pics of a folder in *icon view* in *sequence*.
I don't think Finder+Quicklook+Preview allows that seamlessly. I think this is a case of Apple clearly not intending for the Finder to be used for image viewing and expecting users to use a dedicated app: iPhoto, and that's fine. I was just wondering if there was a way in Finder

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Can you explain a bit
What context is it breaking Type ahead in? Search

Type-Ahead is based on the alphabet. If you start typing, you can stop when you're in the vicinity, and then use arrow keys to select the actual file/folder. If the sorting isn't also alphabetical, you keep jumping around randomly, or you end up having to type "ahead" the entire name of the object, making the whole feature bloody useless.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by andy06 

That's all I want to do, view *some* pics of a folder in *icon view* in *sequence*.
I don't think Finder+Quicklook+Preview allows that seamlessly.

QuickLook in full-screen mode, as suggested by OreoCookie, will do exactly what you ask.

Also, general-purpose file managers SUCK at managing large numbers of files with specific needs and characteristics. See music management in Explorer vs. iTunes for why.

[P]

Originally Posted by andy06 

Can you explain a bit
What context is it breaking Type ahead in? Search

I have a list of 100 files. I want one named "Test file 1". If I type T, the selection (on both OS X and any Windows version) jumps to the first file that begins with a T. If I keep typing, it keeps moving the selection to the full name that matches. More commonly, however, one hits T and then moves down with the arrow keys.

Now make that list a mix of folders and files. Suddenly this doesn't work on Windows if there is a folder that begins with T. What happens is that it moves down to the next icon that begins with that letter - so if I select a folder named "ABC", it will move to the folder beginning with T, but if I select a folder after T or a file before T alphabetically, it will move to the file. The "rescue" is to keep hitting T, which steps it down through the list to the next object beginning with a T. This is so much slower than just finding the file with the mouse that it barely counts.

And now for the perfect example: Sort the folder by something else, like modification dates. It still follows the same order - except now you can't even see it. It moves seemingly unpredictably. This is broken.

Honestly, what is the point about forcing the folders to the top? If there is a small number of icons in the folder, it's better to let the user organize. If there is a large number, type ahead is vital to navigation. The only reason I can see is that Windows is STILL transitioning from the tree model that was essentially obsoleted with Windows 95 - 17 years ago! Apple can be too fast in its transitions, but this is WAY too slow.

[andy06]

Now make that list a mix of folders and files. Suddenly this doesn't work on Windows if there is a folder that begins with T. What happens is that it moves down to the next icon that begins with that letter - so if I select a folder named "ABC", it will move to the folder beginning with T, but if I select a folder after T or a file before T alphabetically, it will move to the file. The "rescue" is to keep hitting T, which steps it down through the list to the next object beginning with a T. This is so much slower than just finding the file with the mouse that it barely counts.

Ah, I see what you mean. Sub-conciously, through years of muscle memory, I select a File after the folders on the top before using Type ahead. (You *DO* have to select some file to gain input focus before using it right? Or have I been doing it wrong?).
Another solution could be to use Group by which categorizes the files (Like Lion's Arrange by).
Probably not an elegant solution but a workaround of sorts

And now for the perfect example: Sort the folder by something else, like modification dates. It still follows the same order - except now you can't even see it. It moves seemingly unpredictably. This is broken.

Wouldn't this apply to OS X too? If its not alphabetical, then files would be scattered in both OSes and hence there would be random jumpiness in both OSes right? Type ahead only works as intended with Alphabetical sorting in either OS or not at all, right?

[zro]

I really don't think you grasp what icon view in the FInder actually is. It's not an icon only view of a list as in WINDOWS. This is why continuing to press the right arrow doesn't cause the selection to go left. Does that really make sense? Press right to go left? No. Especially when you consider that icons can be arranged any way you like. Even to form patterns or to align to a background image to form cutesy install instructions. This is why in icon view if you want to go left you press left, up press up, down press down. Though I myself don't find it very useful and aside from the desktop I never use it, even for photos not in my iPhoto library.

Folders on top? *gah* No thanks.

Batch processing is the job of scripting. Chiefly AppleScript (in my house) and Automator.

Tree view can be had in list view. Multi pane... Remember that you can work with more than one window. This may help - Open in AppleScript Editor.app

Also remember the Finder is not the file manager, you are. It is only a tool that lets you do that.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by zro 

Also remember the Finder is not the file manager, you are. It is only a tool that lets you do that.

What if *you* are the tool ?

-t

[andy06]

Originally Posted by zro 

I really don't think you grasp what icon view in the FInder actually is. It's not an icon only view of a list as in WINDOWS. This is why continuing to press the right arrow doesn't cause the selection to go left. Does that really make sense? Press right to go left? No. Especially when you consider that icons can be arranged any way you like. Even to form patterns or to align to a background image to form cutesy install instructions. This is why in icon view if you want to go left you press left, up press up, down press down.

Thanks. That helps more
Thinking of them as a sequential list (which they aren't) was indeed the issue. (If they were, pressing "next" arrow to go left would have made sense )

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

What if *you* are the tool ?

-t

Then your issues extend far beyond the scope of this forum.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by andy06 

And pre selecting them is not practical (coz you have to do ALL of them and view ALL, and there could be 400 and you may only want to view maybe 20 OR you have to pre-select them in small sequential bunches over and over again).

You can select non-adjacent files by holding the command key, obviating the need for "sequential bunches over and over."