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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Stupid huge icon spacing in Panther

Stupid huge icon spacing in Panther
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Phat Bastard
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Feb 11, 2004, 01:13 PM
 
I can't find any solutions here about changing the icon spacing in Panther. I'm using a 12" Powerbook so desktop space is at a premium, but that icon spacing option has been taken away in Panther.

Does anyone have a hack that can remedy this??
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Immortal K-Mart Employee
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Feb 11, 2004, 01:48 PM
 
Ya it is rather huge!

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Big Mac
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Feb 11, 2004, 02:08 PM
 
I'm so glad someone brought this up finally. I haven't found a way to change the variable, and it is really annoying.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
snerdini
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Feb 11, 2004, 02:29 PM
 
I agree this needs to be changed. IIRC, OS 9 had the ability to adjust the icon spacing...am I smoking crack?
     
cybergoober
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Feb 11, 2004, 02:42 PM
 
Originally posted by snerdini:
...am I smoking crack?
That, I don't know. But yes you could adjust the icon spacing pre-OS X
     
MartiNZ
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Feb 11, 2004, 03:51 PM
 
Nice one . But yes, icon spacing is a bummer now, and getting worse with every release of the OS. Soon I'll probably only be able to fit 2 icons across on my iBook screen . It is a problem - as if brushed metal alone didn't take up enough space, we have to have quite a bit blank as well!?

It's almost bringing me across to the idea of using Column view, but I just can't get the Finder to size them sensibly and consistently, so that's a bit too much of an effort.

I think they need to make the spacing dependent on the icon size rather than providing space enough for 128*128 icons when I'm only using 52*52... it shouldn't be that hard!
     
SSharon
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Feb 11, 2004, 04:44 PM
 
its not a great fix but you can always override the snap to grid movement by holding command and manually placing icons where you want them. this works if you are just organizing a folder but not so much if you have a lot of incoming files to your desktop and such.
     
Brass
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Feb 11, 2004, 05:14 PM
 
Originally posted by MartiNZ:
Nice one . But yes, icon spacing is a bummer now, and getting worse with every release of the OS. Soon I'll probably only be able to fit 2 icons across on my iBook screen . It is a problem - as if brushed metal alone didn't take up enough space, we have to have quite a bit blank as well!?

It's almost bringing me across to the idea of using Column view, but I just can't get the Finder to size them sensibly and consistently, so that's a bit too much of an effort.

I think they need to make the spacing dependent on the icon size rather than providing space enough for 128*128 icons when I'm only using 52*52... it shouldn't be that hard!
hmmm... conspiracy theory... maybe Apple is trying to force everyone into using column view so that they can say, "Hey, everyone's using it, so we must have made a good decision with that one!".
     
Ron Goodman
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Feb 11, 2004, 08:53 PM
 
Column view solves the problem nicely--it's been my single favorite feature of OS X since the Public Beta days.
     
Moonray
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Feb 11, 2004, 10:31 PM
 
I never liked column view because it uses too much space and doesn't even show file infos for more than one file, and then I like to have many windows sorted by date.

But yes, there's not only the fixed and too wide spacing in Icon View that needs some fixing.

-
     
Phat Bastard  (op)
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Feb 11, 2004, 10:37 PM
 
Methinks all of us need to head over to http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/
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rjenkinson
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Feb 11, 2004, 10:44 PM
 

use the command key to offset icons.

-r.
     
midwinter
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Feb 11, 2004, 11:50 PM
 
No, it is officially known as the "pretzel key." We would also have accepted the "deedly key."

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P
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Feb 12, 2004, 03:35 AM
 
In fact, the offical name for that symbol is "Fornl�mning". Really. It's a symbol used on road signs in Sweden to signify that there are ancient ruins or graves or something like that. Story has it that Apple used to use the Apple logo for a command key logo but that Steve got tired of seeing it all over every menu. They looked through a symbol library to find one that noone had ever seen before.

BTW, can't you simply disable the grid in the Finder Preferences or View Options or something? Haven't got around to installing Panther yet, but you used to be able to do that.
     
Moonray
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Feb 12, 2004, 05:55 AM
 
In the Unicode charts it is listed as number 2318 PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN = COMMAND KEY. Apple's Character Palette says only PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN.

-
     
barbarian
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Feb 12, 2004, 07:39 AM
 
People have been complaining about the wide icon spacing since the developer releases! Keep sending in that feedback.
---
Re the apple key, the definitive story about it's origin can be found here:

folklore.org

---
Re grid spacing you can indeed turn it off, but then you are stuck with a messy desktop. The wide icon spacing and the ugly white bold desktop text w/ shadow have been my pet peeves for what seems like forever!
     
P
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Feb 14, 2004, 01:49 PM
 
Originally posted by Moonray:
In the Unicode charts it is listed as number 2318 PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN = COMMAND KEY. Apple's Character Palette says only PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN.

-
Yes, that's a reasonable translation of "Fornl�mning". Just throw in an "ancient" there somewhere.
     
midwinter
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Feb 14, 2004, 02:00 PM
 
Well, you guys can come up with all the "facts" and "actual history" and "stuff that the guy who invented the thing said about what this thing is called."

Every serious Mac user knows that that key is called the "pretzel key." Get with the program, guys!
     
Krypton
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Feb 14, 2004, 05:09 PM
 
Just files an ADC bug report on this (something else that has always bothered me).
     
Big Mac
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Feb 15, 2004, 09:07 PM
 
Originally posted by midwinter:
Well, you guys can come up with all the "facts" and "actual history" and "stuff that the guy who invented the thing said about what this thing is called."

Every serious Mac user knows that that key is called the "pretzel key." Get with the program, guys!
I imagine you're just being funny midwinter, but it is most certainly not called the pretzel key. People popularly refer to it as the Apple key, but its true name is the command key. Go over to folklore.com as was suggested by another poster - there are some terrific Mac stories there for those interested.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Bruce Young
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Feb 28, 2004, 08:56 PM
 
I agree that the icon spacing in Panther is uselessly TOO wide. Lots of wasted horizontal white space. (There goes the extra real estate I got with my 1440x900 screen...)

The only lame work-around is to set the font size of the window view option to a smaller size. Changing it from 12 point to 11 point does bring the icons a tad closer together. But still wider than Jaguar was. (I have screen clips to prove it! ;^)
And in this regard, OSX Finder is less friendly than OS9 Finder.

Two good resources for tech background info on the way Finder works with icons and folder settings:
- http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...30305025744788
Very thorough article on how the Finder tracks icon and folder settings (ala .DS_Store and other means) and what things cannot be set.
- http://www.personal.kent.edu/~blukens/viewoptions.html
Excellent article with screen snaps explaining Finder icon organizing and how to force Finder to remember your "Computer" window view.

Note, to save the icon settings you have made, make sure that you periodically use something like TinkerTool Quit Finder, which forces the Finder to write the settings cache out to disk. (other utils also, but I use TT.) if you force quit, or Finder crashes, all your recent settings changes will be lost.

Now, if we could just get Apple to make the Finder more customizable and user friendly. I have written several comments to the Apple OSX Feedback page. Please, if you agree that there are bugs or user-unfriendly things, tell apple. It only takes a few minutes. Go to:
- http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/
- or email to <[email protected]>
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dru
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Feb 29, 2004, 02:54 PM
 
Originally posted by midwinter:
Every serious Mac user knows that that key is called the "pretzel key." Get with the program, guys!
I've always heard people call it the "clover key" as in four-leaf clover.

The Lisa GUI used the Apple logo as the modifier and I'm sure it was insane seeing those damn apples everywhere.
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dru
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Feb 29, 2004, 04:28 PM
 
Originally posted by barbarian:
People have been complaining about the wide icon spacing since the developer releases! Keep sending in that feedback.
---
Re the apple key, the definitive story about it's origin can be found here:

folklore.org

There's really fantastic stuff at that link. Great post!
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SomeToast
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Mar 1, 2004, 04:09 PM
 
Originally posted by dru:
I've always heard people call it the "clover key" as in four-leaf clover.
Yeah, "clover/cloverleaf" or on rare occasion "splat," but never pretzel.
     
delete
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Mar 1, 2004, 06:11 PM
 
I had a friend who used to cal it the "doggie paw" to people he was teaching.
     
   
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