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How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

jeremyaboyd.com

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Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#551

Post by qubitcoder »

bayindirh wrote: post #291
throwaddzuzxd wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Finder is atrocious. It's the worst default macOS app and probably the worst program period I've ever used. It's been so dumbed down that it's basically unusable for anyone slightly experienced. - There's no way to create an empty file - There's no easy way to cut a file/folder (Cmd-x doesn't work) - There's no (?) way to keep everything consistently sorted and aligned - ~~Tags are useless and just take up space…

> There's no way to create an empty file This is one of the features I never miss and don't use on any other DE (like KDE). I just open the app, create the file and save. Maybe it's just habit, but I personally doesn't find it as a needed feature. > There's no easy way to cut a file/folder (Cmd-x doesn't work) Just drag it where you want while pressing CMD? I know it's not cut but it prevents a lot of errors I think.…

That's right. Regarding your last point about two-finger clicking on the folder name to show the path, you can also go to "View > Show Path Bar".

That will show the full path along the bottom, and you can move to any parent folder by double-clicking on it--which is, perhaps, not exactly intuitive :-).

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#552

Post by travelbyphone »

I switched from windows to Mac in 2005 and find macOS second nature now.

Finder is getting a lot of heat here, but I live it’s simplicity. Column view is the best view, quick look is amazing and I don’t know how one can live without it on other OSes. I know a million tricks but one that I see as really superior is how you can drag a folder to a save menu in order to quickly access it to save the file. Also macOS is smart enough to have two files with the same name open. And you can even move them while open.

One feature I believe not many people use but I can’t go by without is active corners. It just makes Mac OS so fluid with your mouse, it’s a beauty.

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#554

Post by qubitcoder »

dmitriid wrote: post #522
bayindirh wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I misread your comment and didn't see the link. I thought you've said that the options just don't exist. When I checked on my El Capitan Mac (an Early 2008, non unibody MacBook Pro), opening my home folder in icon view and opening view options shows almost the exact screenshot I've shared on my previous comment, including "use as default button". Moreover, any view except tri-column view produces a view option…

OMG :facepalm: I can't even begin to imagine who coded this, and why?! Basically: If you open a folder from a "shortcut" from the sidebar, and press Cmd+J, you get the barren options from the screenshot: https://imgur.com/3meteoB . And it doesn't matter if you keep clicking on other folders Since I always use just a few folders linked from the sidebar, that's what I would always get. To get to the "actual finder wind…

Interesting. I never noticed that because I've always used List or Icons as the default view in Finder (Command+1 and Command+2).

Personally, I'd recommend just not using the Column view. It seems pretty janky compared to the other options.

For what it's worth, Command+[ and Command+] will move back/forward between folders, just like Safari and elsewhere.

Holding down Shift with those commands will move between tabs in Finder.

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#555

Post by qubitcoder »

mcv wrote: post #271
throwaddzuzxd wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Finder is atrocious. It's the worst default macOS app and probably the worst program period I've ever used. It's been so dumbed down that it's basically unusable for anyone slightly experienced. - There's no way to create an empty file - There's no easy way to cut a file/folder (Cmd-x doesn't work) - There's no (?) way to keep everything consistently sorted and aligned - ~~Tags are useless and just take up space…

It's not that Windows Explorer is much better, though. I hate how it prefers to display everything as icons instead of details. How it hides files and directories, doesn't show extensions, etc. But there's one thing it gets right: it shows you where you are, and you can edit that to go anywhere. Finder can do that too, but it doesn't show you it can do that. You have to know. I recently got a Macbook from work, parti…

You can also drag and drop files/folders from Finder into a Terminal/iTerm window. That'll expand to the full path in the terminal.

For example, dragging the Documents folder into a terminal pane becomes:

  /Users//Documents

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#556

Post by armincerf »

eptcyka wrote: post #396

I can't stress enough how bad apple devices are for the uninitiated. I got my mom an iPad for her birthday, as she needed something to read medical books with color and watch YouTube. It took her a week to get youtube working, and copying over PDFs is still done piecmeal - sending each file from her Windows PC one by one using a messaging app. She tried to install apps, but the app store progress thing was just spinn…

You can plug any usb device into an iPad and use the files app to copy stuff over? I use an external usb c ssd with my iPad for my photography work flow. file management has come a long way in the past couple of years.

If it’s just pdfs I would probably email them though

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#557

Post by mlindner »

dmitriid wrote: post #522
bayindirh wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I misread your comment and didn't see the link. I thought you've said that the options just don't exist. When I checked on my El Capitan Mac (an Early 2008, non unibody MacBook Pro), opening my home folder in icon view and opening view options shows almost the exact screenshot I've shared on my previous comment, including "use as default button". Moreover, any view except tri-column view produces a view option…

OMG :facepalm: I can't even begin to imagine who coded this, and why?! Basically: If you open a folder from a "shortcut" from the sidebar, and press Cmd+J, you get the barren options from the screenshot: https://imgur.com/3meteoB . And it doesn't matter if you keep clicking on other folders Since I always use just a few folders linked from the sidebar, that's what I would always get. To get to the "actual finder wind…

I don't even understand how you got to that "barren view". I've never seen that in my life.

Edit: I guess that "barren view" only happens when viewing things as "columns" mode. I just figured out how to make it look like yours. I always use list mode (as I often want to see/sort by date modified time or file type and I want to see file sizes). Columns view seems like a waste of screen real estate.

It has nothing to do with the sidebar. In column view it doesn't know what folder you're viewing so there's no display settings it can set because that's a per-folder option.

Edit2: I see your "less barren" options now, but it's still missing several options. And you don't need to do "Cmd+down", you can just double click a folder. This presumably forces it into understanding you're talking about a specific folder so it can display additional options.

Also it doesn't even appear to work, those extra options showing up is apparently a bug as none of the options change anything.

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#558

Post by MonaroVXR »

rchaud wrote: post #14

I bought a Mac in 2014 after a lifetime of using Windows. I never understood why people called it easier to use than Windows. Maybe this sentiment is a holdover from an earlier era when people would mindlessly run executables and zip files attached in emails and AIM messages. From a UI perspective, it's 90% identical to windows. From a UX perspective though, something fundamental like Finder is still not up to the jo…

> Sort view

The stock file manager in Fedora, Pop!_OS and Ubuntu do this. And it's great, so you don't have to make all your folders the same.

Not sure about the Finder Window though.

Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?

#560

Post by smsm42 »

I don't actually hate it when people have an opinionated product and say it upfront. What I do hate is when they call their opinion "intuitive" and pretend all normal people agree with them and if you don't, you must be some kind of freak (or even worse, that you know they're right but insist on the contrary just out of spite). And this seems to be how Apple interfaces are designed.
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