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From: susser@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Josh Susser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Another Finder suggestion
Message-ID: <396@parcvax.Xerox.COM>
Date: Mon, 27-Jul-87 21:29:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: parcvax.396
Posted: Mon Jul 27 21:29:24 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 29-Jul-87 05:58:08 EDT
References: <12320826850.14.P.PRIAPUS@MACBETH.STANFORD.EDU> <5709@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Reply-To: susser@parcvax.xerox.com.UUCP (Josh Susser)
Organization: Xerox Special Information Systems, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 44
Keywords: Finder

[munch]

I can live without the "Window" menu, although it might be nice, but there are a
few features I really would like to see in the Finder:

1) Close onto Desktop: Close the folder window, but don't put it back in the
folder where you got it. Instead, drop it on the Desktop so that it can easily be
re-opened. When you're done with it, use "Put Away". This would be especially
useful when the folder's parent is closed (see 2 below).

2) Open Parent: Now that we all have 80Mbyte hard disks with folder structures
twenty-seven levels deep, there really needs to be a way to easily get to a folder
in the middle of that mess. When I'm down about eight levels and have closed down
all of the intermediate folders so that they're out of my way, and decide I
need to get to a sibling folder, I have to start all the way at the root folder
and work my way back down again. Ugh!

3) Multiple File Links: No, I don't want UN*X. But I would like to drop a link to
an application into a folder where it would be really useful - get this - without
having to copy the application. No only does this save disk space, but it keeps
all the versions of the application consistent. Symbolic or hard doesn't really
matter to me, although both would be useful.

4) Fix the Trash Can so that it stays where it's put. On a big display or with
SteppingOut, the Trash Can is just too far away from the menu bar. And every time
I come back from an application, the Trash Can has mysteriously moved back to the
bottom right corner of the screen. Grr.

5) Optional bigger fonts in a bigger menu bar: On these really huge MacII
displays, that tiny 20-pixel menu bar is almost impossible to find.

6) Bury Window: my alternative to the Window menu. Shove the topmost window to
the bottom of the pile. This lets you see what's underneath and doesn't take up
another slot on the menu bar.

I think the Finder was just about perfect for the first Mac - small disks, small
screen, etc. But the Mac has grown, and the Finder needs more stuff to make the
new, bigger Mac more useful.

--Josh Susser
  Susser.pasa@Xerox.arpa
  susser@Parcvax.Xerox.com
  ...decwrl!parcvax!susser

"Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible."