QotD: Sidebar
Posted January 18th, 2004 @ 01:00pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: Now that you've had a chance to play with Panther's Finder sidebar, what do you think?
My Answer: I use mine extensively. The sidebar contains my iDisk (I rarely use this), Network (again, rarely), and one of my two HDs. Beneath the bar I've got /Applications, ~/, ~/Documents/Downloads, ~/Desktop, an FSS folder, and ~/Sites.
I still have space for one or two more items, but along the top I have "clickable" or "droppable" items: Open Terminal Here, a resource fork-removing AppleScript droplet, this blog's "imgs" folder, and a FileMaker database into which I put A.Word.A.Day emails daily.
So, to recap: navigational things along the side, droppable/clickables along the top. And all in only about 32 pixels of "wasted" space. Suffice to say: I like my sidebar just fine, thank you veddy much!
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
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Posted 18 Jan 2004 at 4:55pm #
Use it a lot. I shift data back and forth between the Mac and ThinkPad. I have the "drop box" I use for this stuff in the sidebar, as well as my desktop, and a few other bits and pieces: this makes dragging data around a lot simpler than before Panther.
Posted 18 Jan 2004 at 11:18pm #
At the moment, I don't use the the sidebar for much because I have my Applications, Utilities, and my Home folders in my Dock. I do have links to my Software Archives folder and my Downloads folders for Bit Torrents and Acquisition which has proved very convenient when necessary.
On a somewhat related note, I've found myself using the dock for less and less. I use it for application launching, but there are many other things I could use for that if the dock weren't...well..there. But for window/app switching, I've grown very fond of cmd-Tab and expose (which looks cool too). But what I have noticed is that as I use my dock for less and less I think people's bitching about it is even more unfounded because mine auto-hides, so when I want it, I jus tmove my cursor down there, but otherwise it doesn't interfere with anything. In the end I like both the sidebar and dock.
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 11:14am #
I do use the sidebar extensively but it isn't without its problems. The current finder windows are way too big especially with all that brushed metal texture (how late-90's Winamp skin!). I find that sometimes it loses the file I am dragging if I try to use the sidebar targets as though they were spring-loaded. Also, I would much prefer to have the sidebar when I switch the toolbar off. Finder windows behave much more mac-like this way but you do miss the sidebar.
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 2:33pm #
Question of the Day: Sidebar
Now that you've had a chance to play with Panther's Finder sidebar, what do you think? I think it's one of the best additions to the Finder's interface in a long, long time. I've always like the idea of "favorites"...
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 6:22pm #
I use it all the time. I like it so much that I wrote a mock-up of what it'd look like if the sidebar was integrated into the shell for a better 'cd' : I called it fcd.
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 6:48pm #
Does anyone really use "Network"? Really how does one get anything in "Network"? Must you have have Server X?
Btw did you know mt-comments.cgi doesn't have your latest style?
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 8:05pm #
You can only see computers using Rendezvous in "Network".
Posted 02 Feb 2004 at 1:53pm #
I am so happy with the used car I bought online, and I saved a ton of cash!