keith@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Keith Scott) (05/21/91)
In finder 7.0 I note that an alias to a folder does not always behave EXACTLY like the folder itself. Namely in any of the list views, you can't open the folder by clicking on the triangle to the left (there IS no triangle to the left). This makes sense since the alias's type is "alias" not "folder", but is a difference. Just an observation. --keith
kent@sunfs3.Camex.COM (Kent Borg) (05/22/91)
In article <2821@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> keith@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Keith Scott) writes: > In finder 7.0 I note that an alias to a folder does not always >behave EXACTLY like the folder itself. Namely in any of the list views, >you can't open the folder by clicking on the triangle to the left (there >IS no triangle to the left). This makes sense since the alias's type >is "alias" not "folder", but is a difference. At first I thought YARSB! (Yet Another Rock Solid Bug), but now I hate to say that it is a feature. (Don't worry, I do have some real bugs, watch for "Kent's List for 7.0.1" appearing soon in a newsgroup near you!) In the View by Name mode, you can see the entire disk. If aliases had the little turning triangle, you could get yourself in an infinite loop, or simply see the same folder contents twice and think you are seeing two different copies. Remember that in the window views if you open a folder you get a window showing the contents, and if you open an alias to the folder you get the *same* window, not a second copy of the window. How would Finder present a single copy of the folder/alias contents in the View by Name mode if aliases also had the triangles? Or, consider what happens in the View by Name mode if you *did* see two listings for the same folder? Say you throw away an item from one, does the other copy go "poof" too? Logically, it has to, but the poor user saw two sets of files that matched, neither was in italics, so our patsy figured that one set was redundant and tossed it--but our hero loses both copies because there was really only one. Sorry, can't show two copies when there is really only one. ("You're a Bad User Interface, BAD. You should be ashamed of yourself. Yes, I'd put my tail between my legs too...") I hear someone say that the folder name was in italics, that the user should spot that. Yes, but we might be many layers deep and only one folder in the path needs to be an alias to present the problem. Sorry, it would be a double plus ungood design. Aliases are powerful, but they are also frightening. I am wondering what My Mom will make of them... (The recuring moral is that it is easy to spot an alternate user interface behavior, but that does not mean it would be an improvement.) -- Kent Borg internet: kent@camex.com AOL: kent borg H:(617) 776-6899 W:(617) 426-3577 "We foolishly did not realize that he was stupid." - April Glasbie 3-20-91