Spring-Loaded Folders and Disks in the Doc...
 

I would -love- to be able to use disks, folders, -everything- from the doc, eleminating -anything- from the desktop. The capability of disks to mount on the doc would be excellent, but I'd really, for now, settle for items that are in the dock to be able to spring open like they do in the finder - for example, if I have a download on the desktop, I can drag it to my Home icon in the Dock and it will spring open (as if it would if it were on the desktop) so that I can navigate to the folder where I want the item. And no, just puting that folder itself in the Dock wouldn't work - it's a different folder just about every time. IS THERE SOMETHING THAT DOES ANY OF THIS?!?!?!?!?! CAN SOMEONE MAKE SOMETHING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! IF YOU'RE APPLE AND YOU'RE READING THIS, CAN YOU PUT THIS IN OSX ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Thanx! Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Justin

this has always vexed me...

many users download files to their desktop, then after 30, 45 (?) downloads, kvetch about it and have to clean their desktop. and then imagine all kinds of wonky scenarios to mouse and click their way to nirvana. oy!

hey! why not create a dir exclusively for downloads that isn't the desktop?! why, there's even a pref for it in the / web \ tab of the [ internet ] pref pane! someone had this problem long ago and solved it! for everybody!


now then, using this method for a long, long (long) time has truly turned this business into a non-problem here.

i know where all my downloads go. i even have aliases sprinkled around liberally so i can zoom there from most anywhere. once there, i can manage them easily. when the dir bloats up with too many items to manage, i organize the items to
parent dirs ../dla-m and ../dln-z

then, pretty much ignore it and get back to other, more interesting things.


. turn off 'show disks' in finder prefs.

. add aliases to disks and such in favorites

. drag favorites to the dock

. done

...spring-loaded dock items - 5 seconds

...creating aliases everywhere on my hard drive, organizing the aliases, renaming the aliases as needed, creating -more- aliases creating even -more- clutter on my system than I want - 5,374,826 more hours than I want to spend

...innovating instead of just "doing things the old way" - priceless

:-)

btw...

. I already have "show disks" turned off in the finder prefs

. I download many things. Applications need to go into the Applications folder. Documents need to go into the correct subfolder (which I have already created) that I have in my Documents folder.

. I used spring-loaded folders all the time in OS 9. I love it. OS X has spring loaded folders. OS X has the doc. Why not combine those two wonderfull features?

I'm not lazy. Time is precious. Spring loaded dock items would help me organize things much easier and faster. :-)

I have a downloads folder. I put items away almost always instantly. There's never more than 10 there.

I'm not imagining a "wonky" way to morph to Nirvana. I just want to be organized as efficiently as possible. Spring loaded items are a much more effecient, much less time consuming way of organizing files than littering my system with aliases.

I could use the dock for everything...leaving my desktop clear for open applications. That's all I want.

Thanks

hmm, yeah, i just don't get it.

i have 17 years worth of files on three disks, several partitions:
i've stopped micro-managing files about a decade ago. i macro-manage. can
always efficiently find what i'm looking for, even after many a moon.

also, note, that i try to use the mouse and menus as little as possible. most of my navigation is via the keyboard; wish it was much more.

anyhow, perhaps someday i can encapsulate my 'technique' for more to benefit.

...soo...yeah...springloaded items and mounted disks in the dock would be great.

thanks

well, i have mounted disks in the dock thru the alias technique described above.

now, i cannot visualize 'spring-loaded' anything in the dock.

could you describe, in excrutiating detail, how you envision this?

if you pop in a disk (or disc, CD) in that hasn't been in your computer before, it won't be in the dock

what I want...

a disk would behave -exactly- as it does (regarding the spring-open feature) on the desktop, -except in the dock-. That's it. But also having -every disk- mount in the dock (regardless of whether it's something I've used before or not) would be nice.

Why not hide the dock, which is only really useful for switching and controlling applications and use column view, then you have the best of both worlds. Have a large finder window (try two) and minimise in the dock and all you're mounted disks etc. etc. will be ready for access from the dock.
Can you imagine how big your dock would get if you had all these folders in there and then "spring load them". I hope you're running a dual 1.25 Ghz because that would be painfully slow. In fact, I found spring loaded folders marginally useful now, even though I used it often in OS9. All you're navigation needs can be fullfilled with two column view finder windows. Create two, minimise them in dock and you might be happier.

As for downloads, I have a dedicated partition for them, organised how I work, called "INS". I check their "passports" then send them on to their next destination. Obviously they no longer exist in "INS" when they leave. If I want them to stay, they go to "Violators".

I already have the dock hidden. That's my point. When I'm away from my computer..I want to see -nothing- but the desktop. Spring-loaded items open so that I can see where I wat to put something...as deep as I want to go...and with -ONE- mouse click - the one that selects the item...then it's just a matter of draging, and then eventually droping it where I want it to go. The fewer clicks, the better. And the dock stayes -perfectly- organized. no moving things around to make them look neat, evenly spaced, and completely and totally visable. I use column view for my HD window.

I like to put downloads from IE on the Desktop so that I can play with them and decide whether I like them or not. If I dislike them - straight to the trash - be it an application, a movie, a document, etc. If I like them, they need to go to their appropriate place - either in one of my movie subdirectories, the Applications folder, the Pictures folder, etc. And I want to do it in a fashion that makes everything look neat, where everything is accessable, and organized. And I want to do it in the fewest mouse clicks, the fewest keystrokes, and the least ammount of time possible. And I'd only need to keep my home folder in the dock - where did this idea that I wanted all the different folders I put places in the dock where I could just move the file down to it and it's spring open just so I could place it in it. THE DOCK ALREADY DOES THAT. YOU JUST DRAG IT , IT HIGHLIGHTS, AND YOU PUT IT IN THERE. I want my Home directory to be in the dock, I drag a file over it, my home directory opens, I move the file over, say, the Documents folder, it springs open, then I place it in a designated folder where I have a certain folder for a certain project inside the documents folder. I see it, I drop it there, and then they all MAGICALLY CLOSE WITH OUT AN EXTRA KEYSTORKE, MOUSECLICK, OR ANY WASTED TIME. All with -ONE- mouse click, and a little draging. -THAT'S IT-. THIS IS WHY APPLE CAME UP WITH IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I'm looking for an application that does this, or someone who would be willing to make an app, or knows of a tweak that will allow me to do -EXACTLY THIS-. I'm not looking for advice on how I should use my computer. The latter is a waste of your time as well as my own.

Sorry to waste your time, I imagine it must have took lots of mouse clicks to reply to my answer ;).

I know of no tweak to adjust spring loading for a folder in the dock. It would be a cool addition to spring loaded folders, maybe the problem lies in telling the Dock to allow folders to be "springable", since they are on the desktop.

Deja vu here, I suggest:

Feedback

Tell Apple and maybe they'll implement it.

The problem seems to lie in the adaptability of OSX to your methods, maybe you should "bend, like a reed in the wind" until they adapt to your needs.

there already is one. it's called the finder :D

Hmm..

It seems you could get all the functionality you want by just keeping a single alias to your home directory on the desktop.

If you don't want to see it, apply a custom icon matching your desktop picture, and name it with a blank. I guess that will leave you with some shadow, but at least this will help you find it :-)

If that's not good enough, send a feature request to Apple. They are listening.

Of course, you could check out the several dock replacements like DragThing etc., maybe one of them has spring loaded folders.

HTH,
-sapporo.

I don't think it's an unreasonable feature request, although I prefer some of the alternatives people have mentioned above.

I just hope he stops SHOUTING. ;)

For automatically mounting disk in your Dock, you should try DockDisks, which you can obtain here.

To cover anything on your desktop with your desktop picture, you should try DeskShade Plus, which you can find here. A nice little program that hides items on your desktop and can even lock the screen for when you are away.

I can't help you with spring-loaded folders in the Dock, but maybe you can contact Unsanity (Unsanity.com) and see what their plans are. Of course, if you wait a year until 10.3, you will probably get that feature.

As an alternative to DockDisks (or in addition to it as in my case), you could use FruitMenu from Unsanity and place the /Volumes folder as an alias in your Apple menu thus having access to mounted volumes from there as well.

Anyway, I hope these suggestions help. I use the above applications and I really like them.

Cool Thundarr, I didn't know about dockdisks and just downloaded and gave it a whirl. Very nice indeed.

I'm sorry...I don't mean to shout, but it's -really- frustrating when you ask a question and are looking for a very specific thing and somebody just tells you "do it the old way. It's better than the way you want to do it." Thank you, you last two guys (Craig R. Arko, Thundarr) for at -least- reading my request and giving me some new suggestions, instead of telling me I should like to do it differently, like to do it the old way. I'll try out those apps Thundarr, they sound promising.

Justin

In defense of myself, when confronted with a problem A, it maybe easier (for me) to skip solution B (the hack or program) and go straight to solution C, D or E. That's not to say that solution B isn't valid, the spring loaded dock, which is a clever idea, it's just that if I can't find it, write it or hack it, I find a workaround which I think I could share. That doesn't mean I wasn't listening to your post, it just means I had no immediate solution for you but perhaps a workaround. I realise the workaround wasn't what you're looking for, but you sounded so frustrated it seemed like a good idea at time. In retrospect saying nothing would have been better, but I took the maxim "hint" literally.

By the way, there's no old way in OSX. As far as I'm concerned, it's a Multiverse.

German site macnews.de mentions WorkStrip X offering spring loaded folders.

http://www.softchaos.com/products/overview_wsx.html

Cheers,
-Sapporo.

WorkstripX is a very nicely done product indeed. If it had the ability to hide/minimize running apps it could replace the dock and would, IMHO, be perfect. :)

For now it's another app that needs to be open, in addition to the dock, sucking up RAM.

Previews are gorgeous in workstrip too...


:)

Can I interest you in a CMM for moving files?
 

I think that modifying the dock to do what you want could be difficult. You might check with the maker of TransparentDock, he has been adding all sorts of features lately.

Here's another alternative. Command-click on the file, select "Move to..." and navigate to the folder you want the item in. Let go and you are done. You'll need to add "Move to..." to your contextual menu items.

http://www.naratt.com/LaunchItems.html

I just tried this shareware, and it works. One problem is the navigation menu is not hierarchical, folders must be added manually. If the author could add heirarchical navigation I think it would do what you want.

There is a freeware CMM that does this as well called QuickAccess:

http://free.abracode.com/cmworkshop/quick_access.html

It doesn't have hierarchical menus either.

A-Dock
 

I used A-Dock in OS9 (it was basically a docking program) and loved it. It is now available in beta for OSX and I will use it over Apple's dock (especially when all features are enabled).

Spring-loaded folders, Hide All (just one click, no modifiers), more customization features than Apple's dock...etc.

I am not affiliated in any way with the author, I just like the product.

Ciao

i'm using a combination of DockDisks and Cocktail's Hide Desktop feature. (Yeah, I know there are other ways of hding the Desktop but Cocktail makes it so easy.)

I also have all Downloads go to a Downloads folder in my Home directory. Keeps my desktop nice and clear.

Ultimate Drives Dock Popup
 

I've used DockDisks and really dislike how it quits/re-launches the Dock. Some time ago I found an article on creating a similar solution that doesn't require relaunch. I don't know who wrote it and I take no credit for it. I use it in Jaguar, and the only downside is that my HD icons are ugly aliases instead of custom icons. Anyway, its easy to try and doesn't seem to cause any problems. However, it does not implement spring-loaded action as the original poster desired.

...
Ultimate Drives Dock Popup
This tip creates a custom icon in the dock that will display all volumes, including removable media.

1) Launch Terminal and type:
cd /Volumes
ln -s "/" "YourOSXDriveNameHere"

2) Use the Finder's "Go to Folder..." command under the Go menu.

3) Type in /Volumes. Hit Enter. It should open a "Volumes" window with your mounted drives.

4) Select Column View for that window.

5) Drag/alias the "Volumes" somewhere safe, such as your users folder.

6) Paste an icon onto the alias, rename it if desired and put it in the Dock.

Notes:
- You could seemingly add symbolic links to other things in Volumes as well.
- I don't know if there's a unixy reason to NOT store things in /Volumes
...

EDIT: a MacOSXHints article seems to refer to this technique on MacNN, but the MacNN link is dead: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...=ultimate+dock

Another software option.
 

Springloaded dock items would be an interesting possibility. The dock is presently a bit quirky when dragging things onto it, so it might end up being frustrating.

--hunch-- It seems as though the dock would have to more thoroughly evaluate what each item on the dock was in order to know whether to and what to spring up. This might wind up slowing down some of the dock's other behaviors.--/hunch--

However, two options I didn't notice mentioned above (if they were, my apologies):

Ittec = boosts functionality of contextual menus and (I think) can include moving/copying/aliasing. (I don't use this one, but I might give it a try sometime soon.

MaxMenus = Adds user defined pop-up menus to keystrokes, screen corners, and/or the menu bar unused space. The ones in the corners can be spring loaded. Configuration is really simple. I've used this program for several months and it's been incredibly stable.

Sounds like A-Dock is worth looking into, too.