Building upon the power of Spotlight, the new Finder in Mac OS X is smarter, more powerful, easier to use, and has never been better at working the way you want to work. Quickly reach past search results, use the new Finder Browser, or filter results in any view. There's more than just advanced Spotlight uses, however; from Containers to Favorites, the Finder provides awesome new potential all around.

Spotlight Tagging

Spotlight is built upon metadata, and Mac OS X 10.5 was built from the start to give you full control over that metadata. Using Spotlight Tags, no matter what kind of file you have, you can now add a full array of metadata to it. Add common tags like Creator, Version, or Album, or create any new kind of tag you could want. As soon as you create a new Spotlight Tag, it is recognized system-wide. But what use is metadata if you can't make use of it? Not only can Spotlight index and search all Spotlight Tags active on your machine, but now the Finder can display as many tags as you'd like in List view.

Want access to those tags in Icon or Column view? Item Info can now be configured to show any Spotlight Tags that you want, and even better, the tags displayed are customizable depending on filetype. Have images show their resolution, file size, and color mode, or text files show Author, Project, and Submission Date. Getting information about your files and folders has never been this easy, or this powerful.

Contain the Mess

New to 10.5 are Containers, a new and unique way to store or present groups of files. Containers work like a folder, but look and act like a single file. Giving a prototype website to a client to check over? Create a Container of all of the needed files, and designate the main index.html source page as the "master" file. When your client double-clicks on the Container, it will launch in a web browser as if the actual index.html file had been opened directly. An entire website given to your client, but only one file to transfer and no mistake about what to open.

Containers can also be used to present a host of different types of files under one roof. Want to help promote your band? Put your AAC music file, H.264 music video, PDF with information about your group, and Internet link with URL to your homepage into a Container. Drag the file to iTunes, and it'll automatically open the song. Drag it to QuickTime Player, and the music video will load up. Drag the file to Safari, and your homepage launches. Or, double-click on the Container, and if no master file is designated, the user will be asked which piece they want to launch. Containers can also be locked by the user creating them, so you can distribute files and information to others without them being able to edit, save, or otherwise modify the original files.

Filtering Finess

Even with Spotlight, sometimes you just can't find that certain file the way you want to find it. So now we've introduced Finder filtering. With the filtering bar turned out, you can tell the Finder which files to display and which not to.

Looking for that image of a needle buried somewhere in a folder full of text files about hay? Set the filter to only show images, and go searching no more. You can also use filtering as you go browsing from folder to folder, so that only the type of files you need to see are shown.

Customized Columns

Mac OS X 10.5 brings a variety of updates to the Finder's Column view. First is one of the most requested features - smart sorting. Folders viewed in Column view can now be sorted by any factor - Name, Size, Modified Date, Type, or even any currently active Spotlight Tag. As well, each type of sorting mode modifies the column to best suit that view style. Sorting by Type, for example, separates Folders and Files into two distinct lists. Even better, the style of sort can be set individually for different folders, and those settings are retained until changed again.

Sometimes in Column view you want to see more details about folders, but you don't need those details on previous columns you've browsed through. 10.5 introduces Compact Columns mode. Using that mode, the rightmost column can display far more details about the folder and its contents, but as soon as you click on the next folder you want to browse, that folder will compact down to regular Column view size and style.

That's not all, though; images can now be set to display their icon preview directly in the column, so that now you can sort through a whole folder of images in Column view without clicking on each individually to see their preview.

Tasks, On Hand

The Finder in 10.5 now has an all-new Task Manager, which can be added to the Finder's top toolbar. When the Task Manager is in use, tasks such as file copies, trash deletes, folder duplications, or ay other task that usually brings up a new progress window instead docks in the Task Manager. You can easily check the progress of a whole string of tasks, or cancel any as needed, all without cluttering up the screen with unnecessary new windows. As well, software developers can run their applications through the Task Manager, meaning that full apps no longer need to launch and run for simple tasks, such as compressing or de-compressing files.

Fan Favorites

Rate your music, rate your photos, now rate your files. 10.5 introduces Favorites to the Finder. Hold Control + Option, click on a file or folder, and it will be tagged as a "Favorite" by a small heart icon. Control + Option click again on a file or group of files, and they'll be un-marked as a Favorite. Click on the Favorites item located in the Finder sidebar, and any items you've marked as a Favorite show up. That's not all, though. Under the File menu in any application is a new "Open Favorite" option, which will automatically list all files you've marked as a Favorite that can be opened in that specific application. With Mac OS X 10.5, your favorite files and folders are always at your fingertips.

A note from the guy who created this

This Mac OS X 10.5 Finder mock-up was created for fun. There's a lot of talk going around about the new Finder, and many are speaking up about what they'd like to see. I've created some Finder mock-ups in the past, so I decided to create one as a sort of "what if" concerning the new 10.5 Finder. Originally I was going to go crazy with the look and features, but I then decided to instead stick to things that I thought were not only possible, but logical and would actually make sense. There were a few things I didn't end up finishing - for example, I was going to give the Finder window the ability to "flip" and have features on the back, sort of like a Dashboard widget. I also wanted to add tabs to the Finder, and I probably should have given more options to the filter bar. I was also a bit lazy, and didn't make custom buttons for the Task Manager and Browser.

Also, not all of these features here are things I'm dying to see. So, just in case Apple is reading this and for some reason is going to put in what I ask for, what I'm most looking forward to are far better support for metadata tagging and displaying. I'm a really strong supporter of the idea of being able to add my own personal metadata tags to any file, and I know that it can already be done. Also, I really would like to see more use of item info, especially in places like the sidebar. I personally really like the Container idea, but I won't be surprised if most people see no real point in it. No matter what, though, Apple is more than welcome to steal any and all ideas I've presented here. *heh*

Design for the new look for previewing in Column view was inspired by Rethinking the Finder.

Finally, if you'd like to see more of my Mac OS X mock-up ideas, or just want to comment about this one, drop me a line.

- shidoshi