Mac User Opinions: File Search And Store.

For example, Mac user “jan” summed up the issue this way:

“This isn’t a Mac problem. This is a problem with all OSes on all platforms. The number of files we have in our lives have far outstripped most of our meagre means to organize them. I recently red a study published in the ACM’s Human Computer Interface Special Interest Group quarterly publication, and it basically confirmed that all users, regardless of technical ability are being swamped by files, with no way to find them.”

“The functionality that Spotlight promises is really the only way that we’ll be able to cope with the growing volume of data. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that in a few years, the common idea of a file system as we know it will be dead, in favour of a file system that basically only supports this kind of functionality.“

Still, Tera persisted and pointed out a need for an application or Mac OS X feature that would help organize files in the Documents folders. Since Music, Movies, and Pictures already have their own folders and “organizing” applications (iTunes, iMovie, and iPhoto), why not one for all the files in the Documents folder?

Mac user “fogspank” pointed out the obvious (to some):

“You completely nailed it—I want those two apps now!  Although I do tend to think the desire to organize one’s computer is more neurotic than anything else, especially if Spotlight is going to make things instantly findable.”

So, if you’re organized, you’re neurotic? Uh oh.

Tera also did a review of FootTrack 2.0 and Mac readers had an opinion on video clip file organization. Think of FootTrack as iPhoto for video clips.

Tera raved about the mature features in 2.0 and bought FootTrack right away. Mac user “dsherman” carried the features list to another level after a reader wanted a comparison to iDive:

“I prefer FootTrack over iDive because of how FootTrack compresses its clips - with version 2.0, I can use any compression codec (I like 3ivx, although the built-in “medium” setting has worked quite well for me as well) & include audio in the compressed clips.  I find this much more useful that iDive’s sample frame method of clip compression.  Other features seem comparable, but I haven’t used iDive other than a brief 10 minute try.  I find FootTrack to be very intuitive and very stable.  The developer responds quickly to questions and requests.”

Do you make web pages or photo galleries? Tera does. Lots. Her review of Rapidweaver 3.0 got Mac users interested. Tera did half a dozen pages in about 30 minutes (including multiple styles).

One Mac user wanted Tera to do a point-by-point to show how it’s done (maybe later). User “tcrooks” was convinced:

“Well RW is much easier than Freeway - although I like the Freeway approach. I don’t care about the resulting code as long as the look is good and it performs decently. I was impressed enough by the article to shell out for the software and created a 6 page site in about an hour including some Photoshop time working on a logo. To create a form I had to use RW’s blank HTML page and I suspect that there are other situations that you’d have to resort to this. Nested drop-down menus aren’t a feature but I suspect someone has cracked how to do this in RW.“