Column View?

[vlad1966]

Will their be an option to view directories in column view like Mac OS X has?

This would be great since I love being able to view more than 2 levels of my HDD at one time - makes moving or copying files very quick.

[admin]

Please explain. I know the Mac Column View but never understood what's so great about it.

[lukescammell]

I hate column view (I work on OSX) and have also never understood the attraction - perhaps you can explain.

The "tree-list-view" on the other hand I can see the use for (selecting items from multiple folders at the same time).

[vlad1966]

In column view, you can see multiple levels of your HDD, not just 1 or 2 like in tree view, but as many levels as the size of your monitor will allow.

[admin]

In column view, you can see multiple levels of your HDD, not just 1 or 2 like in tree view, but as many levels as the size of your monitor will allow.

...1 or 2 like in tree view... sorry, I don't understand. My tree has many more levels and it can show them.

[j_c_hallgren]

I've not seen this view as Im a Windows guy only, and don't quite follow it, so can you provide a screen print here or a pointer to some online docs that shows an example of it, so the other non-Mac folks can also see what you mean?

[jacky]

In column view, you can see multiple levels of your HDD, not just 1 or 2 like in tree view, but as many levels as the size of your monitor will allow.

...1 or 2 like in tree view... sorry, I don't understand. My tree has many more levels and it can show them.

I don't really know this view either, but I think it offers like "permanently" what the "vista breadcrumb" offers on demand, that is the list of all other folders on the same level that each and every of the folders on current path.

I'm not sure what's no great about this, to me it sounds like an awful way to waste a huge bunch of pixels, but that may be me, or I may be wrong about that view...

[vlad1966]

LOL! For some reason I expected everyone knew what column view is.

Check this link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/e ... n_View.png

Wiki explanation:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_T ... olumn_View

The way it works is:
Imagine you have a folder called X. Inside X is a folder called XX, Inside XX is XXX, inside XXX is XXXX, inside XXXX - you get the idea. Basically, Imagine having a folder with tons of folders within folders. With Column view, you can see all levels of each folder AT THE SAME TIME AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A MONITOR THAT IS LONG ENOUGH.

It's sort of like seeing an Excel spreadsheet. You have column A , B , C, etc. & of course you can see everything in each column AT THE SAME TIME. Apologies to the PC-only folks, but Tree View in Microsoft's File browser sucks in comparison, at least for me.

For some of you who want to try something similar, try out WinBrowser:

http://www.winbrowser.com/winbrowser.htm

It works OK with XP, but hasn't been updated in ages & don't think it works with Vista.

[j_c_hallgren]

LOL! For some reason I expected everyone knew what column view is.

Sorry, but some of us have only used a Mac for less than 1hr over the course of a few years, and that was only in a store to see how they handled and worked with my website as they had the Mac's connected to Net...so now, I've seen your examples, and I just don't get it...doesn't seem like it would be of any use to me and takes up way too much room for any possible benefits, IMHO...sorry!

[Tamil]

Similar wish.

[infimum]

Umm...do I feel unnecessary animosity among posters because of the OP's reference to Mac?

Anyway, I personally see this as a request to give another option of moving among folders. As it stands, XY doesn't give an option of branching out from any given point in/outside of a drive, a la Vista breadcrumb. There is a tree, but it quickly gets unmanageably big. What is the best way to move from a folder deep in drive C to a folder deep in drive F with a mouse? Click the nearest folder in your favorite list?

[j_c_hallgren]

Umm...do I feel unnecessary animosity among posters because of the OP's reference to Mac?

Not in my case...I just was totally unfamiliar with this scheme due to it's origin...and after refreshing my mind with Tamil's thread, there are other variants also.

There is a tree, but it quickly gets unmanageably big. What is the best way to move from a folder deep in drive C to a folder deep in drive F with a mouse? Click the nearest folder in your favorite list?

In that case, I would most likely do a cut/paste...and it's likely due to my unfamilarity with this scheme, but how would this differ from having to scroll mostly vertically in your example? Since only one path can be 'exploded' at a time, as I see it, so while it would be good to move from a level upwards/downwards/sideways in same path, but wouldn't you have to dynamically explode the receiving path?

[infimum]

but how would this differ from having to scroll mostly vertically in your example? Since only one path can be 'exploded' at a time, as I see it, so while it would be good to move from a level upwards/downwards/sideways in same path, but wouldn't you have to dynamically explode the receiving path?

I am not sure if I understood your question or we are on the same page. But in other file managers, if you want to go from a folder deep in drive C to a folder deep in drive F, you go like this.

Your current path is shown in address bar (or tab or anywhere):
C:\aa\bb\cc\dd
mouse over or right-click C:\ gives in a drop-down box
D:
E:
F:
mouse over or r-click F: gives:
\ee
\ff
\gg
mouse over or r-click \gg gives:
hh
\ii
\jj
mouse over or r-click \jj gives:
\kk
\ll
\mm
now click \mm, you are in:
F:\gg\jj\mm

Less mouse movement and clicks. It's hard to explain verbally but so many people like this kind of movement that many file managers adopt it now.