Scenario:
With return of desktop picture AppleScripting to Jaguar, and the further ability to run ScreenSavers as a backgrounds, my desktop has become an incredible display arena enhanced by keeping it viewably clear of the familiar "file forest."
So, to keep all the cool stuff visible, I created a folder in my Documents folder called MyTop, and put its icon in the dock, opened it up, made it almost the size of the desktop, and set the view to Icon. As a result, the desktop is where I do interim saves and examinations, but items soon get dragged into MyTop, where the real forest of files is viewed and organized. Nicely at this point, I can close, hide, or minimize MyTop and, swhick, the desktop is front, centre, and clear for presentation.
Then I began to explore the ToolBar in MyTop, pared down the icons displayed to a functional minimum and added seven folder icons I call my 'Magic 7' that allow efficient navigation to core areas. Eventually I created Folder Action AppleScripts to store window size, position, and view options which were then attached to various icons in the ToolBar, so I could click along the ToolBar and have the window adjust to a stored configuration that works well when Finder Prefs are set to open new windows in the same window (normally, of course, you get the same view with each folder you open in the same window).
For example, I like MyTop to be in Icon view and wide (additionally in Jaguar View Options, the icon size can be set quite large to show off some of the beautifully designed OS X file icons). In Applications, however, I like a zoomed tight, centred, List view that shows version info, whereas when I go to my User folder I like to switch to a wide window in Column view for rapid navigation, and my Scripts folder is a one column wide List view set on the right of the screen beside open ScriptEditor documents. I still find it fascinating how the windows adjust themselves while clicking across the ToolBar. It feels a little bit like magic!
The FA_windowing scripts can be downloaded from macscripter.net -- 52KB download.
[robg adds: I don't have time to experiment with this one, but the concept seems very cool - one window mode, yet the windows size and change views based on your settings. I did look at the scripts and they're quite benign, and there's information in the Read Me on how to get them working properly.]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030820065533433