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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: Professor Shiny on Dec 08, '03 01:10:55PM

It is hard to adjust to changes in the keyboard shortcuts. However from a usability standpoint, this change was long overdue. Most other applications use command-N to open a new document of some sort. The creation of a new folder object within a window is an anomaly in the Finder and confusing to new users.

The difference is there for a good reason. So please take a moment to consider it, and appreciate that Apple is still working to improve interface. Then, by all means pop a terminal window and customize to your heart's content. It's your computer!



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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: formido on Dec 10, '03 12:24:35AM

Sorry, that's a terrible argument. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Finder is a different type of application. Obviously, it doesn't have documents. Plus, you're not abstracting at the right level. In reality, applications use command-n to open the most important object it knows about. For most applications, this *is* a new document. But for Finder, it obviously isn't.

As the original poster said, this was a horrible design decision. It's the type of thing that happens when a developer gets too caught up in a problem and loses perspective. He forgot that the end goal is ease-of-use and not "consistency".



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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: johnsawyercjs on Dec 10, '03 12:55:32AM

Yes, Professor Shiny does make a poor argument. The real way to think about this issue is, Command-N has always created a new CONTAINER (or window) in whatever application you're in--when in the Finder, the new "container/window" it creates is a new folder into which you can put stuff, though it leaves that folder's window closed so that you can rename it something other than "Untitled folder". In an application, Command-N opens a new window into which you can put stuff (text, graphics, etc). So, it makes perfect sense for Command-N to have always created a new folder in the Finder, since when you open that folder, it opens that folder's WINDOW. This does not violate any supposed Mac interface rules. Besides, when we also apply simple common sense (which I often enjoy doing), we all create new folders in the Finder far more often than we open new windows to see what volumes are mounted. Though I find OS X's "New Finder Window" option very handy--it's sort of the precursor to Expose's function to clear away the clutter of open windows on the desktop, and show just the currently mounted volumes--I still wish Apple had made it Shift-Command-N, and retained Command-N for New Folder. You need to apply Occam's Razor in such decisions, which Apple clearly didn't do; and users shouldn't just blindly accept whatever Apple does--that's not what Open Source computing (let alone being an effective human) is about. I know OS X isn't true Open Source, but at least Apple should make a few more nods in its direction than it currently does.



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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: MJCube on Dec 18, '03 01:18:04PM

I agree with Apple's choice and Professor Shiny's take on it, and I disagree with you detractors. (And my first Mac was a 128K.) I have 2 good reasons:

1. With the OS X Finder (and especially column view, which I use almost all the time), I found I wanted to open a new window much more often than make a new folder. It's easier and less messy to undo mistakenly opening a window than accidentally creating a folder.

2. I help a lot of people with their Macs, and found that, before OS X, a lot of neophyte users (and long-time non-power-users) ended up with untitled folders scattered around their HDs when they wanted a new Word document, and they couldn't understand what was happening in the Finder. And of course they didn't know what the folders were, but were afraid to throw them away.



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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: BarracksSi on Mar 15, '04 07:17:06PM

That's what I say, too. I create & close Finder windows all the time now, while I create a new folder only once in a blue moon (last time I did that was a week ago... and before that one, maybe a month ago). It only makes sense to activate the more commonly-used command with fewer keys.

People forget that, once upon a time, they didn't know a blasted thing about computers, and had to get used to the Cmd-N keyboard shortcut in the first place. We all learned one way; there's no reason we should be afraid to learn something that just might be better than before.

Heck, didn't we get used to having the close, minimize, and maximize buttons in the upper left corner of windows?



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10.3: Use Command-N to create new folders
Authored by: NeutronMonk on Mar 16, '04 08:17:28AM

While I'm now used to it, and don't really mind the change, my take on this (and other, similar interface issues) is simply: Choice! It would so easy to add this functionality to the already extant Keyboard pref panel... there is one caveat with this implementation, however. If one heavily modifies all the shortcuts on their personal computer, it would make using another computer clumsy at best- but, again, that choice would be yours to make!



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