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10.4: Make the Dictionary safer and easier to use
Authored by: PaulRenegar on Nov 09, '05 09:06:20AM

Yes, I realize that if I were to move applications around in Windows that it would pretty much kill the machine... which is why we have the Start menu to organize the way we want our applications.

However, in OS X, there is no start menu (excluding the dock) and the only thing I see is the Applications folder to load my applications. So this, in a sense, is my Start menu and I would like to organize them a little differently.

There have only been a few occasions to where if I am upgrading an application that I need to drag it back to the /Applications folder during the update. iTunes, etc, just put the new version in the /Applications folder, to where after the download I can just move it elsewhere.

I'm fairly new to Apple (about 1 year) and why wouldn't they want me to organize my programs so that I can access them (or other programs in the same group) more easily rather than searching through a rather large list of unsorted programs to find what I'm looking for?



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10.4: Make the Dictionary safer and easier to use
Authored by: nicola on Nov 09, '05 10:02:19AM
I'm fairly new to Apple (about 1 year) and why wouldn't they want me to organize my programs so that I can access them (or other programs in the same group) more easily rather than searching through a rather large list of unsorted programs to find what I'm looking for?
Well... ask Apple! ;-)
In the meantime, as moving things from the Applications folder _is_ in fact dangerous (not to mention renaming...), IMHO you may follow a different route:
- Create a folder somewhere (say, in your home/Documents folder); let's say it's called myApps.
- Create all the folders you want/need inside that folder (Applications, Accessories, Online, Utilities...).
- Fill these subfolders with aliases to the various apps.
- Drag the myApps folder to the dock. If you assign a custom icon to the myApps folder, you'll also have a visual clue of its content.

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Favorites folder
Authored by: sjk on Nov 09, '05 10:54:43AM

The ~/Library/Favorites folder was often recommended for storing aliases to apps, etc. but the supportive command-T and shift-command-F shortcuts have changed from "Add to Favorites" to "Add to Sidebar" and from "Go > Favorites" to "Services > Spotlight". And quick access to that folder was also removed from Open/Save dialogs.



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10.4: Make the Dictionary safer and easier to use
Authored by: daeley on Nov 09, '05 10:04:45AM

You might want to look into the built-in Spotlight (assuming you're using Tiger 10.4) or downloading QuickSilver. Once you get past the idea of needing to navigate a hierarchy to access something, but instead just launching a program by typing in the first few letters of its name, it feels really constricting to do it any other way. :)



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app launching
Authored by: sjk on Nov 09, '05 11:26:13AM

I agree. Frequent use of hierarchical navigation for application launching is slow and awkward.



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10.4: Make the Dictionary safer and easier to use
Authored by: Bioinformatics on Nov 09, '05 12:12:24PM

Yes and no. A hierarchy of apps provides the same benefit that menus does: it reminds you of what apps (options) you can choose from for a particular class of tasks. Working via Spotlight has the same "fault" as command line use of computers: you have to remember the (command/app) names. This is the same basic reasoning people moved to GUIs in the first place...

I prefer the Dock/Hierarchy split with commonly-used apps in the Dock (no hierarchy to negotiate) and a hierarchy of "menus" for the others to remind me of what's available.

I also make use of the fact that you can rename the aliases and generally append the version number of the app to help maintenance.



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[non-]hierarchical access/organization
Authored by: sjk on Nov 10, '05 01:25:19PM
I prefer the Dock/Hierarchy split with commonly-used apps in the Dock (no hierarchy to negotiate) and a hierarchy of "menus" for the others to remind me of what's available.

I prefer a similar personalized "best of" hierarchical and non-hierachical organization/access style, too. Apps with frequent launch/quit cycles are my favorites candidates for the Dock, although I also use it as a "top-level" reminder for a few important items I access less often.

My general recommendation (at least for more novice users) is not to reorganize apps directly in (and out of) the primary Applications folders and instead create desired custom "virtual" organization/access for them using whatever "resources" are required.
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On multi-user systems a "personalized virtualization of the shared system environment" often becomes a necessity, or at least a cooperative agreement. It's pretty annoying when location becomes too much of a moving target for some users because other admin users decide to shuffle shared apps/data around for their own "selfish" convenience.

On OS X, understanding and heeding the distinctions and boundaries between system and user "space" helps keep both running healthier. Even with experience that's not always an easy, black/white issue.

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10.4: Make the Dictionary safer and easier to use
Authored by: Zo-1 on Nov 13, '05 07:25:23PM

After having been thoroughly spoiled by many years on Classic where you could pretty much wrassle that thing to the ground, I've kinda satisfied my lust for app classification by taking full advantage of the Users appplications folder. The main Apps (and Utilities) folder holds all Apple stuff, as well as Office and other behemoths that just kinda sit there . . . and my own apps folder and subfolders actually work just fine. Damn, doesn't Steve know, it goes against the grain to view long lists of unrelated apps, what the heck are folders for. And subfolders, and all the meaning and direction a Mac user takes from the way they structure what's on their disk.



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