Provide less aggressive, intermediate “Reposition it to:” (or even “Resize it to:?”) options that preserve the Finder's default successive new cascading windows behaviour and/or custom window positions (or even sizes?)

[joaofrgomes]

Hi! I absolute love how your app consistently resizes windows to a fixed standard. I love it, and intend on using it on all my Macs.

However, while I detest the Finder's insistence on resizing windows to that stupid and tiny default size (it's extremely aggravating on a dual 27'' monitor setup), and on sometimes resetting even the default position for new, isolated windows opened through the Command+N/“File > New Finder Window”/right-click on the Dock icon > New Finder Window commands, I do enjoy the cascading behaviour when opening new Finder windows successively.

I also enjoy having certain folders, such as the Trash, appearing in different but also fixed positions of my screen, instead of on the centre or any other default coordinates I otherwise might set in FinderFix.

Could you perhaps provide us with an option that only affects windows opened through that process?

And while I'm at it, for feature consistency and since I would also like to have some other, rarer folders with custom sizes, Classic-Mac-OS-style, could that less aggressive option be also extended to window resizing?

This would mean that opening new Finder windows from the Desktop or from folder icon shortcuts (or their respective subfolders) on the Dock would still behave, for the most part, just as before (EXCEPT for folders being opened for the first time after being created, which means FinderFix might have to enforce its new defaults and keep track of any further changes to their size and positions and substitute itself to the Finder)…

I could see this being implemented in two different ways, whether for window resizing or repositioning:

• Having checkboxes, further down the hierarchy and for each option respectively, to force this global exclusion behaviour (such as “Apply only to ‘New Finder Window’ commands”); and/or

• Providing an interface for exceptions to be added to some sort of database, Spotlight-privacy-tab-style, and maybe supported by some sort of contextual menu extension shortcut to make it quicker to add exceptions from the Finder itself.

It seems the latter option is preferable, as it would allow for the user to reset any particular window's settings to the default (just deleting an entry from the database would make up for decent and easily discoverable, learnable and non-destructive UX, IMHO), without having to indiscriminately nuke everything to default settings. In essence, more than a “FinderFix”, it would be “Finder window management on steroids”, but with a nod to the past.

Still, having just the first option available would at least fix the Finder's most egregiously stupid behaviours without breaking the few good ones it does have (not having the cascading behaviour will force users to always click and drag their windows out of the way in case they wish to click and drag stuff between windows – whereas with cascading windows you can drag stuff to the target window's titlebar or status bar until it becomes active –, and I see how your focus on Microsoft-Windows-like behaviour, with the activation of the Cut command, which would then force you to cycle between Finder windows through Mission Control, Application Exposé – both of which were shamefully and COMPLETELY borked by Apple for drag'n'drop purposes – or the “View > Cycle Through Windows” command, may have influenced you in not recognizing that shortcoming).

Without these options, the only way I envision myself using FinderFix is by reaching some sort of compromise, i.e. by abdicating of custom window sizes and having them be all the same size, but also by abdicating of its window repositioning abilities, so as to preserve my custom window positions and the default new window cascading behaviour in the Finder. It'll be a bit sad, because it could otherwise really be a perfect tool.

[synappser]

Hi João,
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation and for taking the time to share your grievance with Finder's inconsistencies. I'm adding the ideas you developed that are not already on the roadmap to my todo list. Thanks