FolderControl 1.60 —So you can automatically size and arrange the Finder's folder/directory windows into a configuration you define
reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad, November 2006
Developer:Shaun Derman of Derman Enterprises, Inc. http://www.derman.com/Contact/AboutUs-Contacts.jsp http://www.derman.com/FolderControl/FC-Overview.html Released: May 19, 2005 Shareware: $22 USD Download Size: 2.8 MB Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later. Tiger compatible, and that you activate Enable Access for assistive devices on the Universal Access Preferences panel. Audience: All user levels Strength — The product does what its developer advertises Weakness — It takes a bit of tweaking if you are a perfectionist; most of us don’t think in pixel when looking at screen locations. Developer’s Note: Due to the likelihood that Leopard/OS X 10.5 will introduce more fundamental changes in the finder, it's unlikely that there will be any more releases of FolderControl. The software was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAM running under OS X 10.4.8. Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies. |
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Publisher’s Summary
FolderControl is a utility to automatically size and arrange the Finder's folder/directory windows into the configuration you define. Set up your folder windows with the placement and appearance you want them to have! If you like an orderly desktop, you'll love this product!
Introduction
Years ago, under the so-called Classic environment, there was a shareware product that allowed you to control the location of and behavior of a hierarchy of folders. The program was called NeatNik.
If I remember correctly, its interface was graphic and simple. On opening the program you were greeted with a window that had windows that were meant to represent your initial and nested folder, on your screen. These could be moved wherever you wanted to create a format for your folder placements. Once established, you could then run a nested set of folders through the process and voilá, you were done. That application died of neglect about the time Macintosh OS X was released therefore I’ve been checking FolderControl as a replacement ever since.
I had previously reviewed FolderControl 1.30 in the November 2003 Volume 1, Issue 5 macC, but for reasons I don’t remember, it was not a keeper. I’d deleted the application from my drive within a few months of testing it. This, despite giving it 4.5 macC rating.
I passed the developer’s snicker test. So taking the developer at his word, I agree I am in need of this kind of product.
If even one of the following is true...
... You might be a candidate for FolderControl'. The developer says … “Trust me you are one.” |
Abstracted from the developer’s website |
As with all information junkies, alas, my sets of nested folder related to macC, articles on the world that were too good to toss, unforgettable (to my hard drive) humor, shareware and recipes had gotten deeper. Often each folder when opened appeared randomly on my desktop. Therefore, I decided to again try the product, now version 1.60.
Working With
To install FolderControl, simply drag the application from the disk image to your Applications folder. [Stuff Installed: Other than its preference files (located in your home folder's Library/Preferences folder and the /Library/Application Support/LicenseControl folder), the software does not install any files outside it's own application/package structure.]
The first time you use FolderControl, it will ask for the Administrator password. This is required in order to create a "LicenseControl" folder and to set the file permissions on both the "/Library/Application Support/LicenseControl" folder and its contents and the FolderControl application package and it's contents. These operations are required so the software can operate properly.
FolderControl provides preference sets (I call them templates) so you can easily use different folder configurations. Each of individual items in the sets provided (template) gives you unique control over:
- Which folders on your hard disk participate in the processing. Selection can be done by drop and drag.
- How folder windows are sized, both vertically and horizontally.
- Where folder windows are anchored, both vertically and horizontally.
- How sub-folder windows are arranged, relative to their enclosing folder.
- How various folder-window attributes, such as sorting and view kind, are set.
- Allows the setting of individualized permissions on the files that control these capabilities.
FolderControl has, according to the developer, the most popular setup configurations pre-defined. I agree. Most users will be able work with them without any need for custom configuration. [Alas, the developer has not provided an illustration for the 14 templates provide and their naming is a bit abstruse.]
To customize my templates, after taking a few smartness pills, I used the provided sets (templates) as tutorials. That allowed me to more easily tweak custom templates and better suit my design needs. Tuning the provided templates is easy. Duplicate the rename template that is closest to your need, edit in suitable changes — Save the result, you’re done.
When completed, using you new template is straightforward. However, when reordering a 1.45 GB, shareware folder that contained 100 downloads, the process took a long time; I forget to time it. So get yourself a cup of coffee and spin a disk. The good and undocumented news is that the reordering process work when you drop and drag its alias.
My Steep Learning Curve on Creating Customized Templates
The lack of detailed tutorials or specifically labeled explanatory figures, made customizing templates made life harder for me. I did not want to simply use one of the predefined template sets. If a user is content to use one of the templates provided this is an easy product to use. What you see below was all the information there was.
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General Preferences Window-Loaded with configurable setting |
Setting List View Preferences – More choices |
I started
my experimentation out with only the information provided by the vendor. I
found six template illustrations in the overview files. In addition, I read
and re-read the cryptic message “the application’s “Preferences present a window that provides the
ability to create and manage a collection of named and titled preference sets.
The named preference sets can then be reused to quickly select and apply a
particular foldering arrangement, sizing, etc. The preference sets can be
duplicated, edited, removed, renamed, rearranged and titled.”
I did indeed, when creating my first custom list view settings, spend more than an hour checking the arrangement of Finder window that result from my template modification.
Hint: Use a short set of three-nested folder to practice
with.
Success was actually achieved when I remembered that I could find the closest template example, among those provided, duplicating it, and minimally tweaking it.
Nevertheless, creating custom template took more trial and error than I’d either remembered from version 1.30 or bargained for. Without explicit definitions for the various elements in the template editing windows (see the illustrations above) I needed to guess what some of the location and window size settings (in pixels) actually controlled.
As mentioned in previous reviews, I prefer List View to all others, therefore wanted to create two staggered offset list view templates that did not show toolbars at the top of the window. The first anchored the list on the left-hand side of my screen and other moved the anchor point to the middle of the screen. In addition I wanted the vertical window size to be no larger than in the top-level folder window. With some rechecking, I was indeed able to tweak several of the templates to meet my needs. My goal was a tighter version of the previous image, which (1) whose size was not controlled by that of the top-level folder window, and (2) had a larger horizontal frame then the template provided.
Repeating the process, to create an off set icons view templates was easier since I gained some understanding of the necessary input parameters. What would have really helped is having a real physical ruler calibrated in pixels with which I could have measured screen details. Unfortunately, I still have not take the time to figure out the effects of changing some of the functions or the setting numerics.
Other Package Features
The ReadMe File — This was a very good piece of documentation and serves to easily orient the user to both installing and getting started with the product. If my memory serves differences in documentation detail, compared to version 1.30, are effective and dramatic. My kudos to the developer.
Enhanced Customizing Folder Control — For the technically inclined, FolderControl supports user-created AppleScript plug-ins. FolderControl can be customized via user-created, plugin-in AppleScripts. For more information, see the ReadMe document in the "FolderControl Scripts" folder included on the distribution disk image.
No Universal Version Ever — FolderControl uses both Java and AppleScript and cannot be released in Universal Binary form—but most of its work is done via AppleScript, which does run natively on Intel-based systems.
A Good Upgrade Policy — I disagree with a user called jackthegiankiller who noted, in a VersionTracker review: “I bought this a while back and it has been a really helpful program, but then I upgraded to Tiger which broke my version 1.4. So I downloaded the 1.60 update and now I find that I have to pay half the original price just to license it again, with no new features. Sorry, but I'm not going to pay again for a bug fix. Guess I'm back to doing this stuff manually.”
Please note that $5-10 dollars for an upgrade is reasonable. Developers have to eat too. If doing it oneself, even allocating ones time at minimum fast food joint wages, seems to be a lose-lose proposition, but at 70 years of age, my time is valuable and at times is shared grudgingly.
Discomforts
(I know there will likely be no upgrade to this product, but I’ll list them anyway. Perhaps they’ll serve as an addition guide for someone creating a FolderControl-like tool for Leopard)
The Manual Is Still Weak — I was less than enamored with the manual, since it provided no details on how to edit the various templates provided to meet a finicky user's needs. Neither did it define the terms in used the general and view panes used to customize a template. If a user is content to use one of the provided templates this is an easy product to use.
Sidebars Stamp Them Out — I’d have welcomed a setting that allowed me to close (disappear) all sidebars in nested folder windows for list or Icon view.
Getting the Look I Wanted — As noted above, to create my initial set of four new preference definition sets, I had to do a significant amount to trial-and-error testing. [This despite using several of the developer’s templates as a starting point.] It's not that using trial-and-error doesn't work! In particular, I struggled when I wanted to anchor a particular set of folder in the center of my 21” monitor. [I accidentally used the wrong stating template for this effort.] I hadn’t noticed that there was an offset setting in one of the templates that could anchor the top-level folder to the middle or even two-thirds across my screen.
Manage Preference Set > Folder Placement: top middle, if on Desktop > Organize as LIST VIEW: re-size/position/arrange > General (Absolute Position) |
Pricing — I thought the shareware fee for this otherwise useful product as higher then most non-compulsive users will be willing to spend. However, what is mere cost to a neatness junkie?
Conclusions
Setup your folder windows with the placement and look you want! If you like an orderly desktop, you'll love this product! Assuming a user is comfortable with the templates provided by the developer, this is an absolutely simple tool to use. Cleanup your act! Ban helter-skelter windows whose nested folders (list view of course) open in random places. Once you created a custom template or two, they’re yours to keep, and always available for use.
Both as a tinkering type person and as a reviewer — okay I’m a nitpicker — choose to customize some list view template to better suite my aesthetic sense. Even with a leaning curve, that was harder to do than I’d expected. The lack of detailed images of alternatives, and the failure to define the detailed software preference functions and the terms that describe each preference template mar this otherwise feature-filled, useful, and stable software. I therefore rate this product a 4.0 macCs.
