[camtarn]

Okay, and once the users have found their documents in the beautiful Finder, what are they going to do with them? This seems to be another case of someone confusing attractiveness with usability. The article fails to explain why the author thinks that the Finder makes it easier and/or more obvious for users to figure out how to manipulate their files. What are the motivations and needs of these users (apart from 'I want to see icons representing my files') and how are they fulfilled or not fulfilled by the Explorer and Finder interfaces? Instead of using a data-driven approach, what would be a better way to go about the motivation analysis, and what sort of end result might you get?

It's one thing to slag off Microsoft (unfortunately, they tend to make themselves a fairly easy target), but doing so with no constructive advice to others in the same situation is a bit pointless.

[pooriaazimi]

Finder is not all about beauty. What I like most about Finder (which makes me cry every time I have to use Windows) is QuickLook. It's SO much easier to quickly glance at a document than anything WE has to offer.

I personally hate ribbons, but I think for the average user they are great, and much easier to use. So I'm not defending Apple here, I'm just saying that It's not all about beauty or slickness; Finder is also powerful, but in its own ways (only if it had tabs...)

[camtarn]

QuickLook is a brilliant power user tool which I wish Explorer had - but, like many of Finder's features, it's hardly discoverable without either hearing about it first, or being willing to press random keys to see what they do (which many computer users are very unwilling to do.)

[openbear]

>> it's hardly discoverable without either hearing about >> it first, or being willing to press random keys to >> see what they do

I agree that the hotkey for it is not very discoverable, but the default layout for the Finder toolbar has a button for Quick Look (it's in his screenshot, the one that looks like an eyeball).

[m_eiman]

Finder is also powerful, but in its own ways (only if it had tabs...)

TotalFinder to the rescue!

http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/

[pooriaazimi]

Yes, I've used TotalFinder from beta 1! It's fantastic. I was hoping Apple would add some of its greatness in Lion, but...

[nirvana]

Some very common file operations are moving files and copying files. On the finder, you grab the files and drag them to the place you want them to go. Under windows, people are trained to select the files, press the copy key command, go to the new location, and press the paste key command.

Microsoft, seeing that the paste function is the most used, makes the paste button bigger. The problem is, there's a much easier way to do it-- you can drag and drop in windows (at least I hope you can!). Unfortunately, windows users don't know this (by the evidence of them using paste a lot in microsofts stats, and my experiences with average people who are used to windows). By making the cut, copy and paste buttons bigger and more prominent, Microsoft is reinforcing the slower, less intuitive way of doing things.

Finder is not sacrificing usability to look pretty, finder looks pretty because it is more usable. You present users with 100 buttons on every window, and it doesn't matter how big you make them, they're going to have trouble figuring out what they're doing- the whole interface adds a constant cognitive load that slows the user down and increases confusion.

With the finder, there are a lot fewer buttons and its a lot easier to figure out what to do (in fact, most of the arbitrary commands are hidden under one button.) In the finder, they use the desktop metaphor, and you mostly manipulate files directly.

[wanorris]

My guess is that Microsoft's research has uncovered a couple of usability problems for new users with drag and drop.

First, there are two possible new-user intuitions about what drag and drop ought to do, and it won't always do what they expect. First, it could copy the file, and second, it could move the file. The default on Windows (and OS X, IIRC) is to copy when the source and target are two different drives, and move if it's the same drive. This is likely to produce the correct result, but it wiil not always do so. If you want one and get the other, you will be unhappy with the result.

If you have learned cut/copy/paste in an application, then you will know the difference between cut and copy, and this will help you achieve the correct result right away. I presume this is the reason for them traditionally promoting cut/copy/paste over drag and drop.

Second, drag and drop is not discoverable. Items on the a toolbar or ribbon are trivially discoverable, but new and unskilled users may not even realize that drag and drop is an option.

This is the advantage of a ribbon populated with commands. Not only are the commands preferred by infrequent explorer users (cut/copy/paste) easily accessible to them, but new users have the even more easily understood option of choosing "move to" or "copy to". Q: How do I copy this file to my flash drive? A: I select "copy to".

[hackinthebochs]

>Microsoft is reinforcing the slower, less intuitive way of doing things.

You say this like its a bad thing. There is no "right way" to do things. Actually, there is: the most obvious/intuitive way is the right way for a particular user. If people intuitively use Copy/Paste to move files, it makes sense to make that functionality easier to get to. It does not make sense to try to "correct" their behavior in some way.

[tallanvor]

True, drag and dropping files to move/copy them is easy. If you're using a keyboard and mouse. How will you do this on a tablet?