🚀 go-pugleaf

>I have two major irritations when using the finder:
>
>1. You have two folders open and you want to transfer or
>copy a file from one to the other. You click on the file
>you want to move and then its window comes to the front
>which totally obliterates your view of the destination folder.
>Yuck! it would have been easier to use DOS or UNIX.


>Guys!  You obviously haven't seen or heard about an init called "Rear
>Window".  It allows you to click and drag icons on lower windows to
>other (higher) windows.  It uses the Command + Tab keys to distinguish
>from the standard operation of clicking and dragging.  If you can see
>what you want to copy and where you want to copy it to, you can do it!

When I wrote the original question I was hoping that someone would
point out some simple solution that I didn't know about because I
haven't read all the tip books. This seems like such a basic operation
that I find it amazing that Apple hasn't bothered to fix up the problem.
The "Rear Window" solution sounds almost right but I can see now how
it would work for me. I would see the file I want to copy and see
the place where I wanted to put it. But I wouldn't notice which window
was active so I would forget the arcane Command+Tab key combination.
The solution suggested by David O'Rourke is much closer to the mark.
You simply don't select the window until you release the mouse button:

>  I remember hearing somewhere that the 'new' finder will not bring a
>window forward, or some such, until a mouse-up.  So you press the button
>on the file, and if you keep the button down {very reasonable assumption
>IMHO} then you're proably doing a file-drag for a copy or some such.

Some people told me that I simply wasn't managing my windows correctly.
These people must know about something I don't know about. If the source
folder and the destination folder are both 4 or 5 levels deep you've, got
the desktop covered before you even begin the copy or move operation.
Again the whole operation could have been done in DOS or UNIX before
you even begin on the Mac. My purpose though is not to dump on the Mac.
I actually need to use the Mac for some purposes and it's getting on my
nerves. I'm hoping someone will tell me an easier way to do things.

The other main suggestion I got was to use the program Disktop. I guess the
point of this suggestion is that the finder is hopeless and it's best
to give up on it and use some desk accessory that does the same thing
in a nicer way. This may be the correct way to go.


Dale Gerdemann
University of Illinois, Dept of Linguistics
Cognitive Science Group, Beckman Institute
dale@tarski.cogsci.uiuc.edu
d-gerdemann@uiuc.edu