Today I’ve got a real treat for you guys. I bring to your attention, TotalFinder! The Finder.app plugin to end all others (if there even exist any decent competitors)! I want you to think about back in the day, when you only had Internet Explorer on your Windows 95 box, and how “fun” browsing the Internet was. Then think of how awesome it was when one day, Firefox came out and really popularized the tabbed browser idea. Now think back to how ridiculous browsing without tabs with IE was, and you will begin to understand how incredibly useful TotalFinder can be for you.
For maybe a year now I’ve been using this little app to mod my Finder within OS X (for non-Mac users out there, it’s like Explorer.exe but not crappy). In terms of what it is, think about if Google Chrome and Windows Explorer came together, made love, and had a baby. Then think about a much sexier and smart baby born of OS X’s Finder instead. Then you’ll begin to understand what TotalFinder is and does.
Basically, it takes all the tabbed fun, functionality, and usefulness and makes it available into the otherwise slightly gimped Finder for OS X. I’ve been using it since I first Googled “tabbed OS X finder” within Google. I think the first version of it that I ever used was BETA 0.4.x or so. It was free, and it was pretty damned cool. I’ve even submitted a few crash reports to help the developer spot places for fixes.
So why should anyone using a mac be excited about TotalFinder? Well, mainly, it gives Finder FREAKING CHROMIUM TABS. Based on the artwork/design/behaviour of Google Chrome’s tabs (if I am correct, the author of the app actually used the source files/code from the Chromium Project, with permission of course, to draw the tabs and define their functionality). If you’ve ever used Chrome and enjoyed the simple and elegant design elements, you’ll feel right at home with TotalFinder (it’s more or less a direct port, really).
Another cool thing I want to mention is the ability of “ripping tabs” out of their current windows into new ones on their own, if you need to. Check out the two pics I’ve got below that should demo what I mean.
I mean, you can do fun stuff like open two tabs, and drag files from source to destination tabs for copying. You can setup a global hotkey that brings up a “Visor”-like Finder window when you need it, and hides it away when you’re done. You can set whether Finder creates .DS_store files in every random folder you use, or redirect them all to a single “out of the way” folder to keep things tidy.
There’s a bunch of other stuff it does really well and intuitively (like split/dual views and a “list folders at top” option that I personally love). Recently (finally) the app moved out of a free BETA state and into a “good for market” state. You can still freely download the app from its web site (found here, and in my sidebar under “Tools” links), and you can use it unpaid. A little dialogue box will pop up every 10 tab switches, however, to remind you that it took a lot of hard work and bug fixing to get the polished product you see before you and to give you the option to pay for a full license.
I personally have been in contact with the app’s publisher/creator/programmer/everything and he’s a real stand-up guy. $15 for something that so greatly enhances something you (assuming you’re a Mac user) will use every time you turn on your computer is a no brainer. I’ve even received word from Antonin that he’ll be setting up a group pricing plan too, to make it $10 per license if you order in a group of three. That’s one-third-off just for knowing two other informed Mac users! Without going on too much with my ware-crush, head over to the binaryage page and check it out. I showed Amy this just the other day and she loved it. Take some time to download and install it, check it out for free, and if you like the extended functionality of the app, get a full license to support this great idea and the awesome people who made it possible!