Leopard’s Spotlight window isn’t as good as Tiger’s was
I don’t think I’m alone in this thinking either. On Mac OS X Tiger, when you searched for something, the list that appeared is much like the list that appears now, under Leopard. Leopard’s speed improvements for these searches, when compared to Tiger, is undeniable and welcome. Where Spotlight in Leopard begins to break down is when you click Show All to see all of the results for your search.
In Tiger, when I clicked Show All I got a really nice Spotlight-only window that I could then drill down into the results more specifically. For example, if I was searching for photos of my friend Chris Fehnel, the window in Tiger looked like this.
Tiger’s Spotlight “show all” window.
Pretty straight forward, right? It breaks out Documents (or in this case conversations I had with Chris in iChat), Email messages, his Address Book entry, and photos that I had tagged with his name. Brilliant!
Tiger’s Spotlight window also allowed for some sorting options on the right “panel”. Sorting by date, kind, location of the file, etc, - is quick, easy, and straight forward.
Now, let’s take a look at Leopard’s Spotlight window when clicking Show All for a search for “Chris Fehnel”.
Leopard’s “show all” window.
I don’t even think I have to explain how bad this is. Imagine being new to the Mac, and seeing this window. This is horrible, unusable, and makes me wish I could downgrade to Tiger.
If anyone has any suggestions (besides Finder replacements), I’m all ears.
Tags: apple, chris-fehnel, leopard, mac-os-x, macintosh, screenshots, skitch, tiger, usability
May 7th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I completely agree with you. There are so many things that Tiger had that i just miss. Apple must think they have done it all with Leopard, when they have killed some things!
May 7th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Forgot to mention what i miss. Everything i miss from Tiger is in the interface. It was the perfect interface, and Apple has tried to make it just too cool, and failed i think.
I miss the old dock, the beautiful white menu bar, and sometimes even the brushed metal. My main problem, is that they don’t allow you the choices like Windows does! They let you change the interface without 3rd party apps almost substantially.
I wish we had the option to switch back to the old interface just like Windows does. Come on Apple! Who’s with me?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Yeah, I actively searched for that window for a little while. It was light-years better in Tiger. Why would they get rid of such a beautiful interface like that?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I’m getting a new MacBook Pro soon. So far, there isn’t really anything I find REALLY giddy about Leopard (Spaces, maybe); I will also miss the same things as Zakk does.
I might just install my copy of Tiger on my new MBP. Hmm..
Oh, and I always search things in Finder. Spotlight has never really fit in my work flow.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I hadn’t actually noticed this until now. That probably has to do with the fact that I never click the “Show All.” Most of the time what I’m looking for just shows up on the spotlight list. But what if I have to go beyond that? It definitely seems like a downgrade from Tiger.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Like Sameer, I hardly ever click “Show All,” which is probably why I hadn’t noticed this before now. Wow, that’s a real downgrade. I like Leopard otherwise though, including the transparent menu bar and the new dock (I realize I’m in the minority here).
May 7th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
So that we’re all clear; I really, really like Leopard. I think it is a fantastic upgrade to Mac OS X. The translucent menu bar included! If I recall correctly, this is the first and only gripe I’ve written about Leopard.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I don’t use that Spotlight that often, so I never even noticed the old way in Tiger. And, you are correct, in Leopard it’s not nearly as good.
But, it’s also not nearly as bad if you switch to cover flow view. It’s not the same as tiger, but better than a plain list of files. Combined with QuickView, it’s nor horrible at all.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Much agreed — the biggest thing I use this for is finding Entourage mail messages at work, and trying to narrow down the full spotlight search to just messages matching a string is an exercise in frustration.
I was really surprised to see this change in Leopard, especially remembering the large segment it got in the Tiger keynote address.
And I’m sorry, but CoverFlow is a sad replacement and useless in this context — I love browsing my album art like LPs, but I sure don’t want to browse my file cabinet in this way! (this one? nope, flip. this one? nope, flip, etc.)