

Show HN: hColumns – a jQuery plugin that looks like OS X Finder Column View - buweichiu
http://hax4.in/plugins/hColumns/

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joubert
Browsing of tree structures using Miller columns has a fairly long tradition.

Think Smalltalk's code browser: <http://www.pharo-
project.org/about/screenshots>

Or NeXSTEP where you see the Cocoa ancestry for this columnar display:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GNUstep-liveCD.png>

Beyond Finder, you'll notice that on your iPhone / iPad this paradigm is
everywhere. When you see a list, you can select an item and dive into the next
level. The only difference is that a single column consumes the entire screen
width. See UINavigationController:
[http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/...](http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UINavigationController_Class/Reference/Reference.html)

In Cocoa, there is a general NSBrowser class, which implements this paradigm:
[https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa...](https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSBrowser_Class/Reference/Reference.html)

Another application that uses faceted browsing is of course iTunes:
<http://screenshots.oahermes.com/6/large_4_itunes_store.png>

One project which I tracked long ago, called mSpace, has some good stuff:
<http://research.mspace.fm>

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ronj
Crisp! By the way:

\- Any idea why this view isn't used in file managers other than Finder?
(especially Windows Explorer & GNOME Nautilus/Files). This view has so many
advantages (very visual, enable quick round-trips in a hierarchy, show the
path leading to a leaf while conserving screen space, enable copying files
from anywhere to anywhere, more adapted to our horizontal screens and vision
than traditional WindowsExplorer-ish views) that I can't understand why it
wasn't copied elsewhere. Is it patented?

\- Any option for such a file manager under Linux/Windows? Maybe a Nautilus
extension/fork (and under windows, an Explorer patch/extension)?

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tanishaj
On Linux, I guess there is always GWorkspace:
<http://www.gnustep.org/experience/GWorkspace.html>

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sachleen
Pretty neat! One thing though: when the horizontal scroll bar shows, a
vertical one shows as well. See this: <http://i.imgur.com/ZzqDv0C.png>

~~~
buweichiu
Thanks, it seems happen to very deep folders.

i will fix that. And i found IE * will not show up at all.

~~~
buweichiu
This bug fixed, and after tested, IE 8 is known not working.

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tzaman
It's nice, but I can't think of a use case for behaviour like this on the web.

~~~
buweichiu
i use this for displaying a very deep set of FAQ (img below) that once used a
treeview but found it too messy.

[http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/702/53758010151491375964161.j...](http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/702/53758010151491375964161.jpg)

of course it has some improvement, like use some custom type and more css
styling.

