Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software
Mac Whine: Spotlight's disconnected image results
It's no secret that Spotlight needs a bit of work catch up to 2007. Users far and wide complain that it can grind to a halt all too quickly after firing up a fresh install of Mac OS X, and even though Apple has some good tips for Spotlight power users, it still just isn't quite *there* yet. So, to hop on the 'Mac Whine' train that Leo and his merry band of TWiTs have begun on MacBreak Weekly, I figured the rest of the Mac web could start chiming in with the occasional annoying quirks and problems with Apple's oh-so-shiny products.
My first contribution is Spotlight's handling of image search. I've been trying to refresh myself lately on Spotlight and what it's capable of (such as finding text in a Photoshop layer), and I've also been playing around with Aperture as an alternative to iPhoto. One particularly annoying thing is the way Spotlight handles image search results, which you can see in the screenshot. I searched for "quick," and Spotlight found quite a few images that had that word somewhere in their filename or metadata - but it doesn't show me where or what that data is (i.e. - why this photo was relevant to my search). Spotlight *must* have found some metadata relevant to my search since it returned this image (in this case I suspect it was the name I assigned to the image in iPhoto), which Spotlight clearly must have seen - so why didn't it share what that data is? The default result UI doesn't even tell me where those images are or what app they're tied to; I have to click on the (i) to reveal things like whether this pic was in my iPhoto library or simply laying around somewhere else.
Add this minor gripe to the (large) pile of things that could use a coat or two of polish from Apple's Spotlight ninjas.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnny said 2:54PM on 4-04-2007
I agree about not showing why the item was relevant to the search. It should say ' found in '. I often wonder what relevance an item has to my search and something like 'quick' will often return items simply because they are associated with Quicktime I think or something meaningless.
However, a quick look at the path next to 'Where' tells you if it's an iPhoto image or not. I think to spell it out any further would be a waste of space.
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Johnny said 2:56PM on 4-04-2007
Oops.. my bad. I actually put my example in hypertext enclosure so it did not appear.
It should say '[search string] found in [tag]'.
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Geoff said 3:09PM on 4-04-2007
I guess it's a good day for Google to release a Spotlight alternative, eh? :)
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pixelslut said 4:13PM on 4-04-2007
Or you could just use a strict file system and naming conventions instead of saving things all willy-nilly. ;-)
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Kyle said 4:19PM on 4-04-2007
It looks like you have a picture of my dog there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmoney/442559455/
What kind is he/she?
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Victor Agreda Jr said 5:03PM on 4-04-2007
My single biggest complaint is how I have to have to be a 50th level spellcaster to hit my pick before they scroll down the results. Why can't I cmd-. to have Spotlight STOP and let me click on the frickin' item? Instead, I see it whiz on by, often buried, and then wait until spotlight finishes the full search before I can actually get the thing. The only upside is that I can now catch a fly with chopsticks.
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michel said 6:55PM on 4-04-2007
nitpicking
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ThePete said 12:48PM on 4-05-2007
I don't know how anyone can deal with Spotlight at all. I really don't. Quicksilver works so much better and for old fashioned easy-finding, I use an app call Easy Find. Spotlight has never worked for me ever.
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Dave Chartier said 7:23PM on 4-05-2007
5: She's actually a Blue Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix, and our second Blue Heeler mix dog so far. We love the breed; *ton* of energy (hence getting a second one so they can play together when we can't), but *incredibly* intelligent. We've met Blue Heeler owners who told us their dog learned how to screw the lid off a peanut butter jar - not tear it, screw it off, like a person.
Needless to say, we've been attending various training classes with them both to turn them at least into decently behaved dogs. :)
Maddy is the new puppy, and I keep pics and vids of her at my Vox blog:
http://dcharti.vox.com/library/posts/tags/maddy/
and Oscar is our two year-old 'Heeler, here:
http://dcharti.vox.com/library/posts/tags/oscar/
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Kyle said 2:11AM on 4-06-2007
She's a cute little thing! Heelers are awesome dogs. I used to work on a my uncle's ranch during my summers in middle/high school and they (along with their sons) had a number of red and blue heelers and they were wonderful. The oldest gal there, Patches, would herd cattle based on whistle commands, it was impressive, she was so smart. I've always been a fan of cattle dogs due to their intelligence, energy and devotion. Thanks for the reply and give Maddy a treat for me :)
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Bart Hanson said 8:48AM on 4-08-2007
Amen brother! And Victor has it right too, Spotlight still leaves me feeling panicky about whether I've found the item. I was in full control of Find File in OS 9 and could easily create nested searches based on Size, Kind, Date etc.
All this Meta-Data has not been much use to me at all. AFAIK Spotlight Sucks!
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