Mac 101: Finder filename sorting

Anyone know how to use Finder to always display folders on top (without a character hack)? I found a pretty cool app called Path Finder which does it, but is there a way to do this via Finder?

Thanks!

http://www.digitalassassin.com

problem with letting fat32 die is it is the only read/write solution that works between macos and windows currently. use NTFS for read is ok. but, macos cannot write to it. so, for many who go back and forth between machines, fat32 is still the only viable option.

and, here's a weird one: ever since i got my first 10.5 machine, the tilde (~) now sorts last...at least in indesign modal dialogs using column view (list view will sort fine when clicking the column header). any idea how to fix this?

yeah, fat32 scuks big time, if you have to use windows, really use ntfs.
The one issue I have with OS X at the moment, why is there no option to sort all the folders to the top (like in every reasonable OS), without using a third party program or special character in the filename? would make working in finder much easier I think.

I am sick of complains about incompatibilities with old shit like FAT32. Let it die.

As another sysadmin, please DO NOT DO THIS. The underscore as a starting character is fine, but the second you try to copy these files to, for example, an external hard drive with a FAT32 file system, you will have a lot of problems. If your files will only ever touch HFS+ for their entire lives, you might be able to get away with this, but that's even impossible to guarantee in Snow Leopard. Even worse-when you try to copy a large folder filled with files like this to another file system, Finder will copy all of them until it hits an incompatible one and then error out. It's up to you, or your poor sysadmin, to figure out which file caused the problem and fix it.
Again- DON'T DO THIS. TUAW-a disclaimer please? This is a little bit irresponsible...

I use [ to start my special folder names. works nicely.
then I have [folder or [ folder depending on which one is even more special (and therefore higher up)

This just refueled my ire from when they started listing numerals after alpha characters (circa iTunes 7) and 10.4.7-ish. I love NIN, and list the albums by Halo number to keep them in chronological order (ie "01 Down In it ... 02 Pretty Hate Machine ... etc.) This bummed me out hardcore when everything shifted to the bottom. Any way to make a custom sort other than adding more chars to the beginning?

"Also, as far as Mac OS X is concerned, the folder name "AARON" is the same as the folder name "Aaron" (or "aaron" for that matter): this is called case insensitivity. Mac OS X filenames are considered case insensitive."

Sooner or later we're going to have to progress beyond that. AARON, Aaron and aaron should all sort before BETA, Beta, and beta. But AARON should always sort before Aaron should always sort before aaron. Check your hardcopy dictionary.

For those people who use the keyboard to navigate, starting names with spaces is a bad idea. Try typing the first letter of the file to select it. Whoops! Quick look!

I've been using the trick a couple of years. (prepending underscores to folder names to keep them 'floating' at the top of your column/list view)

You can even use multiple underscores (e.g. '__priority_stuff') to have *those* folders float above all others. Of course, it is possible to get carried away (e.g. '_______absolutely_most_important_stuff', etc) at which point it's probably better to refactor your folder organization anyway)