Spotlight Inconsistencies

I love Spotlight. Having this type of searching built into the OS is the best thing to happen to a computer since Undo. I use it many times a day. I use it for finding documents I created yesterday as well as last week or last year. I use it for launching applications not in my Dock. With these two uses alone, I have become dependent on it.

It’s not perfect, as many writers have pointed out. On my Powerbook 1Ghz, 512Mb it is not instant, nor almost instant. Yes it starts searching almost instantly, but it’s usually a few seconds before its list stabilises enough for me to be able to select from it.

I probably use the icon in the menu bar the most for searching. (Tell me - why does something called Spotlight have a magnifying glass icon?)

But when I start using Spotlight’s other interfaces, I get quite confused. Tell me Steve, - what’s with all the different interfaces? Interface consistency is a favorite bugbear of Hadley’s, so Spotlight is going to make him turn in his designer’s club ticket. I’ve counted four so far - if you allow that the ones in applications, such as Mail, are similar enough to one those four.

Spotlight Interface #1
For starters, we’ve got the main Spotlight search. Nice. Neat. Great for quick searches and application launching. But limited. Notice the Top Hit. You won’t see it in any of the other interfaces which is a shame, because I find it is quite useful. Also, in this interface, the groupings are displayed differently to interface #2 and #3. And #4, but when you see how bad it is…

Spotlight Interface #2
To access Spotlight interface #2, you click on Show All in #1 which brings up a more comprehensive window of our results with simple filtering tools. This is not a Finder view of your world. I like this view though, and have made it my default for command-space Spotlight launch. It gives me easy to select filtering and grouping, although somewhat limited. Surprisingly, it has no option to save a search to a Smart Folder.

So what if you do want more powerful search filtering or want to save your searches?  Then you need to fire up the Finder and work out interface number three.

Spotlight Interface #3
Sure it’s simple to use Spotlight in Finder, just type into the search field and… oops - hello Apple, -  a different interface again!

Initially you are can limit the searches to folders or disks but you need to hit that little plus sign next to the Save button if you want to get more filtering options. And the way it works is not as visually or user friendly as the filtering in interface #2, so power seems to have come at a cost.

And then try hitting the Kind drop down. Now you have to start thinking. Definitely for the serious searcher.

A good thing that is different in this interface is you can save a search as a Smart Folder. My first saved search was a list of all the Documents I’d opened in the last seven days. Note, to do a search that has no search string, press the space bar in the search box. You can then just work with filters.

Spotlight Interface #4
And now we come to interface number 4. The one in Open/Save dialogs. The one someone forgot to finish. Go have a look at it…

Spot the difference? Yes, all the results are listed ungrouped. This can be quite limiting to say the least. And why do I want so many file types? Why not limit it to Document types only as a default with a button for All types?

And when you select a Smart Folder in the Open/Save dialog, the search field is disabled. Unlike in the Finder in interface #3 which enables you to start a new search.

Spotlight, despite these interface inconsistencies and shortcomings, is a significant time saver, but it does slow you down having to know which interface to use and how to use it. And it would be nice to have a simple toggle to search file names only, as the only way to do this currently, is using the Name contains filter in interface #3.

Did I miss any interfaces? Are any of the application Spotlight interfaces sufficiently different to warrant including on this list? What is your favorite Spotlight interface?