Mac OS 9’s Finder had a display mode that made a folder look less like a file list and more like a launcher: “View as Buttons.” In a May 2 retrospective, cryan.com described the option as a Finder feature that showed each folder item as a clickable button representing a file or application.
The feature matters mostly as a reminder that Apple’s desktop interface once offered a broader set of visual metaphors than the Finder people know from Mac OS X and later. Cryan.com says the mode was removed in Mac OS X, which means users who came to the Mac after that transition may never have seen it outside screenshots or old machines.
How the view worked
According to cryan.com, selecting “View as Buttons” changed the presentation of a Finder window so each item appeared as a large button. The button included the item’s icon, with the file or application name shown underneath.
That is not a complicated mechanism, which was the point. Instead of scanning a list, a user could click a larger target tied to an app or document. Cryan.com said the mode was useful for quickly reaching frequently used programs and files, especially for people who preferred a more graphical way to move through folders.
The visual design also fit the pre-Mac OS X Finder’s willingness to treat windows as configurable work surfaces. A folder could be more than a directory dump; with this mode, it could operate like a handmade control panel for common items. That is the kind of interface trick that tends to disappear when operating systems standardize around fewer, more consistent views.
A small feature lost in a larger shift
Cryan.com framed Mac OS 9 as part of Apple’s turn-of-the-millennium software period and pointed to “View as Buttons” as one of the details that gave the classic Mac experience its character. The post includes screenshots of the Mac OS 9 “About” screen and an example Finder window using the button view.
The claim is narrow but useful: this was a real Finder option in Mac OS 9, it displayed files and applications as large clickable buttons with labels, and cryan.com says it did not make the trip to Mac OS X. For anyone trying to understand why longtime Mac users sometimes get weirdly specific about old Finder behavior, this is one of the exhibits.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
