105. Customize a Folder Window  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 13 Create a New Folder
 SEE ALSO 17 Change an Icon 18 Set a Color Label
Because you will be spending a lot of time navigating through the folders in your system and opening the documents in them, it's only natural to want to customize those various folders to reflect your personal tastes. For instance, you might want to navigate the filesystem primarily in the austere but highly functional Column view, but you might want to have your Pictures folder be shown in Icon view with each icon cranked up to its maximum size , organized in a grid, sorted alphabetically , and with a special background picture. Mac OS X lets you customize each and every folder in your system if you so desire .  NOTE You'll only see your customized folder view if you open a folder directly in a new windowfor example, if you have an alias to a folder on your Desktop or in the Dock, or if you double-click the folder in the Finder in Icon view. If you navigate down into a folder using the Finder using List or Column view, the view mode does not change on the fly.
| 1. | Open the View Options Palette While viewing any Finder window or the Desktop, select Show View Options from the View menu. The View Options palette appears and floats along with the Finder window (it becomes invisible if you switch applications). With the View Options palette visible, you can still click items in the Finder window; if you switch to a different Finder window, the View Options palette updates to show the options for the folder shown in the new window. 105. Customize a Folder Window  | | 2. | Select the View to Customize Click the view selection buttons at the top of the Finder window to choose the view mode you want to use for that folder if you open it directly. Note that each view mode has different options shown in the View Options palette. TIP If you change the view mode for a folder, and then use that same folder window to navigate to another location, the view mode you selected will not be saved for the folder you opened. Changes to the view mode are saved when you close the window; if you want to change the view mode for a folder window you open directly, close the window after selecting the desired view mode. This saves the setting for that folder. | | 3. | Customize This Window Only or All Windows At the top of the View Options palette, no matter what the view mode, are two options that let you choose between setting the options for just the folder window you're customizing, or globally configuring all windows in the system at once. NOTE Each view mode's options for each window is set independently. If you set global options for List view, folders that have been set to open in Icon view will still open in Icon view; but if you then switch to List view, the global options take effect. Any specific options you've set for that window override your global settings. | | 4. | Customize List View Columns
In List view, you have the option to use large or small icons, to select the font size for document names , and to choose which informational columns you want to show. In the View Options palette, select the check box for each column of information you want to see in List view.
You can also reorganize the order in which List view columns are shown on a per-folder basis. In the Finder window for the folder, click a column header and drag it left and right to position it between a different pair of columns. You do not need to have the View Options palette open to rearrange the column order.
| | 5. | Set Icon View Options
Icon view is the most customizable of the folder views. You can choose how large you want the icons to be (on a smooth scale from 16x 16 pixels to 128x 128 pixels). You can select whether the filenames should appear below or to the right of the icons, and whether they should include secondary information about the items' contents (using the Show item info check box). You can force the icons into a strict grid formation, and you can make them sort themselves alphabetically or according to various other criteria (such as the time of last modification). If you select the Show item preview check box, documents such as picture files that can be easily represented in a "preview" form are shown using that preview as a custom icon instead of the default icon for that document type.
| | 6. | Set a Background Color in Icon View Icon view windows have white backgrounds by default, but you can change this color. Select the Background: Color radio button in the View Options palette for Icon view and click the color box that appears; the color picker pops up. Use the color wheel and sliders to choose a color. NOTE Remember that the black text of the filenames must show up on top of the background color or you won't be able to read the filenames. Light pastel colors work best as backgrounds for folder windows. | | 7. | Set a Background Picture in Icon View
You can use any picture file as a folder window background in Icon view. Select the Background: Picture radio button in the View Options palette for Icon view and click the Select button that appears. A navigator window pops up; navigate to the folder where the picture you want to use is located. Only usable picture files are selectable; the rest of the items, except for folders, are grayed out. Double-click the picture file you want, or click it and then click Select .
You can remove a background picture by changing the Background option in the View Options palette back to White .
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