Alter Finder Views

You can adjust the size of Finder icons and text. The modification options shown to you by Mac OS X will depend on the Finder view you are currently using. The examples shown in this guide have been performed on the Applications Folder.

Alter Icon Size
The default icon size in Mac OS X Tiger is 44 x 44. To change this open a Finder window, change the view to Icon then do the following:

Click View in the Finder Menu Bar
Select "Show View Options" or press command-J on the keyboard

You'll see the window to the right. The settings shown will depend on if they are the default or have been modified. At the top you'll see an option to apply the changes to "This window only" or to "All windows".

To change the icon size just drag the scroll bar to the right or left. As you move it, you will see the icon sizes change in real time.

Use the drop-down to alter the size of the text below the icons or change the placement of the text from below the icon to the right of the icon.

Play around with the various options as you customize the look and feel.

Alter Text Size
When you change the Finder view to List and activate "Show View Options", you'll notice that Mac OS X will alter the options as shown to the right. You'll notice that you can change the size of the Icon that is to the left of the item. You can change Text size, add columns for "Date Created", "Version" (useful for the Applications Folder), "Comments", and "Label".

You can also choose to view the amount of disk space an item uses.

Column View is Limited
The view options are limited in the column view. Only three choices are available; "Text size", "Show icons", and "Show preview column". The preview column is especially useful when you want to preview photos, images, audio files, Quicktime clips, or anything that can be previewed. It's a great time saver as you'll easily identify items before you open them.

Here's a difference in the view when "Show preview column" is active and inactive.