14 DAY TRIAL // The information window as a method of finding out the details of any given item within the Mac OS is so ingrained after all my years of using the platform, that I never give it any actual thought. Much like the menus, and cursor and the three colored buttons on windows, I never actually see them despite looking at them each and every day. When you use something for so long it becomes a given and you don't really think about its pros and cons until something else comes along the way and shows you a different perspective. Of the many information utilities that you can use as a replacement for the default Get Info window, the vast majority offer few benefits, often in the form of a few additional tidbits of information. However, a few, such as MacGizmo, do things quite differently.
What it does MacGizmo is a very functional tool for seeing information about files and folders in the Finder. While very similar to the default window and in some way inferior, what really sets it apart is the accessibility of this little application. It is there when you need it and by using it you cut down on a huge amount of redundancy. Though it might not be suitable to totally replace the good old Get Info window, it is a far better choice in the majority of cases.
Working with it As soon as you install it, MacGizmo is ready to go and should become visible in the top left of your screen. In here you can see the information about the currently selected item, organized into three categories, which can be expanded and collapsed at will to manage screen real estate.
In terms of the actual information it offers, MacGizmo is decidedly inferior to the Finder's own information window. In the Info tab, you can see the icon and name of the item, its Kind and Size, as well as the date it was created and last modified. In the Where tab you can see a tree structure of the folders and drives that contain the selected item, one on each line. In cases where the file path is particularly long, you can scroll up and down in the little area, however there is no horizontal scrolling and if item names start getting clipped, there is nothing for it but to resize the window. The last tab is reserved for the preview. Much like the Finder's preview, this will let you look at movies and images, but it will also let you read documents even complex, multi page ones. The preview is quite excellent and will even show PDFs and DOC documents fine. In the case of folders it will only show the icon, but it will also present a count of the items contained in that particular folder.
If you compare the Finder's Info window to MacGizmo, the latter is definitely offering a lot less per square pixel, however, ease of use is also a very important factor. With the default solution, you have to select the item, hit Command and I, and then you can look at the information. In comparison, with MacGizmo all you have to do is select the item. The advantages of using MacGizmo become even clearer when you need to look at the information of multiple files. Instead of selecting an item, opening the information window, closing it and then moving on to the next item to repeat the cycle, you can just select each and every item. Should you not want the MacGizmo window to appear every time you select an item, you can just hit a keyboard shortcut to put it to sleep and it will never show up again until you wake it up. Alternatively, you can turn on the use of the Option key as a modifier. Thus, when you select an item with Option pressed, the MacGizmo window will automatically appear and when you deselect the item with Option pressed, the window will automatically hide. Between sleep and the modifier key, you can choose whether or not you want to see the information or not on the fly and get the best of both approaches.
MacGizmo can be further customized through the settings in its control panel. You can change the appearance from the black, Leopard-like look to Classic, but it looks far worse and even has artifacts when you expand and collapse the tabs. You can also change the position of the MacGizmo window itself, but for this you must change the way the window is animated when it appears and disappears. After selecting Fade, you can mode the window anywhere on screen, but considering that fully expanded, it takes up the entire height of the screen, there is not much room to move it around.
The Good Much easier to use than the Finder's alternative, especially when you are looking at the information of multiple files over a short period of time. The preview is also extremely good as it allows you to look inside nearly all files.
The Bad It offers significantly less information than the Finder and the information it does offer is not very well presented. You will still find yourself using the Finder's option every once in a while.
The Truth MacGizmo may not be the perfect replacement for the Finder's information window but it comes very close. Even if it does not completely replace the Finder, it is still incredibly practical and easier to use.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
