Mac rumor site AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has filed a patent for a finder feature that would allow different sized icons to be within the same window, with the size of the icon being representative of that items importance. This feature would make a lot of sense for many directories that are crowded with loads of folders and files needed for the application to run, but largely useless for the user to see or interact with. Read on for a mock-up illustration of how this feature would appear within Mac OS X.

Above image borrowed from AppleInsider

The following is apparently from the patent application, describing the features and how it would help the user:

“… difference in size does not indicate the relative importance of the files or program represented by the icon, since the change in icon size is performed universally for all icons in a container, such as a folder or window,” the company wrote. “Accordingly, in order to present a more informative and personalized user interface, a manner of describing to a user relative importance of an icon in relation to other icons in a system is desirable.”

“When the icon sizing is performed according to a user preference, a relative sizing scheme or an arbitrary icon sizing scheme can be employed to variably size icons.”

“a user’s arbitrary sizing of various icons in accordance with the present invention generates icon representations that can advantageously represent categorization of application or file importance, and/or the size of a file represented by an icon.”

The real question is, will we see this feature in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard?

Source: AppleInsider: Apple’s Mac OS X may gain multi-sized icon interface