Here’s an idea that has been floating through my head for a bit, then I realized it could be a sweet addition to TotalFinder.
I’ve felt it’s kind of “old school” that the Trash folder is still a “folder”, it’s not really necessary. Generally, I want to skim the contents and empty it. Otherwise I would use the shortcut. Having a folder open seems a bit overkill.
I think it would very cool if when you click the Trash can, a Popover opens up, like the Downloads in Safari or even the Dock folder Stack or Grid. But I think a custom Popover would probably be a bit easier so you could have an “Empty Trash” option, along with and “Open as Folder”. I don’t know if you could empty the trash directly in code when you’re injected into the Dock (and Finder), but I know AppleScript can get the job done.
Also, sometimes I accidentally click the Trash when trying to click my Downloads stack, then I have a folder that needs to be closed. If it were a Popover, simply clicking away would dismiss it.
I know this would involve injecting code into Dock rather than just Finder, but I can’t think of a better existing app to implement this kind of functionality. I’m pretty sure no one would mind if it were a Mavericks only feature to make supporting it easier on your end.
Anyway, if this idea sounds cool to you, I think it could be awesome. I’d be into helping anyway I can. If you need help troubleshooting or debugging, I’m a developer myself and have experience with SIMBL. I made SizeWell plugin, but I haven’t really messed with that code much since Sandboxing stopped SIMBL from working across “all” apps. Luckily, you don’t have that problem with Finder and (potentially) Dock.
I was fantasizing about looking into creating something like this myself, but I don’t really have time to start something new like this right now.
Thanks for your time!