When I first saw the Cover Flow feature in Leopard’s Finder, I thought it was a bit of a gimmick. Looking at CD covers in iTunes is entertaining in a way that looking through my files and folder doesn’t seem to be. And so Cover Flow might have just been a fancy, nice-looking, but useless interface option — except for its integration with Quick Look.
Together, these features allow me to take a folder of student work (MS Word documents in the screenshot above) and quickly flip through, reading each one. I don’t even need to click into the Finder window — just move the mouse pointer over it and use the scroll wheel. This means I can keep the keyboard focus in Easy Grade Pro, where I’m typing in scores. This is a smoother and better workflow than even paper could provide. I keep my gradebook and the finder window tall and narrow so they’re side-by-side on screen.
