Alas, the poor directory listing. While this view is one of the most ancient (if not the oldest) in all of computing GUI, rarely does it ever get any attention. It's especially unfortunate as I find myself spending a good part of my day navigating through them.
I love working with MAMP. I've set up my MAMP root to my general project folder, which provides access to any interior file (PSD, build-out dev files, reference docs) through a local URL. This enables using browsers' smart-find/auto-complete on URLs for finding folders which house working protoypes or sites. Piggy-backing on my last sketchbook post, I can leverage MAMP to view local files on my iPhone, or share said files with my fellow rock-star employees at nclud.
But the draw-back is that I find myself sifting through a mess of un-styled directory listings. While you can change some options with .htaccess, there is no functionality for adding a universal CSS stylesheet. But I'm a designer, and dag-nabbit, I don't have to deal with this.
I'm happy to release Windex. In minimalist fashion, Windex was developed to provide a mechanism to style default directory listings using much of same mark-up. You won't get any PHP/jQuery wizardry, but you're free to add it using your own discretion. This project was developed as a fork of Indices by Scott Evans. Installation instructions may be found on the GitHub README.
Take a gander at the demo. Included you'll find several refined styles. Foxy mimics Firefox's lovely local directory view; Opry mimics Opera's. There are some lovely OSX icon replacements. Any README file automatically gets parsed and appended to the directory list, a la GitHub. And that's not all. The real selling-point for Windex is the mobile/iPhone-optimized stylesheet. Load up the directory on your iPhone (or shrink your browser window to be less than 480px wide), and you'll be treated to the familiar table view. Oh yeah, it's iPhone 4 Retina Display ready.
Windex was developed primarily for local applications, but will do wonders to pretty-up any files/ directory you have on your site. Just be careful where you enable Windex. You don't want to expose any of the logic running your site.
Windex is open-source, so feel free to fork this project, develop your own CSS, or provide feedback on its development. Now go forth, and list directories with style!
Antione Butler
June 24th 2010
Dangit Dave you’ve done it again. Maybe it has minimal use and even a niche audience but it sure makes the occasional use of directory listings a pleasure to use.
Well done.
Dave DeSandro
June 24th 2010
@Antione Thank you!
I should also mention that another good resource in this space would be PHP Directory Lister by Greg J. Mike Taylor’s test directory is a good example. It’s sweet because its all just one file, no futzing with folders and .htaccess like you have with Windex.
Jason Beaird
June 24th 2010
As I mentioned on Twitter already, this looks awesome. I’m definitely not a lawyer, but as someone who as has experienced IP legal pressure before though, I’m worried about the name. Windex is a well-established trademark. You’re specifically asking for trouble by advertising that it’s associated with cleaning. Perhaps “nDex” would be a good compromise?
Jason Beaird
June 24th 2010
...or FTWdex? :)
Dave DeSandro
June 24th 2010
@Jason Both great names. If we ever do get the attention of SC Johnson, we hopefully fallback to another name.
So far we’ve been lucky on this front. Toho hasn’t been knocking down our doors about our resource. *knocks on wood*
bradee
June 30th 2010
Why not just leave it as indicies?
Dave DeSandro
June 30th 2010
@Bradee Naming projects that are mods like this one are hard. Do you keep the original name “Original - My Mod” or name it something completely different? I suppose its a branding decision.
Because Indices is still a good solution, I didn’t want to completely take over the name. Since I contributed it a good amount, I felt like it was appropriate to give it its own name. Who knows, someone may fork this project and give it a new name. So it goes…
sainraja
July 15th 2010
....may give foxy a try
Scott
July 25th 2010
Not very friendly with the EVO 4G and other larger-screen mobiles, unfortunately. Even if forcing the iPhone theme, everything is still rather tiny. Any thoughts on how to improve on that area?
Otherwise, this is a very nice and well thought out utility.
Dave DeSandro
July 26th 2010
@Scott Your comment has been added as an issue on GitHub.
Andy
July 26th 2010
Very handy. Thanks!
Sojan V Jose
January 6th 2011
this one looks really kwel :) . found it on tumbler and i like the way those directory listings look