You can actually just goto your home folder. Goto Finder>Preferences, then Sidebar, you'll find your home folder is stashed away in there but not checked. It'll just be your username.
You can also unhide hidden dot folders as well if you wish but by default those are hidden. I don't have the instructions for that right now but a google search can find it for you if you want it.
Re:How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
by qubitcoder on Monday May 24, 2021 @07:24PM
(#27270893)
Yes, that's probably the first thing I do in Finder on a new macOS device. I struggle to understand the reasoning behind hiding it by default, since it only contains the standard folders like Documents, Downloads, Movies, etc.
I suppose it's an attempt to conceal/abstract away the underlying file system structure, which probably makes sense if those folders are already on the sidebar.
> The inability to easily go to $HOME in Finder is of great annoyance to me
You should be able to use cmd+shift+h to always jump to the home directory in finder. I remember having the same real annoyance until I discovered the hotkey.
It’s also on the menu bar under Go > Home.
(The menu bar is possibly my favourite thing about Macs. Especially that you can search it from the keyboard and it shows you where the command you want is with a nice little arrow. Even in Excel)
Re:How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
by politician on Monday May 24, 2021 @10:53AM
(#27265056)
Are you saying that it's not intuitive for the end user to press Cmd-G, type ~, and then click OK to land in a "home" folder where the majority of the important configuration files are hidden by default?
The majority of configuration files should not be edited directly, but changed by changing settings in the app preferences. So that seems consistent with the philosophy on the Mac - don't work with files and the file system directly, but let the appropriate app take care of it as far as possible. Same with music and photos.
I understand the reasoning for protecting the end user, but like UAC in Windows, or Developer Mode options in Android, you should be able to disable these protections. If I want to run a binary, I want to run that binary.