[fryke]

Hm... This thread made me notice that I don't really 'use' the Documents folder, either. From my first Mac experience on, the desktop was my friend (and clutter, of course).

But I guess if you're a) coming from Windows or b) trying to _do_ what Apple wants, i.e. actually use the Documents folder, it's just bad practice how some apps handle that. I think *"Roxio Converted Items" from Toast* is okay. That's actually user documents, isn't it.

If I ask myself why developers put stuff in the user's Documents folder, the answer is rather simple. They can choose Application Support in the Library, but that - to users - might seem sneaky. So they choose the Documents folder which _shows_ you what an app is doing.

Just an example: Garage Band puts - at installation time - more than 2 GB of data into my Library. When I'm trying to find the files that use too much space and I only look at my Desktop and Documents folder, those don't show up. (That's part of why I'm using OmniDiskSweeper to find such culprits.)

I guess there's no real solution to the problem. Putting stuff in Documents has pros and cons, using the Library has pros and cons. Were Apple to create two Documents folders (one for the user, one for the apps), we would cry 'inconsistent interface', too, probably, because there already _is_ the Application Support in Library.

The one thing a user can do now is - as suggested - to create your own folder structure outside the dreaded Documents folder.