[TriangleJuice]

While I don't like it that there are developers not respecting Apple's guidelines, I always kept using my Documents folder.
The trick I use is adding one (or more) spaces to my folders' names. This makes these folders come at the top of the column view list.

[whitedog]

If you want confusion, just try and find all the Adobe installed files on your system - assuming you use more than Adobe Reader. I have five Adobe related folders in my Documents folder alone and others in the Library and ~/Library folders, including the Applications Support and Preferences folders in both. Perhaps there are just so many choices in OS X that functional distinctions get blurred.
My biggest problem tutoring clients is getting them to use any filing system at all. While the Documents folder may get cluttered, if I can't get them to use it their personal files end up scattered all over the place, including the root level of their hard drive, the Desktop and in the application folders of the programs used to create the files. This, of course, makes it hard for people to find files when they need them.
So, with an eye to simplicity, I try to get them to put their files in the Documents folder. I suggest creating sub-folders for organizing specific kinds of data but at some point you have to leave it up to them. Everyone has different priorities and work habits.
In the Home folder the various default folders - Pictures, Music, Movies, etc., are there for iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie and so on, if you use them. Many people don't, so I emphasize the Documents folder.
For seasoned Mac users, like those who read and post to these forums /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif, moving out of the Documents folder may be an excellent idea; for instance, most of my data (except music) is on secondary drives, not my boot drive. Like many of you (and Rob and Dan) my Documents folder is chock-a-block with junk from all the software I use on my system so I rarely go there except when I'm troubleshooting some app that stores things in it.

[Nobody]

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For some time now I've always created 3 partitions: System, Applications, Documents. I put all documents I create into the Documents partition, including all music and pictures, etc. I almost completely ignore all the directories in the User folder.
My main reasons were so that my wife could access all the files when she logged in (we have no secrets - barf!), and someone convinced me that it's useful to not have personally created files on the same drive as the virtual memory.
However, occasionally this seems to cause weird behavior, especially with permissions on the Documents partition.

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Partitioning a hard drive into three will not help with virtual memory. Will be worse. It is still one drive. Not three. All the platters and overall system performance will be slower since everything runs from the same drive platters (virtually) at the same time - the operating system, the application(s), the file(s), the virtual memory - this in addition to RAM limitations - if any.
Instead - get more hard drives - sample (desktop Mac Pro):
Hard drive 1 (int) 160GB or more: OS X / applications only.
Hard drive 2 (int) 500GB or more (RAID1 optional): Personal files.
Hard drive 3 (int) 80GB-160GB: Virtual memory only. Don't store anything. Fastest RPM avail.
Hard drive 4 (ext) 500GB or more (RAID1 optional): Backup Personal files.
Hard drive 5 (ext) 500GB or more (RAID1 optional): Backup Personal files.
No drives partitioned = OS/apps/files less affected by hard drive mechanical limitations.
All drives at least 7200RPM.
RAM = 2GB - 4GB minimum. Processor speed = less important for hard drive happiness.
Time Machine will also add some of these requirements - soon.
And yes - ditch the Documents folder also for the reasons listed above. Don't use Hard drive 1 for storage of any personal files.
Bjorn

[kevinashworth]

Is there a way to make the icon of a new Documents-like folder to be the same as the Documents folder? Copy/paste on folder info yields a blue folder with documents icon in the middle, but I'd like to have the documents icon without the blue folder.

[DrRippStudwell]

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"So, with an eye to simplicity, I try to get them to put their files in the Documents folder. I suggest creating sub-folders for organizing specific kinds of data but at some point you have to leave it up to them. Everyone has different priorities and work habits."

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I do this as well but at home I took it one step further and shut off hard drive icons on the desktop and Sidebar and replaced them with an alias to the user's Home folder and set the new finder window keyboard shortcut to open to Home. I also place an alias to the Documents folder in the Dock for each user. True, they can still get to other directories but this encourages them to use their individual Home directories and sub folders and so far has worked at keeping the Hard Drive and other directories uncluttered.

[griffman]

What color are your other folders? Aren't they all blue? I'm a bit confused by the question...copying and pasting the existing icon from Documents will give you that same exact icon on another folder. But it seems that's not what you want?
-rob.

[hargreae]

When you drag the Documents folder to the Sidebar or Toolbar, the icon used is two white pieces of paper with folded corners. But if you copy the actual icon from the Documents folder (blue folder with white papers image) and paste it onto a "My Documents" folder, the icon that appears in the Sidebar or Toolbar for "My Documents" will not be the two pieces of white paper, and will instead be the blue folder with the image of two pieces of paper.

[griffman]

Unfortunately, those icons (Pictures, etc. too) seem to be a special feature of the sidebar -- something's happening in the Finder to tip the sidebar off that those are special folders, and it then substitutes its own icon.
About the best you could do would be to take a screencap (shift-cmd-ctrl-4) of the icon with the sidebar at its largest possible size, then paste that.
Nicer looking, though, would be to go to interfacelift.com or theiconfactory.com and find a Documents icon you like /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
-rob.

[DrRippStudwell]

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I refuse to let the developers of dumb applications chase me away from my Documents folder.
Instead, I simply make their pollution hidden by hiding all those rogue folders.
I use the developer tool utility SetFile to do this, but there are probably dozens of GUI utilities available for those needing them.

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Thanks for the tip! I tried it and it worked like a charm. I tried using HideFolders but M$ Office just made a new folder to replace the hidden one. When hiding folders with SetFile this doesn't happen. I know that those who fear the Terminal will want a GUI tool to do this but I have not found one and for those who want to try it I thought I'd include the command.
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V /Users/user name/file path
Thanks again for mentioning this!

[Fixx]

Documents folder is so 1980's. Back in those days documents really could be stored in one folder without further structuring. Nowadays I have my job folders (named by customers) in the main level of the harddisk. Could be also at desktop but that slows mac down as desktop folders use more memory. But I hate when some apps doggedly keep offering documents folder as default.

[Dan Frakes]

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Documents folder is so 1980's. Back in those days documents really could be stored in one folder without further structuring. Nowadays I have my job folders (named by customers) in the main level of the harddisk. Could be also at desktop but that slows mac down as desktop folders use more memory. But I hate when some apps doggedly keep offering documents folder as default.

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Why not just put those folders in the main level of the Documents folder?

[Larand]

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I refuse to let the developers of dumb applications chase me away from my Documents folder.
Instead, I simply make their pollution hidden by hiding all those rogue folders.
I use the developer tool utility SetFile to do this, but there are probably dozens of GUI utilities available for those needing them.

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Thanks for the tip! I tried it and it worked like a charm. I tried using HideFolders but M$ Office just made a new folder to replace the hidden one. When hiding folders with SetFile this doesn't happen. I know that those who fear the Terminal will want a GUI tool to do this but I have not found one and for those who want to try it I thought I'd include the command.
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a V /Users/user name/file path
Thanks again for mentioning this!

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There's an even better solution than just hiding all that junk. I moved the Microsoft User Data folder from Documents to ~/Library/Application Support/ and renamed it Microsoft Crap. Then I created an alias to it which I renamed Microsoft User Data and put in the Documents folder. Then, using Path Finder, I made the alias invisible so I don't have to see it. Now, the data is stored in Application Support like God and Apple intended, my Documents folder is cleaned up, and it all still works correctly.

Of course, another solution is to avoid M$ Office and Entourage entirely in favor of Mail.app or Thunderbird and NeoOffice, but that's another thread...

[HandyMac]

When I set up a Mac (what I do for a living), I put a folder named "Archive" in the Home folder, and include this note in documentation I add:
"The Documents folder is like a computer version of a 'To Be Filed' tray on your desk; Ive set it to be sorted by date, so the newest document appears at the top of the list. I recommend moving documents from the Documents folder to other folders you create to store them (e.g. Clients, Correspondence, etc.), so you wont end up with a thousand unsorted documents in one big Documents folder. Ive put a folder named Archive in your user's home folder for this purpose; any pre-existing documents have been placed there."
I for one like the fact that new documents are (usually) saved by default in the Documents folder; that way they aren't strewn all over your disk, as they were back in the days before the Documents folder was invented (in 7.1, as I recall). However, I note that in TextEdit, if I Save As to make a copy of a document, the copy is saved in the same location as the original (when I'd usually prefer it to be put in the Documents folder, since I'm creating the copy for a different use than the original), and even worse, all subsequent new documents will be saved in that same location, until I manually tell TextEdit to go back to the Documents folder for new documents. Really dumb.
I make a special icon for the Archive folder (using a folder icon creator utility) with a TextEdit document on it. I also set cmd-N to go to the Home folder, and put the Documents folder in the Dock (in place of the default spring-loaded icon to go to the Apple site).
I agree that applications putting their own internal stuff in the Documents folder is a pain; I've noted Microsoft and AppleWorks, and others in this forum have noted Adobe -- all seem to be leftover Classic apps that have never been completely imported into OS X by developers who feel they're too important to bother meeting Apple guidelines. (Except for AppleWorks, whose total neglect I figure results from it not having been developed by the NeXT programmers who now staff Apple's development teams -- but who haven't felt inclined to offer us longtime Mac users a real replacement.)
I haven't studied Apple's developer guidelines, so I'm not sure why the ~/Library folder is such a mess. But if even Apple's programmers don't seem to be able to follow a consistent organizational plan, other developers can hardly be expected to do so.
As regards Apple Mail, I for one would like to see its "data" (which consists, after all, of documents that are created by me, not preference files or other application support stuff) in the Documents folder, which is where Eudora puts its mail. That way, if you back up at least the Documents folder you will have preserved your most important, current stuff.

[kevinashworth]

I found an IconFactory icon I like well enough in their "Aqua System" collection. Thanks for the idea!
One more question: Is there a way to get apple-N in the Finder to open the new folder and not Documents?