Mavericks Finder - how default to "double click opens new window"?

I think we need to modify "on any Mac" to "on some Macs" because my MacBook Pro finder preferences does not include the "open folders in new tabs" line to click on or off - it no is there!

Oops, yes it does, the "open folders in new tabs" choice is there to unclick, but doing so does not change the behavior of the action. By the way, according to Applespeak, I was hoping to open the doc, folder, whatever, into a new "space", which is another way of saying the window will open in it's own "desktop". That was my intent, at least.

As noted throughout this topic, the new way (which persists through Sierra) is to hold the Option key and double click on a folder to open it in its own folder window rather than as a tab. The only way around that is to first press Command+Option+T, which will close the top and side bars of a folder. Then any folder you double click within that folder will open in its own window without having to hold a modifier key.

ugh; thanks for the info, but that is so totally opposite to what I am used to doing that it will take a while for me to adjust. Suggestion to any Apple folks listening/reading: please make that Command + Option + T choice a menu option in Finder so that some of us can run that way all the time! Or, better, to let us choose which is the default, which is the option + double click.

please make that Command + Option + T choice a menu option in Finder so that some of us can run that way all the time!

If you close all Finder windows except one, then set it to Hide the sidebar and Hide the Toolbar, then close it.

All new windows will open like that and double-clicking a folder will open it in a new window.

Yes, it all depends on the user and how they prefer to use an OS. Having started using the Mac OS full time (after years of DOS/Windows) with OS 8.5, list view is how I got used to using the Mac OS. I've always found icon view to be clumsy and a waste of screen space. When you press Command+Option+T, the file window looks just like OS 9 and earlier. Though to get the full pre-OS X look, you choose View > Show Status Bar (or press Command+/). You only need to do this once. After that, all folder windows will show this info. At the top with no side or top bar open, and at the bottom if they are.

I've truly never found the side or top bar information useful. Applications? I can get there by pressing Command+Shift+A from the desktop. The desktop itself? C'mon! Seriously? Just click anywhere on the desktop you can see behind your open Finder windows.

I wish I could tell you why Apple makes some decisions in a "My way or the highway." manner. What's wrong with a simple check box to let the user decide how they want the folders to behave? Given that this hasn't happened or changed through three more major OS releases, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.

Thanks, Kurt, and Barney, for helping me with this. My last Mac ran Mountain Lion, 10.8.5, so I am totally new to this new way of doing things—and other commenters are right about the phrasing of the checkbox being misleading, at least IMHO. The “my way or the highway” attitude has been expanding in Apple for years; it is absolutely contrary to the first days of Apple, but I risk being an seen as an old curmudgeon by saying so. (Hmm, just went to the Dashborad to check spelling—one piece of feedback to which Apple did pay attention is the request to bring back the transparent dashboard; yea!)