You can customize the size, position, and other view options of the window that clients see when they connect to a server volume via Apple File Service (AFP). You can do this on a per-volume basis.
To customize view options, follow these steps:
1. Log in to a client computer.
2. Using Connect to Server, connect to the target volume as the owner of the volume; the owner must not be an administrator account (see Notes 1, 2, and 3, below).
3. Make any desired changes to the window position, view mode (Icons, List, Columns), icon arrangement, or any of the settings found in View Options window (Command-J).
4. Disconnect from the server volume by dragging it to the Trash.
When you disconnect from the server volume, your changes are saved. Subsequently, all users will see that view of the server volume when they connect to it. Users may still make temporary changes that will persist on their computers for as long as they are connected to the volume. This will not affect the view options set by the owner, even if the other users have write access to the volume. These changes only affect remote users. If you view the volume locally at the server, these changes may not be seen.
Notes
1. For purpose of this document, "administrator account" refers to a user who can "administer the server", as indicated in the Accounts pane of Workgroup Manager.
2. Complying with these steps may mean changing the owner of the volume. You should not try to comply by deselecting "administer the server" when only one administrator account exists, since that may create a situation in which you have to fall back on the root account to reestablish your administrator status.
3. The requirement that you not log in with an administrator account assumes that the shared volume is a directory (folder) on one of the server's logical volumes (such as a disk). If the entire logical volume is being shared, then you may log in with an administrator account.
Background information
You cannot set persistent view options when logged in with an administrator account, because the window information for most folders is stored in a hidden file of that folder's enclosing folder (parent directory). So for folder B on volume A, the window information is stored in the root directory of volume A, not within folder B. When you log in via AFP to the server as an administrator, you will get all of volume A. Thus when you make changes to the window information for folder B, the changes are stored outside folder B. When other users log in, they do not see this information (since it is outside the share point), and they revert to a default view.
The exception to this rule is when the folder is a volume root. In this case, there is no parent directory, so all window information for the window of volume A itself is within volume A. When you mount folder B remotely as a non-administrator owner, it is seen as a volume root, so its behavior changes and it stores its own window information within itself.
Because the share point is a folder on the server that is seen as a volume by remote users, the window information is stored differently depending on whether you view it locally or remotely. Thus, the window may appear one way to remote users and another when you view it locally at the server.