“There are probably a lot of features and functions that Apple could — and probably will — add to OS X. But we’re not pointing out missing features; we’re focusing on 15 of the little things already in OS X that need refinement or rethinking based on our everyday use of Macs.” More here.
15 Things Apple Should Change in Mac OS X
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSAlert.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
open the d@mn3d kernel thing for GNU-Darwin. If Apple wants to get money GNU-Darwin, no problem. Put a price and open it. I have no problem to buy the (real) open source kernel + GNU userland at the same price as MacOSX. GNU-Darwin is superb and open. Even if it runs on an Epia MII with LinuxBios (for ease of Apple developers).
Edited 2006-12-15 00:22
Unfortunately for you, the rest of the world is concerned about usability when it comes to computers rather than petty FSF/GNU/whatever politics.
I have to disagree about the date not being displayed…I don’t constantly say “gee what’s the date today?”…If I need to know, I tend to remember it for the rest of the day.
If I need the date I can click on the clock, or press F12 and get the calendar in the default Dashboard setup.
I don’t see why its so important that they don’t display it constantly.
I tend to agree, but then there is always that first time when I don’t know what date it is because I haven’t bothered looking for days.
Dashboard is a great program, but I’d like something up by the clock to show the date (something along the lines of Gnome’s clock/date). There is plenty of room for it. Just put it there and make everybody happy.
When Apple doesn’t deliver, someone else does :
http://www.objectpark.net/mcc.html
The unregistered version will make you happy.
Just replace finder with Pathfinder.
Finder needs a lot of work. I think OS X needs something along the lines of Nautilus. At least that would be my preference.
pathfinder is a nice application….. however…. it still feel like a third party app!
apple need to build a new advanced finder that blows the doors off everything else! they could really show off OSXs “CORE” features with a new finder! make is super fast, super flexable, mega multithreaded, smart eyecandy every where, lighting fast thumb nail rendering, easily accessable visual command line tools. customizable….
i am sick of the current state of the FINDER… it is embarrassing to use as an OSX user… i mean… it not that bad…. but it definatly does not show off OSXs reall power!
>>10. Accessing Applications. The Dock offers a great way to show running applications and the programs you launch most often. But what about those applications you use only once in a while? The way it is now, you can either jam the Dock so full with program icons it’s ridiculous or keep the Dock clean and then open a Finder window and drill down into the Applications folder to launch lesser-used apps
I am very much used to Alt+F2 in linux.I recently bought a Macbook and the main frustration was going to Applications folder to launch an application (I like to keep the dock clean). But with googling, I found about QuickSilver, which made my life a lot easier.
Also with Mac, I am forced to use mouse a lot of times for lot of things. And I really hate it. I hope Apple keeps power users in perspective in future feature implementations.
Alt+F2 in Linux = Command+Space in Mac. Just type the first three letters of the program in that box, hit down, then enter. I like it much better than Alt+F2, because Alt+F2 doesn’t work unless you know the exact name of the program (ie. a program might have -bin attached to the end or something).
I don’t know about your “Alt+F2” or which app is responsible for it, but there are several hotkey triggered app starters which support tab completing, like the one accompaning fluxbox.
Perhaps you want to try out something else then yours and just remap your accelerator to that one
I think he’s referring to spotlight…but on my mac it was originally command-space but i remapped it to ctrl-space and use quicksilver as my application launcher.
And I think he is saying Alt-F2 is the “run” dialog in Gnome.
Edited 2006-12-15 01:26
Are you sure? It auto-completes for me in GNOME. (not just applications I have previously used).
I doubt Apple will ever keep power users as a main perspective ever. Power user’s at the type of people that install their own little utilities to make the system exactly how they like it.
If all these little “power” utilities or abilities are added to the OS then you start to run into the supposed KDE problem of being too bloated and one of the main reasons for using Mac OS (simplicity) is somewhat lost.
I never understood why certain power users pick on an OS. I just find an OS to use and I add to it, customize it, research it. I mean that’s what we do. If an OS come with all of that installed already wouldn’t we be losing part of our “power”?
15. No Date Display
The KDE clock is just about perfect in this respect. If I hover over it, I get a pop up with the date. In addition, you can add a list of different time zones to this display and these display under the date. A click brings up the calender. I haven’t investigated this calender much to see what the PIM integration is like.
11. Managing Window Size.
Another perk of KDE (and Linux WMs in general) is that you can customize to add whatever configuration of window controls you want.
7. Inconsistent User Interface.
Linux is probably the worst OS for this. However, I know that it is a sacrifice that means that I can run Gnome apps on my KDE desktop etc. I sometimes which that KDE/Gnome could co operate so that an app used your the file requesters etc native to your DE.
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh.
More parts of the OS being aware of the current status of file system objects is one of the nice things I’ve noticed since returning to Linux this year. For example, if I re-export a PDF from Lyx, KPDF seems to know that the file has been updated and reloads the doc. Kate (text ed) seems to also know if a file has been altered since it was loaded. Lots of neat surprises like this to be had.
7. Inconsistent User Interface.
Linux is probably the worst OS for this. However, I know that it is a sacrifice that means that I can run Gnome apps on my KDE desktop etc. I sometimes which that KDE/Gnome could co operate so that an app used your the file requesters etc native to your DE.
Within the same desktop GNOME or KDE, “Linux” is pretty consistant, so I disagree that Linux is the worst OS for this.
Take a look a XP, notice how different WMP looks from IE. Notice how different IE6 and IE7 look and act from each other. How consistent is the new Microsoft Office with all the other XP-applications.
Even Microsoft, the company that made the OS can manage to keep consistent UI.
In my, somewhat biased opinion, XP has the worst UI consistency of all the desktops I’ve tried.
Yes, UI inconsistency is bad. Just because windows has this problem as well, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid criticism of OSX.
While I see some of these points as valid, there are some that I just think are picking at straws and that implementing your suggested changes would go against the key of the Mac OS….it’s simplicity.
Being able to resize a window on all 4 corners takes away the ability to drag a window by it’s title bar without fear of resizing. I know when I use Windows sometimes I’ll resize without wanting to, or I’ll end up moving a window when I wanted to resize.
Or the example with having a second or third dock come out. Added complexity. If there are programs that you rarely use and clicking once on the Applications folder and then double clicking your App is too hard then you might have lazy issues. Look at windows, Start–> Programs –> Specific Program Folder –> Program. Already you have half the steps!!
The whole cutting a file thing I think was a mistake by Microsoft. Apple’s OS has always let you do amazing things by drag and drop…such as dragging a file, hovering over a folder and having that folder open. It’s very easy and visual. Cutting a file, then doubble clicking elsewhere as pasting it is just, well, weird in my opinion. If you want to move a file, then just move it. Don’t start applying word processing techniques to files!
The shutdown option. Atleast you can click shutdown and then have it shutdown…even if it takes 2 minutes. On Windows or Linux you click a “Shut down” button, and then have to click a button again regardless, so I’m not really sure what the gripe is here except for the fact that the author sees a countdown with too a big a number for his liking.
I mean really, ya…what you listed are gripes but in comparison they are still easy, simple, and ahead of the game in the way computers are used.
Resizing by any place on the border is a good thing, accidental resizing doesn’t happen in Windows or Linux with Gnome/KDE because of thick visible border. OSX went with no borders at all and added a shadow, this is the thing that’s really stopping them from adding this feature IMO.
Application management in OSX is horrible. If you want to stay sane you have to create some folders for categories of programs. Dock looks cool but limits amount of information it can feed to you, once again it’s because Apple decided to go with cool looks.
What’s wrong with cutting a file? It’s visual too, I cut it, it goes to the clipboard, I paste it (where do you double click to paste btw?), it goes from the clipboard to the destination.
If you want to start a click war – I’ll respond.
Gnome/KDE:
-Click a shutdown button on a panel
-Choose an option to log out, reboot, shutdown etc
OSX:
-Click Apple button
-Select log out, reboot, shutdown
-Confirm with another click or wait 2 minutes
I think that original OSX design is backfiring at Apple, it looks cool and is very easy at first but then when you want to do something a bit more complicated it’s often impossible. People often criticize Gnome for being too dumbed down but I think they really should take a look at OSX
If you want to start a click war – I’ll respond.
Gnome/KDE:
-Click a shutdown button on a panel
-Choose an option to log out, reboot, shutdown etc
OSX:
-Click Apple button
-Select log out, reboot, shutdown
-Confirm with another click or wait 2 minutes
I think that original OSX design is backfiring at Apple, it looks cool and is very easy at first but then when you want to do something a bit more complicated it’s often impossible.
No, its actually more direct in OS X:
Non “power user ;-)” version:
1. Select Shutdown from the Apple menu (1 click)
2. Press return
Total time: about a second
Power user version:
1. Select Shutdown from the Apple menu while holding down the option key
2. There is no step 2.
The same applies for Restart. As for Sleep, there is only step 1.
Extra Power User Mode:
CTRL-ALT-CMD-EJECT (instant shutdown, no questions asked)
Using other combinations (ctrl-cmd-eject) will result in other effect, namely reboot and sleep (can’t remember now and I don’t want to try, since I don’t do that very often, i just “close the lid”).
….results in an instant kernel panic on my Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz 12″ (PowerBook6,8)….
So far this has been the easiest way to crash this machine, not to say the only way so far….
Why not resize on corners and drag on borders?
The only problems I can think of are in the cases of:
defining where a corner ends and a border begins
What to do with really tiny windows
Actually, Gnome’s shutdown dialog shuts down automatically after 60 seconds, as well as logout, if you don’t choose a more specific action.
Also, it shows the date on its panel as well, cut and paste works properly (the option is there, why shouldn’t it work on a Mac?)
I also find that many people using Macs accidentally move windows because any blank area on the window moves it, so if you’re a little bit off from a button and click, a lot of times the window gets moved a little bit. Its fun watching people in the computer lab here try to use the Macs when all the Windows and Linux machines are full, they try to click Print and the window moves, lol. Apple really needs to define a titlebar for the sake of usability.
15. No Date Display.
This point is just dumb, almost as dumb as this: “Apple [should] add a basic six-digit date area to the main menu-bar clock. It might read Dec-07, or for outside the U.S., 07-Dec.“ (!)
10. Accessing Applications.
They offer a good, if obvious, solution: adding the Applications folder to the dock, to access the unused apps via a pop-up menu and I think having it there by default as they suggest could help new users. Nonetheless, it was already announced the new version of Spotlight in Leopard will be optimized to serve as an application launcher, in the same style as QuickSilver. It already can be used for that purpose, but in its current form it lacks the instant/smart results that make other app launchers so convenient.
9. Backspace and Delete Keys.
I agree 100%. I have the enter key on my MacBook remapped to serve as a forward delete, using DoubleCommand.
7. Inconsistent User Interface.
I disagree. The apps mentioned are only visually inconsistent, but completely consistent in the way they work. I like different apps to be recognizable, particularly when using Exposé. I’m not saying every app should have its own weird interface, but a bit of “uniqueness” doesn’t hurt, as long as interface conventions are maintained.
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh.
Except for one extremely annoying exception, the Finder does an excellent job refreshing changes, ever since Spotlight was introduced. Now, my pet peeve: how hard would it be to have the “free space” indicator shown below each disk in the desktop update?? (in the desktop, press command+J, select “Show item info”) If you open any window, it shows the correct value in the status bar, and it even updates in real time, yet the value shown in the desktop *never* updates!? WHY?
yet the value shown in the desktop *never* updates!? WHY?
True, although it will update if you logout/login.
This “bug” was also present in Panther.
I agree on 7, that’s absolutely where I stand.
simply begin the drag n drop process as usual, but before drop hold down command key, then let it go once you find the destination, boom instant move.
From the “Readers’ pet peeves”:
1. Over-protective Shutdown Error Trapping
See my post above.
2. Renaming Isn’t Easy. The process of renaming files is highly mouse-centric on the Mac. There’s no F2 option (as there is on Windows) that lets you select the file and press F2 to expose the filename-editing mode.
How long has either the author of the article or the reader who posted this been using a Mac??? To rename a file, just press return, it does exactly the same as pressing F2 in Windows.
You’re right, i’ve also been shocked to see that “Renaming Isn’t Easy” thing.
However …
However, i discovered this shortcut after several months using a mac, and i told it to a colleague that renaming file made upset two or three times a day, every day. He did not knew it. He looked at me like if i were the messiah. He is a mac fan since more than 15 years …
“Enter” shortcut exists but is not a good choice. Definitely.
Edit: Quote entities correction : previewed right, final display wrong.
Edited 2006-12-15 10:02
15. date display, there is a simple way around this
go to the international control panel, and select formats, under dates, select month and date, copy them, switch to the times section, and paste it in there. mine now says Thu Dec 14 / 6:02 pm
14. i know it’s not as simple, but if you enable to debug option in dashboard, you can click and hold a widget whilst you close dashboard and it will stay on your desktop.
10. just put your applications folder in the dock. click and hold and its like a start menu. or, quicksilver as a launcher, or spotlight, though i think the folder in the dock is the easiest option.
reader pet peeve:
2. type the first few letters of the file you wish to rename, the file is highlighted, press return, type in new name. no mouse required
Regarding your date display tip… is this meant to change the appearance of the clock in the menu bar?
Because it hasn’t worked for me.
Any ideas?
Cheers Daniel
ah, yes, my description was probably poor
here is a link better describing how
http://creativebits.org/mac_os_x/date_and_time_in_the_menubar
There is a free app called Namely that I use to launch apps. I press F1 and type the app name…boom, it launches. You can change the hot key to anything you want.
Overflow is nice too, since you can use a key (ESC) by default to bring it and by using the keyboard you can start writting the app name…
What does opening the code have to do with usability? Are you implying that by keeping the code as closed, the resulting software inherently becomes more usable?
Three of those peeves are with the columns view in the finder… the last one in particular has me puzzled.
This: A third problem can occur when the Column view Finder window opens as part of an application dialog. In this setting, as you tunnel down a deep folder hierarchy, you may find that the left side of the Finder window has been pushed off the screen.
combined with this:It also scrolls to the right automatically as you click into each succeeding level.
makes me think that somehow, in columns view the finder window is physically resized (or slid to the left so the new folder tree name is still directly under your cursor?
Is that really what happens?
Oh, and to whomever pointed out the renaming shortcut- I guess I always associate ‘enter’ with ‘go’ or ‘launch’; I would have expected ‘enter’ to open the file, not rename it. That’s the way DOS, Linux, Windows, and everything else I can recall using launches stuff.
One of my biggest grips that apple hasn’t fixed is launching multiple instances of an app.
Say you have some Safari windows open. You have minimized them to clear the screen. Then you realize you need another fresh one. So you click on the safari icon in the dock. What happens? It brings up one of your minimized window! Only a moron would think this is how things should work. Clicking on the app icon should launch a new window, or if for an app like itunes just bring it up (which it does now). But for browsers and other document type apps. If you hit the app icon, clearly you want a new window. If you wanted the one you already had open but minimized, you would click on it. Drives me nuts. At least in Tiger apple added a right click option to get one. Better then the old of launching a minimized window, then having to open a new window from that, then minimize the old.
Additionally, get some New Window and New Tab buttons on the interface.
Another improvement would be to let users individually select which mounted disks show up on their desktop. Many people have FW drives and so forth attached to their computer, they don’t care to see them on their desktop. But they do want to see things like mounted CDroms, maybe their iPod and such. Let people have an options menu to select by the device, not by a general type of device, which you get all or nothing.
Oh, and one last on, it’s very minor, but it would be real nice since it’s been a problem since the beginnings of Safari. FIX THE FREAKING MEMORY LEAK ALREADY!! How many years has it been? Having a browser that from a few days to as short as a few hours is sucking away gigs of ram is not acceptable. Fix it already.
Say you have some Safari windows open. You have minimized them to clear the screen. Then you realize you need another fresh one. So you click on the safari icon in the dock. What happens? It brings up one of your minimized window! Only a moron would think this is how things should work. Clicking on the app icon should launch a new window, or if for an app like itunes just bring it up (which it does now). But for browsers and other document type apps. If you hit the app icon, clearly you want a new window. If you wanted the one you already had open but minimized, you would click on it. Drives me nuts. At least in Tiger apple added a right click option to get one. Better then the old of launching a minimized window, then having to open a new window from that, then minimize the old.
Clicking on an App’s icon should launch the App. Opening a window is a separate operation. You can do a cmd+n, hold the mouse on the dock icon or right click to get a context menu to launch a icon or select file-> new window.
In OS X you can hide an App with cmd+h, clicking the icon unhides the app. If clicking the icon launched new windows there would be no what to unhide a hidden app. The behavior you describe is symmetric to the unhide behavior.
No I think he’s talking about the particular case where you have the app already running, but all its windows are minimized.
In that particular circumstance, it’s a pretty sure bet that the user wants a new document rather than to re-open a minimized window. If they wanted a minimized one, they’d click it in the Dock.
Exactly!
Well this was obviously written by an open minded Windows user! Excellent to see. Nearly all of the points made are the reasons I can’t stand using OSX. Problem is you either have to put up with it or install an add-on package to work around/fix it. Not on. Everyone loves OSX when they know nothing else. Since I have used everthing else I have not once said “oh thats a good idea – i like this” with OSX. Never. With many WManagers if you don’t like it – change it! OSX – live with it! Was contemplating slapping KDE on OSX but whats the point? Like another poster said – Darwin is strangled by Apple so theres nothing left worth bothering about here.
do you think mac apps will be improved with kde? I mean, once you go that route, you’re going to run into even more problems.
How strange ! I love OS X because I have used everything else ! That said, I don’t think it’s perfect, oh no. And I have found many good ideas in other WMs that I would like to see in the Mac UI, and vice versa.
“Nearly all of the points made are the reasons I can’t stand using OSX. Problem is you either have to put up with it or install an add-on package to work around/fix it.”
So, your argument here is that you don’t like the way OSX behaves… you want to change it, but you can’t? But you mention you can.
“With many WManagers if you don’t like it – change it! OSX – live with it! ”
So you argument is that installing or fixing things manually is too much work or takes too much time? Your answer? Run Linux? (chuckles).
Last time I checked a WM was just a WM, not a full desktop environment. At least compare OSX to Gnome/KDE/XFCE/Windows.
When’s the last time someone could change the way resizing works in windows by just going to the control panel? Never.
I don’t like Explorer’s behavior? How can I fit that? By installing a third-party replacement? Too much work – your argument.
I’ve used everything else. OSX is the best OS I’ve ever used. That’s my opinion of course. It’s far from perfect, just like every other OS I’ve used.
I can customize OSX to behave the way I want if desired. OSX is the only OS that works the way I want it to *out of the box*.
Congrats your a true believer. I have stated no arguments, interpret my view anyway you like. Whatever makes you feel good inside.
You can have dashboard widgets on the desktop, however it only appears one at a time will work right now. Press F12 to activate dashboard and then go act like you’re adding a widget to your dashboard. Instead of releasing the mouse as you drag the widget onto the dashboard, hold the mouse button down and then press F12 to close dashboard. The widget will now stay on the desktop.
Don’t mess with Dashboard, it’s the only widget system I don’t hate!
In addition to some of the posts here that”solve” the non-Mac users “complaints”, the following sites are full of tweaks and mods to make OS X and Safari do what the article and some of the posters here want.
http://www.macosxhints.com/
http://www.versiontracker.com/
http://homepage.mac.com/tconkling/windowdragon/
http://www.jydesign.com/safari/
http://www.google.com
As to the article….. Big Yawn! To those who want a world of “vanilla” UI’s, a big “Whatever”. Customize your UI as you like. If you don’t think something can’t be done, you haven’t bother looking for it.
Mac Power Users know better, just like KDE/Gnome and Windows Power Users do.
“10. Accessing Applications. The Dock offers a great way to show running applications and the programs you launch most often. But what about those applications you use only once in a while? The way it is now, you can either jam the Dock so full with program icons it’s ridiculous or keep the Dock clean and then open a Finder window and drill down into the Applications folder to launch lesser-used apps.”
What I do, is this:
1) Make a folder called “Quicklaunch” in my home directory.
2) Fill it with aliases of applications that I only use occasionally.
3) Drag this folder on to my dock.
Then you can right-click on the dock icon and select the program you want from the list. Easy!
Wow – sounds a bit like the much reviled Start Menu.
While I might agree on a few of the listed points, I want to clear up the following misinformed points.
(Reader Peeves 2) “Renaming Isn’t Easy. The process of renaming files is highly mouse-centric on the Mac. There’s no F2 option (as there is on Windows) that lets you select the file and press F2 to expose the filename-editing mode.”
Yes, yes. Just pressing ENTER is indeed highly mouse-centric.
(8) “Printer Setup. The process of configuring printers in OS X is confusing. It’s almost as if Steve Jobs never actually tried this himself, because the way the printer-configuration screens work is quite un-Mac-like. Apple, you can do better than this.”
While YMMV, I must say that setting up a printer on a Mac (including shared ones) have proven to be significantly more straightforward than on any other OS I’ve come across (and that’s quite a few).
(12) “Documents and App Instances on the Dock. The Dock does an excellent job of launching and tracking launched applications. Its only weakness is tracking launched document windows and program instances. While it is possible to right-click a running program on the Dock to see and select among open windows associated with that program, that’s the only way you can check this — and some applications don’t support it. We’ll say it again: Context menus should never be the only UI for accessing something. The Dock is elegant in all other regards, and even a little ingenious. But in this one way, it falls down.”
This is just poor research. Try clicking an icon on the dock without releasing the button and you’ll see the exact same contect menu.
I guess the author never discovered F10 either!
Group Selecting Items from a List is Counter Intuitive in Finder (and Mail, Address Book, …)
Does anybody else suffer with me on this one?…
When you are group selecting items from a list with shift – such as a list of emails in Mail or and list of files/folders in Finder or names in Address Book – the selecting behaviour seems very wrong.
Try this… take Finder, in single column mode, and go to a folder that has a few files in it. Select an item (file or folder) with a single click near the middle so that it’s highlighted (blue). Now hold down the shift key and arrow up so that a bunch of files get selected (blued).
Now say you’ve gone too far and you want to come back on yourself. What’s the most intuitive thing to do? You continue holding down the shift key and simply start pressing the down arrow key to deselect, right? Wrong!
That action (hitting a shifted down arrow) will select those items below the first item that you highlighted. Now, that’s what I call really counter intuitive and very confusing. In effect, the cursor has jumped in hyper-space when you switch arrow keys.
Is this the best way of describing the problem?
Cheers Daniel
I’ve added this to http://www.daha.co.uk/daha/Apple_Mac_OS_X_Wish_List in vain hope.
Completely agree. The article is a yawner.
I move between Linux and OSX without any difficulty.
Some people have `WAY` too much spare time on their hands to gripe about cosmetic issues.
For the times when extended desktop for some reason or the other is no option, I’d love to see Apple implement an ‘opposite letterbox’ option that’d give me the opportunity to view the same output on two screens simultaneously (or rather a monitor and a projector) no matter the resolution of both…
For instance, I have a 23″ flat panel that’s 1680×1050 px but a typical projector still only sports 1280×1024 at most… This makes screen mirroring very uncomfortable, since either the projector or the monitor will have either perfect or terrible image quality due to the difference in resolutions.
Now, if Apple introduced an option to constrain the proportions of my main monitor’s resolutions to e.g. 1280×1024 px at the correct 5:4 aspect ratio and added black bars vertically like a 16:9 TV would do for proper 4:3 display, I’d be able to see the same crisp, well proportioned image on both monitor and projector at the same time…
Seriously though, who still navigates folders or even puts app icons in their docks to get to their applications? What is wrong with spotlight as a launcher? If that is not fast nor powerfull enough for you what about LaunchBar? I bet I can launch apps faster than you can reach for your mouse. When I dont have open apps, my dock is empty. Get with the times people.
Just about everyone launches the way you think no one does.
I never use spotlight, it’s a horrible concept. Search tools are for the internet when you have no way to know where stuff is. Using spotlight to launch an app is about like searching google for “cnn.com”, only a idiot would do that over just going directly to cnn.com
plus few people every have to “reach for their mouse” since they have a hand on the mouse at all times. Having to reach for the keyboard is more of an issue.
I never use spotlight, it’s a horrible concept. Search tools are for the internet when you have no way to know where stuff is. Using spotlight to launch an app is about like searching google for “cnn.com”, only a idiot would do that over just going directly to cnn.com
For launching an application, what’s the basic difference between typing in the application name in the spotlight search bar or typing it in a terminal window? The only difference really is that you have to select a search result.
If using Quicksilver, it’s even faster. It takes me literally 2 seconds to fire up iTunes, just by pressing ctrl-space and typing “itunes” and pressing enter.
Having to browse through the applications folder these days or to keep all your apps in the dock is just old fashioned.
Discovering that WIN+R brought up the Run command in Windows, and remapping all my KDE desktops to do the same, has been the greatest timesaver ever.
My most often used applications are in a quick launch bar as icons. Almost all other apps are launched via the Run dialog. It’s great.
However, having a menu to fall back on is nice, and is something I’ve missed on all the Macs I’ve tried using. Sometimes it’s nice to just browse around looking at what’s available without having to click the mouse button more than once or to have to hold the button down. And having a keyboard shortcut to bring up an application menu is even nicer.
But, so long as an interface is customisable, and I can make things work the way I want them to, then it really doesn’t matter what the defaults are.
– On Macbook Pro (don’t know for other laptops), the function keys should work as function keys by default and as laptop hardware control (e.g. brightness) only when Fn is pressed, and NOT the other way round.
– Two-finger-scrolling should work also when you are dragging an item. This is especially annoying in finder when you’d have to scroll to make a folder visible where you want to drop files.
– Shutting the lid while the laptop is shutting down the OS should not make it go to sleep mode (and complete the OS shutdown when opened again), but simply complete the OS shutdown and ignore the lid.
– ctrl-click in spotlight should do the same as ctrl-click in finder (i.e. open the file context menu), and not the same as a normal click in spotlight (ie. open the file with an application).
There was another point I had in mind but I forgot it…
>>the function keys should work as function keys by default and as laptop hardware control (e.g. brightness) only when Fn is pressed<<
You can do that! Look in the System Preferences. I can’t remember the exact location and name of the checkbox (I have a desktop Mac, so the option is not available), but I think it is under ‘Keyboard & Mouse’ -> ‘Keyboard’. Check it out.
Thanks! I looked there once but strangely didn’t find it. Anyway I think this should be selected by default to be consistent with non-laptops.
15. Date: “For all their convenience features, one of the most obvious data points that neither the Mac nor Windows quite does properly is your basic readout of today’s date”
Has Windows gotten worse since 2000, then?
I personally don’t see how a tooltip with extra info is not the ideal way to do it, since such info is not needed more than once a day.
On calendars, I have no opinion at all.
11. Managing Window Size.
I never had any trouble here, and think he wanted 15 really bad. I actually like that there’s not an ambiguous title bar space (as far as rapid mouse movements go).
10. Accessing Applications.
You can get a programs menu by dragging the Applications folder into the dock, and that also gives descriptions, not just icons. I found this on I think my second day using a Mac.
But I wouldn’t be happy because I’m already running too many things up there and It’s taking too much room. I have quicksilver, virtuedesktops, tunnelblick, the wifi icon, the volume stuff and my battery…oh and the time. I don’t want more up there so putting the date there wouldn’t make everyone happy.
Instead you can hit f12 and in less than 2 seconds get the date that you need. Gnome’s clock solution works for gnome. But Gnome is not mac osx, i wouldn’t complain about a hover if they did that, but constantly putting the date up there would be a complete waste of space.