Briefly: Apple offers developers new Leopard build - Page 2

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple previewed what it called a "near feature complete" version of Leopard, introducing previously "top secret" features such as a new 3D application dock and file "stacks."

Originally Posted by donebylee

Frogbat,

Have you had any time to play around with metadata in Leopard yet? I'm hoping for better support for tagging files and searches based on metadata. Any insight is greaty appreciated.

Originally Posted by macanoid

In the new build the 3D dock can rotate vertically with a cube-effect, similar that what we've seen in Keynote. This allows you to bring up a new dock, filled with new icons. Effectively creating workspaces for docks. Really useful. I would definitely call that top secret.

(just kidding of course )

Originally Posted by mr O

The new Finder is great though, very iTunes like.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I think it's bigger than Tiger. "200 features", but I went through the list and I don't think I've ever needed more than five of them. I think better screen rotation and ease of swapping mouse button order are the two features that I actually use. If I get Leopard, I am sure I'll use ZFS and Time Machine. Maybe the stack feature. I'm not sure if the iTunes-ized Finder is an improvement.

Originally Posted by debohun

The comment about the possibility that Apple's programming team may be over extended seems like it may be spot on. With that in mind, perhaps Apple needs to change some of their basic philosophy and start designing both the system and their apps to facilitate third party extensibility -- and to find a way to directly economically enfranchise third-party developers. The not-invented-here attitude is slowing things down to a snails pace, so they need to figure a way around it. There is no point in intentionally keeping your company small, if you aren't also going to keep it nimble.

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Welcome to the boards acslater. Great point. Leopard is a further refinement of what I believe is the best OS on the planet.

I cannot personally see an area that hasn't been touched in Leopard that vexes me in Tiger. The Finder is purportedly faster and doesn't hang with network mount/unmounts. It's a cleaner looking system and Spotlight has gotten more search options and polish.

I chuckle a bit when people state there is nothing they would use. Every OS upgrade has so many tweaks and improvements it's not just about the whizzbang features but about everything. I have a Core Duo...Leopard handles multiple cores better and Mail and Addressbook in Leopard will support the new nsoperation API. I'd like to know what is missing from Leopard. We have accelerated UI rendering now on a dedicated thread. We have Resolution Independence coming.

I'm impatient as well. I'm going to be moving to Leopard the first couple of weeks it is out.

Originally Posted by biggsjm

I'm suprised no one's thought about the fact that they are probably "borrowing" those key programmers to help with the update to the iPhone. Supposedly there's a huge update coming alongside leopard.

Its either that, or they have major issues. Is it me or is Leopard probably the lamest update (feature-wise) since OS 8.6 to OS 9. Tons of features! (But none you will actually use)!

Originally Posted by mr O

What do you mean?! I love time machine, but I am a bit affraid of the 3D arrows and the tubular things on the right side of the screen. Also, the green flurry (in the middle of the screen) is a bit of a concern

The new Finder is great though, very iTunes like.

Originally Posted by ascii

OS X used to look like it was designed by artists.

Originally Posted by ascii

I agree the Finder is improved, except for the disclosure triangles on the left, they waste a column. You should enable/disable the various sections in an inspector. But the GUI overall is going backwards.

Look at the icons at the top of Mail - they look homemade. Where is the commercial polish? This is not Linux. Look at the big imposing grey block at the top of the active window, totally overpowering the rest of it. Look at the tacky see through menu bar. OS X used to look like it was designed by artists.

Originally Posted by Abster2core

And where is your latest creation?

Originally Posted by djgamble

Personally I think lots of bugs is good. It means that the OS is probably feature-complete and just needs some bug fixing.

Originally Posted by ascii

I agree the Finder is improved, except for the disclosure triangles on the left, they waste a column. You should enable/disable the various sections in an inspector. But the GUI overall is going backwards.

Look at the icons at the top of Mail - they look homemade. Where is the commercial polish? This is not Linux. Look at the big imposing grey block at the top of the active window, totally overpowering the rest of it. Look at the tacky see through menu bar. OS X used to look like it was designed by artists.

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

I've stated my dislike of the OS "update" in numerous posts (I actually though OS9 was very snappy and responsive, X has seemed like it is stuck in molasses since it's introduction)...

Originally Posted by Abster2core

And where is your latest creation?

Originally Posted by ascii

Look at the icons at the top of Mail - they look homemade. Where is the commercial polish? This is not Linux. Look at the big imposing grey block at the top of the active window, totally overpowering the rest of it. Look at the tacky see through menu bar. OS X used to look like it was designed by artists.

Originally Posted by mr O

In Gmail, I am also giving multiple tags to my messages. One message could be tagged with "design studio" and "finances" at the same time eg. Both tags are visible in my Gmail inbox. With Apple, you'd have to copy the message into different folders

Originally Posted by macanoid

Have a look at MailTags - simply wonderful!!

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

But iTunes is the worst app Apple do and after about 5 minutes of CoverFlow, I switched back to normal old list mode.

Originally Posted by macanoid

sorry, should have posted a link, it's a mail plugin: MailTags Use it all the time - absolutely wonderful!

Originally Posted by gastroboy

With Leopard I have gone from eager with anticipation, to disappointed at its no show, to impatient with its lack of features to dreading its awful transparent menus and 3D dock (The kind of Crap you expect from Microsoft).

Originally Posted by melgross

I've done what I normally don't do. I pre-ordered the Family Edition from Amazon.

Originally Posted by debohun

The comment about the possibility that Apple's programming team may be over extended seems like it may be spot on. With that in mind, perhaps Apple needs to change some of their basic philosophy and start designing both the system and their apps to facilitate third party extensibility

Originally Posted by debohun

The not-invented-here attitude is slowing things down to a snails pace, so they need to figure a way around it.

Originally Posted by mr O

Owmygod! This sounds absolutely brilliant! Thanks a lot! I'm gonna try it

Originally Posted by frogbat

Coverflow and quickview will prove invaluable and stacks is very comfortable though most folder will display in grid making the fan out a bit superflous

Originally Posted by frogbat

the use of a downloads folder will help

Originally Posted by frogbat

finder could be souped up even more- make it more powerful , explorer still kicks its arse in displaying and sorting information. sorting should be better handled in column view and an option to have folders at the top and bottom should be given

Originally Posted by frogbat

the 3d dock grew on me and i found it better than the current one the open application indicator took more time to get used to

Originally Posted by frogbat

the new standard folder icons are a bit sombre

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

But iTunes is the worst app Apple do and after about 5 minutes of CoverFlow, I switched back to normal old list mode.

Originally Posted by Messiah

I used Leopard for a while, and when I went back to using Tiger again I caught myself thinking

"Oh yeah, I really hope the subsequent builds of Leopard are more like Tiger..."

Originally Posted by Marvin

I noticed that too. The fan out doesn't even work on the side.



I have a downloads folder anyway so it's not a big deal for me. It seems to be like Apple are just forcing people to do what they should be doing already.



I still can't figure out how to list folder items by size in Windows. Where's the option to calculate folder sizes? The navigation is worse IMO as it feels like I'm using OS 9. I use column view all the time and I haven't seen anything in Windows that has the same functionality.



Once I made it black, I started to like it but it's still too high up and I think it should have had less of an angle to it.



Yeah but it's a change. We Mac users get so little variety in the interface, I'm glad just to see something new.



I'm the same in itunes but not the Finder. I don't have any cover art so coverflow is kinda useless but it's great for flipping through image collections. It's very fast even with high res images. Still no animated gif support though, I don't know why Apple don't support this.

One thing I really dislike about the Finder coverflow is how it jumps you back to another view if you double-click a folder. It doesn't stay in coverflow mode. Also, you only get a list view beneath coverflow. They could have easily put column view under there. I actually don't understand why coverflow is a new view option. I would have preferred if it was just a slide down option. So say you are in column view, hit a button and coverflow slides down above it.



Haha, I thought the same thing too. Leopard's interface should be called inyourface. Tiger just seems quite refined. The dock is not invasive and the drop shadows are subtle. I don't like the gradients on the new menus either.

Originally Posted by Marvin

I still can't figure out how to list folder items by size in Windows. Where's the option to calculate folder sizes?

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

I'll do the same thing I've been doing for years... wait for 6 months for the major bugs to get ironed out, then buy it.

Originally Posted by acslater017

hmm...smart. but i'm too impatient.

Originally Posted by solipsism

there are new features (many not even mentioned at WWDC) that I just can't live without now so going back to Tiger is a no go for me now.

Originally Posted by macanoid™

care to name your top-5? I'm just curious.

Originally Posted by Outsider

There is a new option in the Finder called Show Path Bar. Yeah, it is what you think it is.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Calculate folder sizes? Is it that much different between OSs? On OS X, the only way I know is "get info" and in Windows, you get "properties". The only difference I see is that Finder has a hot key for it, Explorer does not.

Originally Posted by solipsism

That has been there since at least Tiger. But you have to customize the tool bar in Finder to add it. I just use the Command+click in the titel bar to see a path, but I'm glad they added it as a default.

I would prefer to see an option to add a permanent path bar like the one that appears at teh bottom of the window when doing a Spotlight search.