Observations on MacOS X
As a recent switcher since a month or so, I've found a few small annoyances and inconsistencies with the UI, namely:
1. I can't drag stuff from the spotlight menu to dock, I have to open a finder window or the spotlight window to do this.
2. Finder don't want to accept that it should open new windows in column view, even though I told it to do so.
3. Drag and dropping of images and text are inconsistent, Safari creates a shadow copy which looks like the text or image I'm dragging. Firefox gives me a nice border outline. Really pretty.
4. Interfaces aren't even the same within the same application. Finder uses brushed metal in full view, and unified in reduced view.
5. Install experience is inconsistent. Sometimes, there is a separate setup, for more advanced applications. Some install themselves when you manually drag them to the application folder. Some provides a shortcut to the application folder within their installation window, so you don't have to drag it as far. Some applications does not need to be installed.
6. The International menu in System Preferences not intuitive, and has severe limitations for its options.
7. Sometimes Exposé locks up, so one can only move between two windows, and can't reach the others when using the arrow keys. This is mostly a problem when having just a few windows open.
Overall, I'm satisfied, but I though Apple had more attention to detail?
1. I can't drag stuff from the spotlight menu to dock, I have to open a finder window or the spotlight window to do this.
2. Finder don't want to accept that it should open new windows in column view, even though I told it to do so.
3. Drag and dropping of images and text are inconsistent, Safari creates a shadow copy which looks like the text or image I'm dragging. Firefox gives me a nice border outline. Really pretty.
4. Interfaces aren't even the same within the same application. Finder uses brushed metal in full view, and unified in reduced view.
5. Install experience is inconsistent. Sometimes, there is a separate setup, for more advanced applications. Some install themselves when you manually drag them to the application folder. Some provides a shortcut to the application folder within their installation window, so you don't have to drag it as far. Some applications does not need to be installed.
6. The International menu in System Preferences not intuitive, and has severe limitations for its options.
7. Sometimes Exposé locks up, so one can only move between two windows, and can't reach the others when using the arrow keys. This is mostly a problem when having just a few windows open.
Overall, I'm satisfied, but I though Apple had more attention to detail?
Comments
Interesting observations of a switcher. Are these "inconsistencies" enough to make you want to go back to Windows?
Nope. The only thing that might make me go back to the stationary windows computer is lack of hard disk space on this Macbook, but that will be amended shortly. (60GB HDD and 500MB ALAC albums does not play well together.)
However, I hope some of this will be addressed in Leopard. Especially dragging from the spotlight menu. Dragging text to a document in the Spotlight menu, causing it to open (almost like a spring loaded folder) and being able to place the text (or image) in the document would be nice too.
Had some fun playing with the Speakable Items knock knock jokes today. A real little gem.
As a recent switcher since a month or so, I've found a few small annoyances and inconsistencies with the UI, namely:
1. I can't drag stuff from the spotlight menu to dock, I have to open a finder window or the spotlight window to do this.
2. Finder don't want to accept that it should open new windows in column view, even though I told it to do so.
3. Drag and dropping of images and text are inconsistent, Safari creates a shadow copy which looks like the text or image I'm dragging. Firefox gives me a nice border outline. Really pretty.
4. Interfaces aren't even the same within the same application. Finder uses brushed metal in full view, and unified in reduced view.
5. Install experience is inconsistent. Sometimes, there is a separate setup, for more advanced applications. Some install themselves when you manually drag them to the application folder. Some provides a shortcut to the application folder within their installation window, so you don't have to drag it as far. Some applications does not need to be installed.
6. The International menu in System Preferences not intuitive, and has severe limitations for its options.
7. Sometimes Exposé locks up, so one can only move between two windows, and can't reach the others when using the arrow keys. This is mostly a problem when having just a few windows open.
Overall, I'm satisfied, but I though Apple had more attention to detail?
Unfortunately you are absolutely right. Microsoft pays much more attention to detail when it comes to consistent and integrated, intuitive, feature-ized UI design. I pray Apple repents and turns from their evil way of UI design, and gives us a welcomed UI redesign in Leopard.
MacVault, as someone who works with both Windows and MacOS X, I want some of what you're smoking.
MS pays attention to detail, as long as you stay within MS apps. Sort of. Mostly. Some of the time.
Step outside that narrow little box, however, and it's anybody's guess how things work.
Cool observations, Zandroz, always good to see another perspective. On #7 - possibly you're triggering Expose's one-app mode? It just uses the windows of the current app, and that's it. Otherwise, I've never seen the issue you're describing.
#6: what limitations do you see?
#5: (wow, I feel like David Letterman) Basically, there are two types of install - drag, and installer. The former is *VASTLY* preferable, the latter sometimes a necessary evil. Developers will sometimes add the alias to the Applications folder, as you mention. I think it's a neat touch.
#4: Yup, the two interfaces are to distinguish the two modes. It was done on purpose, no, I don't get it either.
#3: That's handled on a per-app basis, not by the OS. Generally, apps ported from other platforms tend to roll their own solutions to a lot of things, and end up looking unusual.
#2: It's the Finder. It has bugs. We keep hoping for a fix.
#1: Yeah, Spotlight wasn't everything it could have been *cough* understatement *cough*, but the tidbits leaking regarding Leopard are looking good in that regard.
Cool observations, Zandroz, always good to see another perspective. On #7 - possibly you're triggering Expose's one-app mode? It just uses the windows of the current app, and that's it. Otherwise, I've never seen the issue you're describing.
No, that's not it. Basically, if there's two large windows open, and a few small, the two large windows will seat themselves in the upper right and the lower left corner when using Exposé. Any arrow key moments will set Exposé to highlight one of the big windows, since their edges are closest to the edges of the screen. After that, those two windows will be closest to each other in all directions, so all arrow key presses will make the highlight move between those two windows.
#6: what limitations do you see?
Perhaps it isn't limitations as such, but as I am Swedish, I wanted to have some special thing in their Swedish mode, so I chose Swedish. Then it dawned on me, I really did not want the entire days spelt out with small letters in the menu bar. Could I fix this? No. Could I fix the separators for the clock, which became dots instead of colons? It seemed so, but it didn't work. So now I have reverted to English mode, and changed stuff from there instead, from English to Swedish. Dunno really, if that's how it's supposed to work.
#5: (wow, I feel like David Letterman) Basically, there are two types of install - drag, and installer. The former is *VASTLY* preferable, the latter sometimes a necessary evil. Developers will sometimes add the alias to the Applications folder, as you mention. I think it's a neat touch.
I agree. I would be perfectly happy if all applications would add an alias. Perhaps Apple could do a kind of lightweight "installer" which forces this. It's a bit disturbing to run some applications from the desktop.
Edit: Seem to have missed a reply to #3. I do believe Apple could do something about that, perhaps forcing all copying and dragging of stuff being handled by the clipboard, which could impose the nice effects.
Tab behaviour is also a bit irritating, Safari uses option + { or }, Firefox use control tab, and Adium, uses option + arrowkey. Of all these Adiums is the best, since it's usable with just one hand. (On Swedish keyboards at least, the "{"-character requires alt +ctrl +8.)
No, that's not it. Basically, if there's two large windows open, and a few small, the two large windows will seat themselves in the upper right and the lower left corner when using Exposé. Any arrow key moments will set Exposé to highlight one of the big windows, since their edges are closest to the edges of the screen. After that, those two windows will be closest to each other in all directions, so all arrow key presses will make the highlight move between those two windows.
Oh cool! A boundary case!
Perhaps it isn't limitations as such, but as I am Swedish, I wanted to have some special thing in their Swedish mode, so I chose Swedish. Then it dawned on me, I really did not want the entire days spelt out with small letters in the menu bar. Could I fix this? No. Could I fix the separators for the clock, which became dots instead of colons? It seemed so, but it didn't work. So now I have reverted to English mode, and changed stuff from there instead, from English to Swedish. Dunno really, if that's how it's supposed to work.
Hmm, I'm not sure what you are changing, but... selecting the language in International sets the entire OS, all apps (that support that localization), etc etc etc. You should still be able to alter some aspects, just as you would in English, it just sets up a different default to work from.
I agree. I would be perfectly happy if all applications would add an alias. Perhaps Apple could do a kind of lightweight "installer" which forces this. It's a bit disturbing to run some applications from the desktop.
Why?
Edit: Seem to have missed a reply to #3. I do believe Apple could do something about that, perhaps forcing all copying and dragging of stuff being handled by the clipboard, which could impose the nice effects.
It's a possibility, but it would still require the 3rd party apps to use the built-in services, and many don't. It's appalling how much of Adobe products and Office are custom-coded to try and match the defaults they could get for free.
Tab behaviour is also a bit irritating, Safari uses option + { or }, Firefox use control tab, and Adium, uses option + arrowkey. Of all these Adiums is the best, since it's usable with just one hand. (On Swedish keyboards at least, the "{"-character requires alt +ctrl +8.)
Again, this is handled by individual apps - I would like to see this change with the inclusion of standard tabbed views (browser style, not what's in IB now), and it may... but then you're going to have each developer and their user base convinced that their keystroke is 'right', and override to suit, and....
Why?
Consistency. That is quite important, and it makes me know I did the "right" thing.
I guess I have to go off and blame sloppy third part developers, from the sound of it here.
Consistency. That is quite important, and it makes me know I did the "right" thing.
I guess I have to go off and blame sloppy third part developers, from the sound of it here.
Actually, it's a case of "works as designed". There's a strong expectation that an application should run wherever you put it, and many users do not like being forced to keep their apps all in one place. (Sadly, Apple is the worst culprit for forcing apps to use the Applications folder!)
It says in the human interface guidelines that drag installs are preferable. You can then put the app wherever you want, without restriction. Thus it's not sloppiness on the part of the devs, but instead they're doing things properly
Amorya
And with Spotlight, this kinda of stuff should be fuckin' magic. There are very few apps to keep track of compared to, say, music files or pictures or any other document type file...therefore, OS X should keep track of all apps on the computer via Spotlight and Software Update should simply stop looking in the 'Applications' and start using Spotlight to find the app it needs to version check.
Bloody hell...make it happen Apple.
The same should apply to music in iTunes or pictures in iPhoto. While this option half-works in iTunes (iTunes doesn't dynamically update the access path to the file if it's been moved without iTunes' knowledge), we should be able to put pictures and music anywhere on our hard drives and still have them show up in iTunes and iPhoto without user-intervention.
Of course, I could go on about how we shouldn't be confined to folders for organisation but I'll spare everyone the details...
Regarding individual files (such as in iTunes), then saving an alias record (rather than a path) would allow you to refer to the file wherever it was or whatever it was called.
I have no idea why Apple don't use all the cool tech they create!
The whole install anywhere thing should be respected by Apple...I don't understand why Apple can't abide to its own rules.
Doesn't that have to do with software update? If the app isn't in the app folder, how will the software update program know where the app is at? I was under the impression this was the reason behind this change. As you know in OS 9 there was no such restriction. When OS X first came out a lot of us complained. But I also remember OS 9 playing tricks with apps when I updated them by placing them in the apps folder instead of where I had the app, hence having duplicate apps with duplicate preferences.
Doesn't that have to do with software update? If the app isn't in the app folder, how will the software update program know where the app is at? I was under the impression this was the reason behind this change. As you know in OS 9 there was no such restriction. When OS X first came out a lot of us complained. But I also remember OS 9 playing tricks with apps when I updated them by placing them in the apps folder instead of where I had the app, hence having duplicate apps with duplicate preferences.
Yes, this is a problem related to Apple's Software Update / Installer / Receipts mechanism. That doesn't excuse it, though. They recognize it as a known issue.
Yes, this is a problem related to Apple's Software Update / Installer / Receipts mechanism. That doesn't excuse it, though. They recognize it as a known issue.
I have no issue with it. While I was one who did complain about this restriction, I have come to realize that it's not an issue in OS X. With the advent of the doc, app location is meaningless. But that's just me.
As is works just fine. You don't access the apps via the app location, you access it via the Doc, so... Why code for more than is necessary and end up with a bloated OS akin to Windows?
Nope. The only thing that might make me go back to the stationary windows computer is lack of hard disk space on this Macbook, but that will be amended shortly. (60GB HDD and 500MB ALAC albums does not play well together.)
However, I hope some of this will be addressed in Leopard. Especially dragging from the spotlight menu. Dragging text to a document in the Spotlight menu, causing it to open (almost like a spring loaded folder) and being able to place the text (or image) in the document would be nice too.
Some good critiques there. We're all hoping Leopard addresses most of these issues you mentioned (and much more).
re Spotlight menu - not a perfect solution, but: command-clicking an item in the Spotlight menu will open it in the Finder. You can then drag it to the Dock or do with it as you wish.
http://www.windstormsoftware.com/wssw/moru/index.html
check this out for your gripes with finder:
http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/
...
MacVault, as someone who works with both Windows and MacOS X, I want some of what you're smoking.
Personally, I took MacVault's post as sarcasm. I suppose your post could be sarcasm too
Either that, or maybe since I haven't used a windows machine a long time, maybe microsoft really is consistent... not
As a recent switcher since a month or so, I've found a few small annoyances and inconsistencies with the UI, namely:
1. I can't drag stuff from the spotlight menu to dock, I have to open a finder window or the spotlight window to do this.
2. Finder don't want to accept that it should open new windows in column view, even though I told it to do so.
3. Drag and dropping of images and text are inconsistent, Safari creates a shadow copy which looks like the text or image I'm dragging. Firefox gives me a nice border outline. Really pretty.
4. Interfaces aren't even the same within the same application. Finder uses brushed metal in full view, and unified in reduced view.
5. Install experience is inconsistent. Sometimes, there is a separate setup, for more advanced applications. Some install themselves when you manually drag them to the application folder. Some provides a shortcut to the application folder within their installation window, so you don't have to drag it as far. Some applications does not need to be installed.
6. The International menu in System Preferences not intuitive, and has severe limitations for its options.
7. Sometimes Exposé locks up, so one can only move between two windows, and can't reach the others when using the arrow keys. This is mostly a problem when having just a few windows open.
Overall, I'm satisfied, but I though Apple had more attention to detail?