You guys should really compile these articles and release them as a book - they're fantastic! Informative not only about the road to Leopard, but the phenomenal rise, fall & reserection of Apple, as well as the development of the internet and operating systems as a whole.
Truly great stuff. One of the best features on the internet I've ever found.
The one feature I think Safari needs that it still doesn't have is web archiving like IE had. Shit that was a handy tool. I still keep a copy of IE just for that.
Same here, I wonder what happened to them. Someone earlier mentioned privacy concerns with sending URLs to google...... ?
The URLs were never sent to Google. Firefox has the option to send every URL you visit to Google to check with a server blacklist, but the default in Firefox is to use a locally-hosted blacklist. Safari's antiphishing implementation did the same thing, using the same blacklist. That much I know from the pre-release builds. It's not a very effective solution because the blacklists must be updated very frequently, since phishing sites can come and go in minutes.
As to what happened to the feature, I can guess, based on my knowledge of the feature's implementation in Firefox. Google does not own the content in their antiphishing blacklists. They license the data the Antiphishing Working Group and Symantec Phish Report Network; they are listed as members in both organizations and they are prohibited from re-distributing the data in those lists without getting permission from everybody that contributes data to Google. As a non-profit organization Mozilla was able to obtain licenses from Google's partners to use this data in Firefox. I'm guessing that Apple, as a multi-billion dollar corporation, was not given the same luxury.
So the usefulness of Safari comes down to someone not knowing how to use their Mac, and continuing to compare the Mac and it's software to Windows.... UNBELIEVABLE!
Friendly tips--- New Tab button: what for? Double click the titlebar or hit Apple-L->type whatever, and then hit Apple-Return key--BOOM! New tab with what ya typed. Google bar? Do the same thing. To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it? In Safari, see "New Tab"... choose it for dawG's sake! Double tap that address bar, or a word on a page to select it, now tap it again with 2 FINGERS. My dawG..My dawG.. what the F---?! "Lookit all dem dar choices! Can even Google the darn thang!" Now, open a long page in Safari... hold 2 FINGERS on the track pad again, and drag down... Holy MF Cow!!! The world just moved for ya didn't it?!
Sorry for the sarcasm guys, but I am getting so "darn" T-ed at people railing on the Mac, and not having a friggin' clue what they have in front of them.... and it IS NOT A WINDOWS BOX! Thank dawG for that too!
PS: other choices to the 2-finger double-tap are naturally using the "click-bar" underneath the track pad to "double click", and then hold down the "CTRL" key, click the bar again, to "right-click" it. Hallelujah!
OOPS! Forgot to add the trick for the guy that hates tabbed browsing: after ya typed where ya wanna go in the address bar... just hit ALT-APPLE-Retun. Woohoo! That page just opened in a new window behind the one yer readin'... and ya can APPLE-tilde (~) to it... you DO KNOW about APPLE-tilde, dontcha??!
i'm running 3.0.3 and its pretty snappy! i love how fast it loads. which is unlike FF 2.0, which takes like 19 bounces on initial load before it starts pinwheeling. everytime i run firefox I ask myself, 'why?' I used to love FF, but its just too slow on my macbook pro (core duo).
You have likely some problem here. On my more than 4.5-year old Powerbook (G4 @ 867 MHz) it takes something like 5-10 sec at most to have Firefox up and running, unless the computer is under load. Second launch is of course faster. Is this Leopard where you test Firefox?
Watch the memory usage slowly creep up (and marvel at the CPU utilisation playing those annoying flash ads)
If you have not already done it, please submit your findings to Apple. From your description, the situation seems reproducible and this helps much debugging.
Let me quote Louzer here for those who have missed this nice solution to the tab button issue.
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Originally Posted by Louzer
In case people didn't notice, every browser (including Safari) has the option to pick and choose which buttons you want. For example, I find the Print button to be completely stupid and hide it almost immediately. So how hard is it to add a button to safari's button options? Hell, they still have one for "Report a bug" (how problematic is Safari that they're still concerned about problem web sites?).
It is so simple to satisfy everyone that it makes you think that Apple, for some reason, deliberately leaves this out.
But opening a new tab isn't different from opening a new window, a file, a location.
The toolbar buttons in Safari are all about the current page you're viewing - which is also in the URL field next to the buttons.
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
Personally I use 99% of the time cmd-t (or ctrl-t ) on any browser. But the interface facilities to satisfy the users asking for a new tab button are already in place.
To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it?
And here's the biggest problem Apple has. They can't do anything in a 'standard' way. Its always "If everyone else is doing it that way, it must suck, so let's come up with a new way to do something that everyone else figured out 15 years ago and moved on from!"
First, where in the hell does Apple tell people "Hey, you want right click, use two-fingers!" (which, of course after thePixelDoc mentions it, it just sounds so logical. Who wouldn't think that if you want a contextual menu, you would hold TWO fingers on the pad! Man, what was I thinking?) That's the problem with Apple. even when they have good features, they hide them. (BTW, this might be a great feature if it were standard on all their laptops, but my iBook doesn't have this, so when working on that, I have to remember that it doesn't work - great job apple!).
Second, what's the point? Is the second trackpad button that every other laptop on the planet cause so much confusion with users that we really needed a different way of doing it? And does it add so much bad vibes to the all-important 'look and feel' of the laptop that everyone would throw up when they saw one?
And, BTW, I went to CompUSA looking for a two-button mouse for my laptop. Decided to try to use one of those stupid MightyMouse things. To paraphrase ComicBook Store Guy "Worse mouse ever!". In order to right-click, I actually had to lift up my left finger. Nothing there that could cause carpal-tunnel. So rather than just stick two buttons on it (which several manufacturers are able to do while still making it look like a single-button one), they had to go all fancy with touch sensors and all, just to keep the price high and make sure they're "different"! (Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, after decades of issues with mouse balls and gunk build-up, what does apple do? Stick a mouse ball on the top, just for that retro feel I guess).
Back on topic, does anyone know whether Safari 3 will be available for Tiger (as the beta is)? Or are they going to claim that they can't do it, because the new version of webkit won't run on Tiger and it needs it (even though Unix developers have spent decades figuring out how to get different versions of frameworks and libraries installed on the same machine and using the correct one)?
And here's the biggest problem Apple has. They can't do anything in a 'standard' way. Its always "If everyone else is doing it that way, it must suck, so let's come up with a new way to do something that everyone else figured out 15 years ago and moved on from!"
First, where in the hell does Apple tell people "Hey, you want right click, use two-fingers!" (which, of course after thePixelDoc mentions it, it just sounds so logical. Who wouldn't think that if you want a contextual menu, you would hold TWO fingers on the pad! Man, what was I thinking?) That's the problem with Apple. even when they have good features, they hide them. (BTW, this might be a great feature if it were standard on all their laptops, but my iBook doesn't have this, so when working on that, I have to remember that it doesn't work - great job apple!).
Second, what's the point? Is the second trackpad button that every other laptop on the planet cause so much confusion with users that we really needed a different way of doing it? And does it add so much bad vibes to the all-important 'look and feel' of the laptop that everyone would throw up when they saw one?
And, BTW, I went to CompUSA looking for a two-button mouse for my laptop. Decided to try to use one of those stupid MightyMouse things. To paraphrase ComicBook Store Guy "Worse mouse ever!". In order to right-click, I actually had to lift up my left finger. Nothing there that could cause carpal-tunnel. So rather than just stick two buttons on it (which several manufacturers are able to do while still making it look like a single-button one), they had to go all fancy with touch sensors and all, just to keep the price high and make sure they're "different"! (Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, after decades of issues with mouse balls and gunk build-up, what does apple do? Stick a mouse ball on the top, just for that retro feel I guess).
Come on, the track pad on the macbook/pro's is awesome. You don't need to be a unix programer to figure out tapping the track pad with two fingers is equivalent to a right click. The best bit about the trackpad is two finger window scrolling (much better than those crappy trakpads which either don't have the feature, or have dedicated strips on the bottom and side of the trackpad). Mac's trackpads also allow diagonal window scrolling which is great. I understand what you mean about having to place two fingers on the trackpad whilst clicking the physical button for a right click. I guess that is rather unintuitive. However I rarely use the physical button, i much prefer (especially for right click), to just tap the trackpad. As for it not being standard on all of their computers, that is a bit like complaining that the 1984 Mac doesn't have multi-finder. If Apple had to make all of their computer features standard, then we would still be using the Apple I.
As for the mighty mouse, I totally agree that the ball on the top has some serious problems with gunk. However I could not do without horizontal scrolling. Hopefully they will be able to replace the ball, but maintain the same functionality, with a touch sensor or something (I remember reading a rumour about this). having to lift one's left finger to make a right click is a little annoying, but I don't even notice doing it anymore. Do you know of a good mouse that has horizontal scrolling? Please let me know if you do.
Tabs are not quite the MDI of Windows. The trouble with MDI was that there was no easy way to quickly access an open document if another document already filled the screen -- you always had to go through multiple steps, as in checking a menu, finding a titlebar name that hopefully represented the document you're looking for, then selecting the document (of course, if they were NOT maximized, this was not so much an issue). Exposé and multiple windows is no different in that sense since it requires two steps -- a keyboard or mouse shortcut to enter Exposé, then selecting the window you want. That's great if all your windows are easily distinguishable, you don't have so many open that it becomes hard to make out the contents, and your system can handle the overhead of having that many windows open simultaneously (much less that of Exposé itself). I can tell you from using a Mac mini that more windows = slower and slower Exposé, and that lots and lots of primarily text webpages reduced to tiny thumbnails on a dark background don't make it any easier. They actually make it harder, because I then have to mouse over each one to find the title that represents the correct window.
People use tabs because they reduce clutter and the need for manual window management (I like seeing my desktop, tyvm, I don't need to rearrange all my windows so they're on top of each other). They don't duplicate resources or screen space unnecessarily (each window is another toolbar, possibly another bookmark bar), and they allow grouping of pages (like Spaces, in a sense). If you're already browsing, tabs are always on screen -- there are no extra steps to take, no application switcher to launch, no menu to look through (unless you've launched an absurd number of tabs, of course). These attributes make them ideal for multitasking, at least in a web browsing environment.
MDI stands for multiple document interface and very much describes how Safari handles multiple documents within a single window. It's not quite the same MDI approach in Windows but the concept is exactly the same.
Exposé is perfect for browsers since web pages normally offer sa many visual differences that they provide the most distinguishable Exposé experience. 'More windows' does not equate to 'slower' in Mac OS X. Mac OS X can handle more windows that you can shake a stick at. I agree, though, that Exposé will stutter when lots of windows are on the screen. However, if you're up to the point where windows are 'tiny thumbnails', tabbed-browsing won't save you there either since the tabs shrink to a point where they become hard to distinguish while some get pushed off into the chevron icon.
Tabs are a good concept if you use them to group like web pages but fail if you want to use Exposé to rapidly find the web page you want since it'll be burried within the tab a Firefox or Safari window.
I don't know why I bother explaining this...it shouldn't be my business if people want to have suboptimal workflows where things are hidden and otherwise difficult to access directly.
If you're still managing you windows so that you can 'see your desktop', it's not my problem considering Apple gives you the ability to wisk away windows so you get a clear view of your desktop (and in Leopard gives you the opportunity to have an empty space so you can see a clean desktop). Apple gives you everything you need for your window management...if you don't use it, too bad...people wanting a toolbar button to fuel an MDI approach to window management can continue to whine but they have to realise the problem was solved long ago.
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
What am I doing? I think you don't have to TYPE and use the KEYBOARD all the time. Most of the time, you open a new tab and go to your bookmarks and do another click. So, once you are already there you use another click and boom! Do I have to explain how I use my computer?
The problem with Apple is, no matter what Apple does, there are a lot of people who keep applauding. You sometimes have to say "you are doing wrong". That would be good for Apple.
Please just put an optional new tab button, Apple. Your smart customers will not use it, but you have dumb customers, like myself, too, and they want to use it!
MDI stands for multiple document interface and very much describes how Safari handles multiple documents within a single window. It's not quite the same MDI approach in Windows but the concept is exactly the same.
I am well aware of what MDI stands for. The point is, the concept being the same doesn't matter; what made MDI on Windows such a pain was the implementation.
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Exposé is perfect for browsers since web pages normally offer sa many visual differences that they provide the most distinguishable Exposé experience.
That's occasionally true. Less true when you have many pages open on the same site, or several sites with similar layouts and few distinguishing colors (news and magazine sites that are primarily black text, white backgrounds and ads all start to look alike). Suppose I have 5 AppleInsider threads open in separate windows -- I'm supposed to tell these apart visually?
Combine that with the fact that the most distinguishing features of any window, in Tiger anyway, are those that distinguish one application from another (placement/existence of sidebar or toolbar, drawers, brushed metal or aqua appearance, etc), and Exposé just is NOT optimal for browsing. The best use for Exposé within the *same* application is when it's something heavily graphics-oriented, like Photoshop. Otherwise it's best as an application switcher and little else.
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'More windows' does not equate to 'slower' in Mac OS X. ... Mac OS X can handle more windows that you can shake a stick at.
Boy, you sure haven't ever used a bottom-of-the-line Mac, have you? It sure makes a difference on a G4 mini with a maximum 1GB of RAM.
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I agree, though, that Exposé will stutter when lots of windows are on the screen. However, if you're up to the point where windows are 'tiny thumbnails', tabbed-browsing won't save you there either since the tabs shrink to a point where they become hard to distinguish while some get pushed off into the chevron icon.
The point about the thumbnails is that the only way to distinguish them is with text, and tabs are inherently better for that since that's all they are, and they don't require you to hunt around the screen with the mouse. While it's true that, once you've gotten too many of them they fall off the right end of the window, and the text gets scrunched smaller and smaller, figuring out which is which is still fewer steps than entering Exposé, and gets around the stuttering issue completely. Plus, when two tabs are similarly titled, Safari displays whichever part of the text distinguishes them (if I open up another AppleInsider tab, this one changes from "AppleInsider" to "Reply to Topic", for instance), whereas, again, in Exposé I must hunt windows one by one with the mouse to find window titles if they look alike.
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Tabs are a good concept if you use them to group like web pages but fail if you want to use Exposé to rapidly find the web page you want since it'll be burried within the tab a Firefox or Safari window.
I don't know why I bother explaining this...it shouldn't be my business if people want to have suboptimal workflows where things are hidden and otherwise difficult to access directly.
It's absolutely true that tabs fail to use Exposé. That's the point - they are an alternative to Exposé, because Exposé is a sub-optimal workflow for switching between documents within an application. Just because it can do that doesn't mean it's the best tool for the job. Exposé is the best application switcher around, but that's about all it's good for. I gave up on the "Show Application Windows" feature ages ago, as it was simply useless to me. Now i isn't my business that you prefer to use the wrong tool for the job of browser window switching, but you should really back off of those who prefer to do things the right way.
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If you're still managing you windows so that you can 'see your desktop', it's not my problem considering Apple gives you the ability to wisk away windows so you get a clear view of your desktop (and in Leopard gives you the opportunity to have an empty space so you can see a clean desktop). Apple gives you everything you need for your window management...if you don't use it, too bad...people wanting a toolbar button to fuel an MDI approach to window management can continue to whine but they have to realise the problem was solved long ago.
The point of having some desktop space available is to allow it to be accessed without the use of Exposé. The point of getting rid of browser-window clutter is blindingly obvious -- it forces you to use Exposé even when it's not what you need, not the best tool for the job or your system is too bogged down to access Exposé quickly, because all those browser windows are needlessly blocking things you could otherwise have gotten to easily just by clicking on them. How can you possibly call immediate one-click access less efficient than Exposé? I use the "whisk away" feature all the time when multi-tasking and I can't avoid having tons of windows from various applications all over the place. But again, it requires more steps than simply dragging something directly to the desktop. Tabs allow you to avoid the clutter associated with multi-tasking in the context of a single application. It's too bad you don't get that choice is a good thing, that just because Apple provides one particular way of doing it doesn't mean it's the best way in every context. They obviously think some choice is a good thing, since they completely disagree with you on the use of tabs --they just need to follow through now and make it a first-class feature rather than hiding it away like some keyboard shortcuts or the Mighty Mouse's right-click abilities.
So the usefulness of Safari comes down to someone not knowing how to use their Mac, and continuing to compare the Mac and it's software to Windows.... UNBELIEVABLE! ...
Sorry for the sarcasm guys, but I am getting so "darn" T-ed at people railing on the Mac, and not having a friggin' clue what they have in front of them.... and it IS NOT A WINDOWS BOX! Thank dawG for that too!
Who said anything about Windows? Internet Explorer was the last major browser to aquire tab functionality, and frankly their implementation sucks. I first used tabs in Firefox, on a Mac. Even Camino, a Mac-only browser, has the new tab button.
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Friendly tips--- New Tab button: what for? Double click the titlebar or hit Apple-L->type whatever, and then hit Apple-Return key--BOOM! New tab with what ya typed. Google bar? Do the same thing. To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it? In Safari, see "New Tab"... choose it for dawG's sake! Double tap that address bar, or a word on a page to select it, now tap it again with 2 FINGERS. My dawG..My dawG.. what the F---?! "Lookit all dem dar choices! Can even Google the darn thang!" Now, open a long page in Safari... hold 2 FINGERS on the track pad again, and drag down... Holy MF Cow!!! The world just moved for ya didn't it?!
Uh, double clicking on the titlebar minimizes the window. What are you smoking? Yes, you can do a lot by memorizing arcane keyboard shortcuts (shocking fact: Windows apps also have keyboard shortcuts). Would you prefer an entire text-based interface, with no mouse at all? This is a GUI-based operating system, and there are reasons why major features of apps have buttons, not just keyboard shortcuts. Tabs are a major feature, they deserve a button. Seriously, how hard is this?
And a friendly tip.. Apple has removed the "Apple" from its new keyboards. Finally, thank dawG. So please, use the actual name of the key, "Command."
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Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
Typically I'd use it for bookmarks. Bookmarks placed directly in the bookmarks bar can be right-clicked on to open in a new tab, but those in the menus, either the main menu or drop downs, will only open in the current tab. Since I must use the mouse to navigate the menus, I might as well be able to use the mouse to open the tab in which I'm going to open the bookmark, too. Additionally, there doesn't appear to be a way to open the bookmarks "page" or whatever you want to call it (the little open book icon) in a new tab automatically -- so a new tab button would be good for that, too.
Btw, I do use Cmd-T from time to time, such as when I'm entering posts on online forums or filling out forms -- whenever I'm already doing stuff that requires the keyboard. But when you're just browsing and nothing else, you shouldn't have to reach for the keyboard, or go through multiple steps using menus. It's just common sense.
In the Keyboard and Mouse System Preferences Pane under "Trackpad."
Where else should they put it?
Oh, I don't know, in the User's manual. Oh, right, there is no user's manual.
Sorry, user's shouldn't have to search around the internet to find features that are supposed to be awesome.
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Originally Posted by Jeremy Brown
Come on, the track pad on the macbook/pro's is awesome. You don't need to be a unix programer to figure out tapping the track pad with two fingers is equivalent to a right click.
No, but you need to KNOW it does it. I don't normally get a computer and then start playing with all sorts of varying keyboard and finger combinations trying to figure out all these 'cool' features.
Apple just has problems letting users control things, like turning off memory and CPU hogs like spotlight and dashboard. Hell, my MBP has this nifty illuminated keyboard. Yet I seem to have no control over when it will illuminate. Apple basically decides how dark the room has to be before I need it. Thanks, guys!
Comments
You guys should really compile these articles and release them as a book - they're fantastic! Informative not only about the road to Leopard, but the phenomenal rise, fall & reserection of Apple, as well as the development of the internet and operating systems as a whole.
Truly great stuff. One of the best features on the internet I've ever found.
Sounds like a good idea to me!
Firefox in this state is basically unusable. Bit of a pain, for sure. Safari still snappy.
Of course, this is all Flash's fault, as near as I can tell. Would be nice to turn Flash off in Firefox ala Camino.
There's a Firefox add-on called Flashblock, which works the same as flash blocking in Camino. (I can't live without flash blocking.)
Same here, I wonder what happened to them. Someone earlier mentioned privacy concerns with sending URLs to google...... ?
The URLs were never sent to Google. Firefox has the option to send every URL you visit to Google to check with a server blacklist, but the default in Firefox is to use a locally-hosted blacklist. Safari's antiphishing implementation did the same thing, using the same blacklist. That much I know from the pre-release builds. It's not a very effective solution because the blacklists must be updated very frequently, since phishing sites can come and go in minutes.
As to what happened to the feature, I can guess, based on my knowledge of the feature's implementation in Firefox. Google does not own the content in their antiphishing blacklists. They license the data the Antiphishing Working Group and Symantec Phish Report Network; they are listed as members in both organizations and they are prohibited from re-distributing the data in those lists without getting permission from everybody that contributes data to Google. As a non-profit organization Mozilla was able to obtain licenses from Google's partners to use this data in Firefox. I'm guessing that Apple, as a multi-billion dollar corporation, was not given the same luxury.
Friendly tips--- New Tab button: what for? Double click the titlebar or hit Apple-L->type whatever, and then hit Apple-Return key--BOOM! New tab with what ya typed. Google bar? Do the same thing. To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it? In Safari, see "New Tab"... choose it for dawG's sake! Double tap that address bar, or a word on a page to select it, now tap it again with 2 FINGERS. My dawG..My dawG.. what the F---?! "Lookit all dem dar choices! Can even Google the darn thang!" Now, open a long page in Safari... hold 2 FINGERS on the track pad again, and drag down... Holy MF Cow!!! The world just moved for ya didn't it?!
Sorry for the sarcasm guys, but I am getting so "darn" T-ed at people railing on the Mac, and not having a friggin' clue what they have in front of them.... and it IS NOT A WINDOWS BOX! Thank dawG for that too!
PS: other choices to the 2-finger double-tap are naturally using the "click-bar" underneath the track pad to "double click", and then hold down the "CTRL" key, click the bar again, to "right-click" it. Hallelujah!
OOPS! Forgot to add the trick for the guy that hates tabbed browsing: after ya typed where ya wanna go in the address bar... just hit ALT-APPLE-Retun. Woohoo! That page just opened in a new window behind the one yer readin'... and ya can APPLE-tilde (~) to it... you DO KNOW about APPLE-tilde, dontcha??!
i'm running 3.0.3 and its pretty snappy! i love how fast it loads. which is unlike FF 2.0, which takes like 19 bounces on initial load before it starts pinwheeling. everytime i run firefox I ask myself, 'why?' I used to love FF, but its just too slow on my macbook pro (core duo).
You have likely some problem here. On my more than 4.5-year old Powerbook (G4 @ 867 MHz) it takes something like 5-10 sec at most to have Firefox up and running, unless the computer is under load. Second launch is of course faster. Is this Leopard where you test Firefox?
Here's a simple test to demonstrate one of the memory leaks in Safari:
Memory leak example #2:
If you have not already done it, please submit your findings to Apple. From your description, the situation seems reproducible and this helps much debugging.
In case people didn't notice, every browser (including Safari) has the option to pick and choose which buttons you want. For example, I find the Print button to be completely stupid and hide it almost immediately. So how hard is it to add a button to safari's button options? Hell, they still have one for "Report a bug" (how problematic is Safari that they're still concerned about problem web sites?).
It is so simple to satisfy everyone that it makes you think that Apple, for some reason, deliberately leaves this out.
The toolbar buttons in Safari are all about the current page you're viewing - which is also in the URL field next to the buttons.
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
But opening a new tab isn't different from opening a new window, a file, a location.
The toolbar buttons in Safari are all about the current page you're viewing - which is also in the URL field next to the buttons.
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
Personally I use 99% of the time cmd-t (or ctrl-t
To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it?
And here's the biggest problem Apple has. They can't do anything in a 'standard' way. Its always "If everyone else is doing it that way, it must suck, so let's come up with a new way to do something that everyone else figured out 15 years ago and moved on from!"
First, where in the hell does Apple tell people "Hey, you want right click, use two-fingers!" (which, of course after thePixelDoc mentions it, it just sounds so logical. Who wouldn't think that if you want a contextual menu, you would hold TWO fingers on the pad! Man, what was I thinking?) That's the problem with Apple. even when they have good features, they hide them. (BTW, this might be a great feature if it were standard on all their laptops, but my iBook doesn't have this, so when working on that, I have to remember that it doesn't work - great job apple!).
Second, what's the point? Is the second trackpad button that every other laptop on the planet cause so much confusion with users that we really needed a different way of doing it? And does it add so much bad vibes to the all-important 'look and feel' of the laptop that everyone would throw up when they saw one?
And, BTW, I went to CompUSA looking for a two-button mouse for my laptop. Decided to try to use one of those stupid MightyMouse things. To paraphrase ComicBook Store Guy "Worse mouse ever!". In order to right-click, I actually had to lift up my left finger. Nothing there that could cause carpal-tunnel. So rather than just stick two buttons on it (which several manufacturers are able to do while still making it look like a single-button one), they had to go all fancy with touch sensors and all, just to keep the price high and make sure they're "different"! (Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, after decades of issues with mouse balls and gunk build-up, what does apple do? Stick a mouse ball on the top, just for that retro feel I guess).
First, where in the hell does Apple tell people "Hey, you want right click, use two-fingers!"
In the Keyboard and Mouse System Preferences Pane under "Trackpad."
Where else should they put it?
And here's the biggest problem Apple has. They can't do anything in a 'standard' way. Its always "If everyone else is doing it that way, it must suck, so let's come up with a new way to do something that everyone else figured out 15 years ago and moved on from!"
First, where in the hell does Apple tell people "Hey, you want right click, use two-fingers!" (which, of course after thePixelDoc mentions it, it just sounds so logical. Who wouldn't think that if you want a contextual menu, you would hold TWO fingers on the pad! Man, what was I thinking?) That's the problem with Apple. even when they have good features, they hide them. (BTW, this might be a great feature if it were standard on all their laptops, but my iBook doesn't have this, so when working on that, I have to remember that it doesn't work - great job apple!).
Second, what's the point? Is the second trackpad button that every other laptop on the planet cause so much confusion with users that we really needed a different way of doing it? And does it add so much bad vibes to the all-important 'look and feel' of the laptop that everyone would throw up when they saw one?
And, BTW, I went to CompUSA looking for a two-button mouse for my laptop. Decided to try to use one of those stupid MightyMouse things. To paraphrase ComicBook Store Guy "Worse mouse ever!". In order to right-click, I actually had to lift up my left finger. Nothing there that could cause carpal-tunnel. So rather than just stick two buttons on it (which several manufacturers are able to do while still making it look like a single-button one), they had to go all fancy with touch sensors and all, just to keep the price high and make sure they're "different"! (Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough, after decades of issues with mouse balls and gunk build-up, what does apple do? Stick a mouse ball on the top, just for that retro feel I guess).
Come on, the track pad on the macbook/pro's is awesome. You don't need to be a unix programer to figure out tapping the track pad with two fingers is equivalent to a right click. The best bit about the trackpad is two finger window scrolling (much better than those crappy trakpads which either don't have the feature, or have dedicated strips on the bottom and side of the trackpad). Mac's trackpads also allow diagonal window scrolling which is great. I understand what you mean about having to place two fingers on the trackpad whilst clicking the physical button for a right click. I guess that is rather unintuitive. However I rarely use the physical button, i much prefer (especially for right click), to just tap the trackpad. As for it not being standard on all of their computers, that is a bit like complaining that the 1984 Mac doesn't have multi-finder. If Apple had to make all of their computer features standard, then we would still be using the Apple I.
As for the mighty mouse, I totally agree that the ball on the top has some serious problems with gunk. However I could not do without horizontal scrolling. Hopefully they will be able to replace the ball, but maintain the same functionality, with a touch sensor or something (I remember reading a rumour about this). having to lift one's left finger to make a right click is a little annoying, but I don't even notice doing it anymore. Do you know of a good mouse that has horizontal scrolling? Please let me know if you do.
Tabs are not quite the MDI of Windows. The trouble with MDI was that there was no easy way to quickly access an open document if another document already filled the screen -- you always had to go through multiple steps, as in checking a menu, finding a titlebar name that hopefully represented the document you're looking for, then selecting the document (of course, if they were NOT maximized, this was not so much an issue). Exposé and multiple windows is no different in that sense since it requires two steps -- a keyboard or mouse shortcut to enter Exposé, then selecting the window you want. That's great if all your windows are easily distinguishable, you don't have so many open that it becomes hard to make out the contents, and your system can handle the overhead of having that many windows open simultaneously (much less that of Exposé itself). I can tell you from using a Mac mini that more windows = slower and slower Exposé, and that lots and lots of primarily text webpages reduced to tiny thumbnails on a dark background don't make it any easier. They actually make it harder, because I then have to mouse over each one to find the title that represents the correct window.
People use tabs because they reduce clutter and the need for manual window management (I like seeing my desktop, tyvm, I don't need to rearrange all my windows so they're on top of each other). They don't duplicate resources or screen space unnecessarily (each window is another toolbar, possibly another bookmark bar), and they allow grouping of pages (like Spaces, in a sense). If you're already browsing, tabs are always on screen -- there are no extra steps to take, no application switcher to launch, no menu to look through (unless you've launched an absurd number of tabs, of course). These attributes make them ideal for multitasking, at least in a web browsing environment.
MDI stands for multiple document interface and very much describes how Safari handles multiple documents within a single window. It's not quite the same MDI approach in Windows but the concept is exactly the same.
Exposé is perfect for browsers since web pages normally offer sa many visual differences that they provide the most distinguishable Exposé experience. 'More windows' does not equate to 'slower' in Mac OS X. Mac OS X can handle more windows that you can shake a stick at. I agree, though, that Exposé will stutter when lots of windows are on the screen. However, if you're up to the point where windows are 'tiny thumbnails', tabbed-browsing won't save you there either since the tabs shrink to a point where they become hard to distinguish while some get pushed off into the chevron icon.
Tabs are a good concept if you use them to group like web pages but fail if you want to use Exposé to rapidly find the web page you want since it'll be burried within the tab a Firefox or Safari window.
I don't know why I bother explaining this...it shouldn't be my business if people want to have suboptimal workflows where things are hidden and otherwise difficult to access directly.
If you're still managing you windows so that you can 'see your desktop', it's not my problem considering Apple gives you the ability to wisk away windows so you get a clear view of your desktop (and in Leopard gives you the opportunity to have an empty space so you can see a clean desktop). Apple gives you everything you need for your window management...if you don't use it, too bad...people wanting a toolbar button to fuel an MDI approach to window management can continue to whine but they have to realise the problem was solved long ago.
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
What am I doing? I think you don't have to TYPE and use the KEYBOARD all the time. Most of the time, you open a new tab and go to your bookmarks and do another click. So, once you are already there you use another click and boom! Do I have to explain how I use my computer?
The problem with Apple is, no matter what Apple does, there are a lot of people who keep applauding. You sometimes have to say "you are doing wrong". That would be good for Apple.
Please just put an optional new tab button, Apple. Your smart customers will not use it, but you have dumb customers, like myself, too, and they want to use it!
MDI stands for multiple document interface and very much describes how Safari handles multiple documents within a single window. It's not quite the same MDI approach in Windows but the concept is exactly the same.
I am well aware of what MDI stands for. The point is, the concept being the same doesn't matter; what made MDI on Windows such a pain was the implementation.
Exposé is perfect for browsers since web pages normally offer sa many visual differences that they provide the most distinguishable Exposé experience.
That's occasionally true. Less true when you have many pages open on the same site, or several sites with similar layouts and few distinguishing colors (news and magazine sites that are primarily black text, white backgrounds and ads all start to look alike). Suppose I have 5 AppleInsider threads open in separate windows -- I'm supposed to tell these apart visually?
Combine that with the fact that the most distinguishing features of any window, in Tiger anyway, are those that distinguish one application from another (placement/existence of sidebar or toolbar, drawers, brushed metal or aqua appearance, etc), and Exposé just is NOT optimal for browsing. The best use for Exposé within the *same* application is when it's something heavily graphics-oriented, like Photoshop. Otherwise it's best as an application switcher and little else.
'More windows' does not equate to 'slower' in Mac OS X. ... Mac OS X can handle more windows that you can shake a stick at.
Boy, you sure haven't ever used a bottom-of-the-line Mac, have you? It sure makes a difference on a G4 mini with a maximum 1GB of RAM.
I agree, though, that Exposé will stutter when lots of windows are on the screen. However, if you're up to the point where windows are 'tiny thumbnails', tabbed-browsing won't save you there either since the tabs shrink to a point where they become hard to distinguish while some get pushed off into the chevron icon.
The point about the thumbnails is that the only way to distinguish them is with text, and tabs are inherently better for that since that's all they are, and they don't require you to hunt around the screen with the mouse. While it's true that, once you've gotten too many of them they fall off the right end of the window, and the text gets scrunched smaller and smaller, figuring out which is which is still fewer steps than entering Exposé, and gets around the stuttering issue completely. Plus, when two tabs are similarly titled, Safari displays whichever part of the text distinguishes them (if I open up another AppleInsider tab, this one changes from "AppleInsider" to "Reply to Topic", for instance), whereas, again, in Exposé I must hunt windows one by one with the mouse to find window titles if they look alike.
Tabs are a good concept if you use them to group like web pages but fail if you want to use Exposé to rapidly find the web page you want since it'll be burried within the tab a Firefox or Safari window.
I don't know why I bother explaining this...it shouldn't be my business if people want to have suboptimal workflows where things are hidden and otherwise difficult to access directly.
It's absolutely true that tabs fail to use Exposé. That's the point - they are an alternative to Exposé, because Exposé is a sub-optimal workflow for switching between documents within an application. Just because it can do that doesn't mean it's the best tool for the job. Exposé is the best application switcher around, but that's about all it's good for. I gave up on the "Show Application Windows" feature ages ago, as it was simply useless to me. Now i isn't my business that you prefer to use the wrong tool for the job of browser window switching, but you should really back off of those who prefer to do things the right way.
If you're still managing you windows so that you can 'see your desktop', it's not my problem considering Apple gives you the ability to wisk away windows so you get a clear view of your desktop (and in Leopard gives you the opportunity to have an empty space so you can see a clean desktop). Apple gives you everything you need for your window management...if you don't use it, too bad...people wanting a toolbar button to fuel an MDI approach to window management can continue to whine but they have to realise the problem was solved long ago.
The point of having some desktop space available is to allow it to be accessed without the use of Exposé. The point of getting rid of browser-window clutter is blindingly obvious -- it forces you to use Exposé even when it's not what you need, not the best tool for the job or your system is too bogged down to access Exposé quickly, because all those browser windows are needlessly blocking things you could otherwise have gotten to easily just by clicking on them. How can you possibly call immediate one-click access less efficient than Exposé? I use the "whisk away" feature all the time when multi-tasking and I can't avoid having tons of windows from various applications all over the place. But again, it requires more steps than simply dragging something directly to the desktop. Tabs allow you to avoid the clutter associated with multi-tasking in the context of a single application. It's too bad you don't get that choice is a good thing, that just because Apple provides one particular way of doing it doesn't mean it's the best way in every context. They obviously think some choice is a good thing, since they completely disagree with you on the use of tabs --they just need to follow through now and make it a first-class feature rather than hiding it away like some keyboard shortcuts or the Mighty Mouse's right-click abilities.
So the usefulness of Safari comes down to someone not knowing how to use their Mac, and continuing to compare the Mac and it's software to Windows.... UNBELIEVABLE! ...
Sorry for the sarcasm guys, but I am getting so "darn" T-ed at people railing on the Mac, and not having a friggin' clue what they have in front of them.... and it IS NOT A WINDOWS BOX! Thank dawG for that too!
Who said anything about Windows? Internet Explorer was the last major browser to aquire tab functionality, and frankly their implementation sucks. I first used tabs in Firefox, on a Mac. Even Camino, a Mac-only browser, has the new tab button.
Friendly tips--- New Tab button: what for? Double click the titlebar or hit Apple-L->type whatever, and then hit Apple-Return key--BOOM! New tab with what ya typed. Google bar? Do the same thing. To the guy who asked: "What right click on a MBP". Hey fella, ya got yerself a real computer.... did ya take the time to read the advantages of it over a Dell or Toshiba? Try this: in Safari or any window or program for that matter, including the desktop... hit the track pad with 2 FINGERS! Try it, see what happened? The "Context Menu" i.e "right-click", popped up didn't it? In Safari, see "New Tab"... choose it for dawG's sake! Double tap that address bar, or a word on a page to select it, now tap it again with 2 FINGERS. My dawG..My dawG.. what the F---?! "Lookit all dem dar choices! Can even Google the darn thang!" Now, open a long page in Safari... hold 2 FINGERS on the track pad again, and drag down... Holy MF Cow!!! The world just moved for ya didn't it?!
Uh, double clicking on the titlebar minimizes the window. What are you smoking? Yes, you can do a lot by memorizing arcane keyboard shortcuts (shocking fact: Windows apps also have keyboard shortcuts). Would you prefer an entire text-based interface, with no mouse at all? This is a GUI-based operating system, and there are reasons why major features of apps have buttons, not just keyboard shortcuts. Tabs are a major feature, they deserve a button. Seriously, how hard is this?
And a friendly tip.. Apple has removed the "Apple" from its new keyboards. Finally, thank dawG. So please, use the actual name of the key, "Command."
Btw. when you create a new tab, what do you do with it? Look at a blank page?
Typically I'd use it for bookmarks. Bookmarks placed directly in the bookmarks bar can be right-clicked on to open in a new tab, but those in the menus, either the main menu or drop downs, will only open in the current tab. Since I must use the mouse to navigate the menus, I might as well be able to use the mouse to open the tab in which I'm going to open the bookmark, too. Additionally, there doesn't appear to be a way to open the bookmarks "page" or whatever you want to call it (the little open book icon) in a new tab automatically -- so a new tab button would be good for that, too.
Btw, I do use Cmd-T from time to time, such as when I'm entering posts on online forums or filling out forms -- whenever I'm already doing stuff that requires the keyboard. But when you're just browsing and nothing else, you shouldn't have to reach for the keyboard, or go through multiple steps using menus. It's just common sense.
In the Keyboard and Mouse System Preferences Pane under "Trackpad."
Where else should they put it?
Oh, I don't know, in the User's manual. Oh, right, there is no user's manual.
Sorry, user's shouldn't have to search around the internet to find features that are supposed to be awesome.
Come on, the track pad on the macbook/pro's is awesome. You don't need to be a unix programer to figure out tapping the track pad with two fingers is equivalent to a right click.
No, but you need to KNOW it does it. I don't normally get a computer and then start playing with all sorts of varying keyboard and finger combinations trying to figure out all these 'cool' features.
Apple just has problems letting users control things, like turning off memory and CPU hogs like spotlight and dashboard. Hell, my MBP has this nifty illuminated keyboard. Yet I seem to have no control over when it will illuminate. Apple basically decides how dark the room has to be before I need it. Thanks, guys!