Neeeeever gonna happen. The menu bar is at the top to stay.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know that it is VERY unlikely that the menu bar will move. It is too much of a feature of MacOSes. I'm just hoping that maybe they'll add the ability to move it if you want to (and default it to top), but it's not that big of a deal. The real feature would be to hide the menubar though, at least during inactivity (it wouldn't auto-hide by default of course). Or maybe have a keyboard shortcut to hide it or something. There are sometimes when I would want to hide it when I don't need it. It's not a big deal, but one of those little things that would be nice.
And btw, is there a keyboard command to put focus on the program menus on the menubar (like the Alt button does in windows. Where you can use the cursors and other keys to navigate the menus once you get the focus there.) I like to know lots of keyboard shortcuts like that, sometimes I like to use just keyboard, or just mouse. So I like features to support both ways.
I know that it is VERY unlikely that the menu bar will move. It is too much of a feature of MacOSes. I'm just hoping that maybe they'll add the ability to move it if you want to (and default it to top), but it's not that big of a deal. The real feature would be to hide the menubar though, at least during inactivity (it wouldn't auto-hide by default of course). Or maybe have a keyboard shortcut to hide it or something. There are sometimes when I would want to hide it when I don't need it. It's not a big deal, but one of those little things that would be nice.
And btw, is there a keyboard command to put focus on the program menus on the menubar (like the Alt button does in windows. Where you can use the cursors and other keys to navigate the menus once you get the focus there.) I like to know lots of keyboard shortcuts like that, sometimes I like to use just keyboard, or just mouse. So I like features to support both ways.
Well, the NeXT menu bar was vertically oriented, so the kind of flexibility you're asking for isn't completely foriegn to the current Mac UE team.
I wouldn't stand on one foot while waiting for anything though. The global menu menu, visible at all times, at the top of the screen, is a pretty much canonical Mac UI. It is heresy to suggest otherwise.
As for menu focus, go to System Prefrences > Keyboard > Full Keyboard Access. Not as extensive as Windows, but the basics for what you're looking for are there. The one missing feature is expected to be filled in, in Jaguar.
I would like to be able to run X11 apps with the Quartz display server. I don't like booting up XDarwin to run some apps that only come in X11 flavors. OpenOffice.org is going to release an OSX version (it's already public alpha) and a release of OSX with the ability to run X11 apps right alongside Aqua apps, with the same appearance, would be great for those people that depend on Microsoft when they pull (and they will) out of the Mac market.
Right now the Dock sees XDarwin as a single process. So that means that to switch to an X11 app, I have to first switch to the XDarwin app, and then use whatever app switcher that's in whatever window manager I've decided to use to get to my application. Boo.
<strong>another simple (i assume so) dock request:
right now, you can have the dock on the 3 open sides of the screen.
i want this improved so that i can have the dock on the bottom and either moved all the way left or right. same with the side views.
i don't want the dock ALWAYS centered. this would make it a lot more usable.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Before apple gave you the choice of three sides I thought that the tools that let you choose which side to place the dock also let you choose left, center, or right anchoring for the dock. (the reason I'm being so vague is I don't recall which freeware tool I used to make that option accessible). I assume the hooks are still there??
Before apple gave you the choice of three sides I thought that the tools that let you choose which side to place the dock also let you choose left, center, or right anchoring for the dock. (the reason I'm being so vague is I don't recall which freeware tool I used to make that option accessible). I assume the hooks are still there??</strong><hr></blockquote>
Doesn't OSX have some really good collision detection? I remember some PC vid card drivers that let me create virtual desktops that extended out beyond the screen edges, but they mostly sucked because the screen was impossible to navigate in a fluid manner. Crap. However...
Take some of OSX's transparency and collision detection and set it up so that the virtual-extended desktop goes about it's business in a much more intelligent fashion.
Firstly, that it scrolls only on ONE AXIS. (I prefer horizontal, since most page paraigms are vertical this allows you to put two pages side by side, but I suppose it could be made user selectable as long as it's only ONE AXIS and doesn't have your desktop scrolling to the four winds)
Secondly, the dock and menubar follow you side to side (Let's just stick to horizontal for the sake of explanation). Their transparency just seems to float over the portion of virtual desktop that your screen wants to cover. Think early 90's 2-d multi-layer side scrolling video-game.
Let's say you're working in photoshop on an iMac17". It has a healthy amount of real estate, but you want to look at as much of your picture as possible and still keep a bunch of open platelettes and tools. Currently, they float and they can either be in the foregroung or the background depending on what you want to do. But with my model, you could just open them and move them to the side.
In the interests of simplicity, a menu would allow you to choose a screen multiplication ratio, 33, 50 or 67% more real-estate. We'll use 50 as a default. Instead of 1440x900, you would create a desktop of 2160x900 (50% wider). Now you open all your platelettes and relevant plug-in tools and just drag them to the side. The desktop SMOOTHLY (and not too quickly) follows you over. And simultaneously, the dock and menubar reatin the orientation on the screen. All gliding with beautiful transparency over any open desktop elements. Some intelligence sorts out the motion and makes it smooth rather than jerky or nauseating. I can have my file open to the left and all my tools to the right and instead of opening and closing things as I need them, I just pan side to side. I can even set certain apps to launch in such predefined conditions. A future QE should be able to greatly assist this as it would allow seperate windows to maintain their real time visuals (video, animation, whatever normal upadte) as the screen itself panned over the desktop.
Or I might work on two long documents and have them both open side-by-side such that my panning between them always brings the dock and menubar over me.
The key is that it's smart rather than annoying. That the OS has schemes to sort out any ergonomically annoying bits and keeps everything easy to find and natural on the desktop.
I think the best thing for Apple to do, since they're on this whole digital movie kick is to buy out the program Movie Maestro, redo it as an iApp, and incorporate it into their digital hub. (For those of you who don't know, Movie Maestro is simple but powerfully effective audio application that allows you to add music to a scene in your iMovies or FCP projects. For instance, need some dramatic music that is exactly thirteen and a half seconds long? Movie Maestro will give you a list and then adjust the length of the clip for you. Still want dramatic music at 13.5 seconds, but want it with a jazz twist? Movie Maestro allows you to change the feel of the music without actually changing the music itself. It's actually really cool.) I don't have a link, but they have a trial version you can download from versiontracker.com/macosx and you can get to the developer site from there.
Comments
<strong>
Neeeeever gonna happen. The menu bar is at the top to stay.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know that it is VERY unlikely that the menu bar will move. It is too much of a feature of MacOSes. I'm just hoping that maybe they'll add the ability to move it if you want to (and default it to top), but it's not that big of a deal. The real feature would be to hide the menubar though, at least during inactivity (it wouldn't auto-hide by default of course). Or maybe have a keyboard shortcut to hide it or something. There are sometimes when I would want to hide it when I don't need it. It's not a big deal, but one of those little things that would be nice.
And btw, is there a keyboard command to put focus on the program menus on the menubar (like the Alt button does in windows. Where you can use the cursors and other keys to navigate the menus once you get the focus there.) I like to know lots of keyboard shortcuts like that, sometimes I like to use just keyboard, or just mouse. So I like features to support both ways.
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: pyr3 ]</p>
<strong>
I know that it is VERY unlikely that the menu bar will move. It is too much of a feature of MacOSes. I'm just hoping that maybe they'll add the ability to move it if you want to (and default it to top), but it's not that big of a deal. The real feature would be to hide the menubar though, at least during inactivity (it wouldn't auto-hide by default of course). Or maybe have a keyboard shortcut to hide it or something. There are sometimes when I would want to hide it when I don't need it. It's not a big deal, but one of those little things that would be nice.
And btw, is there a keyboard command to put focus on the program menus on the menubar (like the Alt button does in windows. Where you can use the cursors and other keys to navigate the menus once you get the focus there.) I like to know lots of keyboard shortcuts like that, sometimes I like to use just keyboard, or just mouse. So I like features to support both ways.
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: pyr3 ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, the NeXT menu bar was vertically oriented, so the kind of flexibility you're asking for isn't completely foriegn to the current Mac UE team.
I wouldn't stand on one foot while waiting for anything though. The global menu menu, visible at all times, at the top of the screen, is a pretty much canonical Mac UI. It is heresy to suggest otherwise.
As for menu focus, go to System Prefrences > Keyboard > Full Keyboard Access. Not as extensive as Windows, but the basics for what you're looking for are there. The one missing feature is expected to be filled in, in Jaguar.
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: Hobbes ]</p>
Right now the Dock sees XDarwin as a single process. So that means that to switch to an X11 app, I have to first switch to the XDarwin app, and then use whatever app switcher that's in whatever window manager I've decided to use to get to my application. Boo.
I hope that happens.
right now, you can have the dock on the 3 open sides of the screen.
i want this improved so that i can have the dock on the bottom and either moved all the way left or right. same with the side views.
i don't want the dock ALWAYS centered. this would make it a lot more usable.
<strong>another simple (i assume so) dock request:
right now, you can have the dock on the 3 open sides of the screen.
i want this improved so that i can have the dock on the bottom and either moved all the way left or right. same with the side views.
i don't want the dock ALWAYS centered. this would make it a lot more usable.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Before apple gave you the choice of three sides I thought that the tools that let you choose which side to place the dock also let you choose left, center, or right anchoring for the dock. (the reason I'm being so vague is I don't recall which freeware tool I used to make that option accessible). I assume the hooks are still there??
<strong>
Before apple gave you the choice of three sides I thought that the tools that let you choose which side to place the dock also let you choose left, center, or right anchoring for the dock. (the reason I'm being so vague is I don't recall which freeware tool I used to make that option accessible). I assume the hooks are still there??</strong><hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=11967&db=mac"; target="_blank">TinkerTool</a>
Doesn't OSX have some really good collision detection? I remember some PC vid card drivers that let me create virtual desktops that extended out beyond the screen edges, but they mostly sucked because the screen was impossible to navigate in a fluid manner. Crap. However...
Take some of OSX's transparency and collision detection and set it up so that the virtual-extended desktop goes about it's business in a much more intelligent fashion.
Firstly, that it scrolls only on ONE AXIS. (I prefer horizontal, since most page paraigms are vertical this allows you to put two pages side by side, but I suppose it could be made user selectable as long as it's only ONE AXIS and doesn't have your desktop scrolling to the four winds)
Secondly, the dock and menubar follow you side to side (Let's just stick to horizontal for the sake of explanation). Their transparency just seems to float over the portion of virtual desktop that your screen wants to cover. Think early 90's 2-d multi-layer side scrolling video-game.
Let's say you're working in photoshop on an iMac17". It has a healthy amount of real estate, but you want to look at as much of your picture as possible and still keep a bunch of open platelettes and tools. Currently, they float and they can either be in the foregroung or the background depending on what you want to do. But with my model, you could just open them and move them to the side.
In the interests of simplicity, a menu would allow you to choose a screen multiplication ratio, 33, 50 or 67% more real-estate. We'll use 50 as a default. Instead of 1440x900, you would create a desktop of 2160x900 (50% wider). Now you open all your platelettes and relevant plug-in tools and just drag them to the side. The desktop SMOOTHLY (and not too quickly) follows you over. And simultaneously, the dock and menubar reatin the orientation on the screen. All gliding with beautiful transparency over any open desktop elements. Some intelligence sorts out the motion and makes it smooth rather than jerky or nauseating. I can have my file open to the left and all my tools to the right and instead of opening and closing things as I need them, I just pan side to side. I can even set certain apps to launch in such predefined conditions. A future QE should be able to greatly assist this as it would allow seperate windows to maintain their real time visuals (video, animation, whatever normal upadte) as the screen itself panned over the desktop.
Or I might work on two long documents and have them both open side-by-side such that my panning between them always brings the dock and menubar over me.
The key is that it's smart rather than annoying. That the OS has schemes to sort out any ergonomically annoying bits and keeps everything easy to find and natural on the desktop.
10.3 codename, serpent!
MUHAHAHAH!!!