I want better scrollwheel support, which is an area Windows is just better in. The big example is horizontal scrolling - if there is no room to scroll vertically, a lot of Windows programs (and the Explorer) let you scroll horizontally without a modifier. I find the Apple way of always requiring that shift modifier, even in iPhoto's horizontal photo strip, to be really annoying.
In general, I think that Apple needs to consider more uses where scroll-wheel support can do more than simple scrolling. If you try Google's excellent Picasa 2 program, you'll see that one thing that makes it so intuitive is that you can flip through maximized photos by using the scroll wheel. Reaper, a really good multitrack audio program for Mac and Windows, lets you use the scrollwheel to zoom in horizontally, which is tremendously useful. If you click the scroll-wheel in any Windows web-browser, you can immediately scroll around in all directions by gesturing with your mouse.
I know, most won't agree with me on this one, but...
The ability to add a BACKGROUND to applications like photoshop! I hate that if I misclick on something behind the app, the app disappears and I am suddenly in the finder or someplace and have to alt-tab back into it. All I need is a check box in the options menu for "opaque background" or something.
* Menus in the dock. Ie- you put a folder in the dock (eg- applications) and you can open it in one click. you can do this in OSX now, but you have to either right click or hold down the left click.
I want more of a ... dare i say it... start menu folder.
Sleep/Wake is still an issue for me. Sometimes I'll flip my MacBook open, type name and password and it will pop right back to sleep. It can be a chore getting it to wake back up again. Maybe I need to reset the PMU?
Someone else mentioned mounted drives. They are still a problem. It's getting better though.
I know, most won't agree with me on this one, but...
The ability to add a BACKGROUND to applications like photoshop! I hate that if I misclick on something behind the app, the app disappears and I am suddenly in the finder or someplace and have to alt-tab back into it. All I need is a check box in the options menu for "opaque background" or something.
photoshop has this feature - view> screen mode> full screen with menubar
though it would be nice to have this ability on the Os side...
Safari needs a "Go" button to the right of the address bar.
There is no automatic resize of columns. I hate that.
YES! to both.
Also, in safari:
- allow user to select text and drag to google search, rather than forcing cutting/pasting.
- "Search in Google" should always open a new tab, otherwise it's useless if you're actually reading something and want to check a fact.
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
Sorry, I'm still failing to see where there needs to be a 'Go' button. Hit Return. The button is redundant.
Quote:
Also, in safari:
- allow user to select text and drag to google search, rather than forcing cutting/pasting.
Good catch, hadn't noticed that one.
Quote:
- "Search in Google" should always open a new tab, otherwise it's useless if you're actually reading something and want to check a fact.
Interesting idea...
Quote:
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
Sorry, but no, that's not going to change. Windows broke pre-existing behavior with their key mappings. Home/End were pegged to the Home and End of the document long before Windows came along. (Or the Mac for that matter.) Try Cmd-<- and Cmd--> for what you want.
Quote:
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
You're right. It's too bad Windows decided to buck the trend.
Unix systems have long used ctrl - Apple used cmd (what you call Apple) instead (and again, long before Windows existed), and it's great, because it doesn't cause any conflicts. You can use both sets of commands within an application, such as Terminal, that needs both sets of behaviors. Ever tried connecting to a Unix box from a Windows app? It can't tell half the time if you want to send the keystroke to the app, or the terminal shell. You want to talk about a pain in the ass...
[QUOTE=Kickaha;1124320]Sorry, I'm still failing to see where there needs to be a 'Go' button. Hit Return. The button is redundant.</QUOTE>
If one is pasting a URL into the address field, having a GO button would eliminate the need to go to the keyboard.
I didn't expect that redefining key functionality would be accepted, it's just that as more windows users move to macs, now that they are intel-based and thus allow users to utilize the best of two terrific operating systems, this type of crossover in functionality - whether implemented by apple or by ms - would improve the user experience. Given the relative adoption rates for osx vs windows, it would seem such a move would be more likely to be considered by apple than ms. But this is not a show-stopper, just one of those small things that as implemented cause a few swearing sessions, but might be easily rectified. A decent key re-mapper might be a thought; I've not come across a need (as I recall) for ctrl-c, -v, -x or -z in osx apps thus far.
And another nice touch in safari - if one accesses the google search bar and accidently clicks the down arrow when setting focus to the google address, instead of directly in the field, results in the drops down display of past searches. No problem. But, were this to occur using windows my typing would be directed to the edit field closing the dropdown, and not to the contents of that dropdown list itself. Again, duplicating this would be a nice touch; using the keyboard to select one of a handful of past searches is unproductive, as is having to click a second time inside the google field to resume typing. It's especially annoying when working quickly and the just "throwing" the cursor into the google field as you type, only to find nada because the dropdown was shown.
Have Address Book have extendable xml type of structure. Adress book doesn't have to know if Skype or "Skipe" for that matter is valid IM name, it should just store the data. And provide it to programs that actually know how to use it. Same goes to actually all the meta data, why we are still usually confined under predefined meta data? Naturally there has to be some predefined fields for compatibility, but why not also leave option for extendability? Programs that don't know how to use that data can just skip it.
Yes, extendable XML would be great but, I guess, I'm just being practical. I'd like to have it this side of 4 years. That's how long I think it'll take 'em to put extendable XML into the OS across the board... :-(
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
It's a Mac, not a Windows machine. Home means the beginning of the document and End means the End of the document. Command-right arrow and Command-left arrow do the sideways stuff that you want. Windows just got it wrong.
Quote:
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
R.
Then Windows should have insisted that there be a Windows key on the keyboards using their OS. Instead, since the bastards Xeroxed the Mac interface, even down to using the exact same fucking keys (x, c, and v) for Cut, Copy, and Paste, then it's their problem if people get confused. These editing functions were originally command-x, etc. and it is NOT Apple's duty to change them to the Control key. Plus, as Kickaha whose brain is hung like a HORSE points out, using the Control key for standard GUI functions is a kludge and steps all over standard Unix shell functionality.
Sorry, I'm still failing to see where there needs to be a 'Go' button. Hit Return. The button is redundant.
I sometimes surf solely with the mouse, without the keyboard in my lap. People should be able to surf without the keyboard unless they need it for typing in text or URLs. They shouldn't need it just to hit Return. I went so far as to have a series of QuicKeys Toolbar buttons that do nothing except enter Return, Enter, Delete, and Escape, so I can do it with the mouse.
I think my comment about home and end was misinterpreted and applied specifically to edit fields within a safari-rendered web page, such as the box I am typing in now. Home/End, IMHO, should affect the cursor action within the active edit box, not scroll the entire web page to the bottom or top. Outside of the edit field the behaviour is as would be expected.
photoshop has this feature - view> screen mode> full screen with menubar
though it would be nice to have this ability on the Os side...
This is what a rep at the apple store suggested, but it doesn't do what I'm looking for. That expands the open image's window to fullscreen, not give the program an opaque background. If the image is maximized, I can't view more than one at a time, side by side, or in the proper placement amongst the toolbars, so I rarely find that view the least bit useful.
Not griping at you, as it was a good suggestion, just still frustrated with that aspect of the OS.
There are a few things I would like to see as a basic user:
1. Notify the user if the S.M.A.R.T Drive is going bad, I use SMARTReporter that will email me if a HD problem is starting and it can add a small icon on the menu bar - green if the HD is OK and red if it is starting to go south. Discovered this one when a HD on my PB went south.
2. Allow an export from pages directly into Mail, just like you can send photos via email. Saving as HTML doesn't seem to work for me and I think a lot of people would like this function.
3. In iCal, set up an easy to find birthday/anniversary feature. I think it's in there somewhere, but no telling where!
4. Add transparency adjustment for the dock. I use ClearDock simply because I prefer to have the background 100% transparent. Shouldn't be that hard to do.
2. Allow an export from pages directly into Mail, just like you can send photos via email. Saving as HTML doesn't seem to work for me and I think a lot of people would like this function.
Better: Bring up the Print dialog, and under the PDF button, select Mail PDF.
1. The way the Finder abbreviates file/folder sizes is absolutely bizarre:
It shows the first character or two and the last character or two....
4...B could be a 48KB text file or it could be a folder containing 489GB of videos
Looking at Macintosh HD on my Desktop it reads 297.97 GB, ... .25 GB free
It's pointless as it doesn't actually tell me how many GB are free (it's not really 0.25GB free). I know I have a 320GB drive which translates to a 298GB real capacity.
2. The 'Zoom' button. Fails to work to needs/expectations in just about every single case. Should be a preference change to make it a Maximize button instead.
Comments
In general, I think that Apple needs to consider more uses where scroll-wheel support can do more than simple scrolling. If you try Google's excellent Picasa 2 program, you'll see that one thing that makes it so intuitive is that you can flip through maximized photos by using the scroll wheel. Reaper, a really good multitrack audio program for Mac and Windows, lets you use the scrollwheel to zoom in horizontally, which is tremendously useful. If you click the scroll-wheel in any Windows web-browser, you can immediately scroll around in all directions by gesturing with your mouse.
The ability to add a BACKGROUND to applications like photoshop! I hate that if I misclick on something behind the app, the app disappears and I am suddenly in the finder or someplace and have to alt-tab back into it. All I need is a check box in the options menu for "opaque background" or something.
I want more of a ... dare i say it... start menu folder.
Someone else mentioned mounted drives. They are still a problem. It's getting better though.
I know, most won't agree with me on this one, but...
The ability to add a BACKGROUND to applications like photoshop! I hate that if I misclick on something behind the app, the app disappears and I am suddenly in the finder or someplace and have to alt-tab back into it. All I need is a check box in the options menu for "opaque background" or something.
photoshop has this feature - view> screen mode> full screen with menubar
though it would be nice to have this ability on the Os side...
Safari needs a "Go" button to the right of the address bar.
There is no automatic resize of columns. I hate that.
YES! to both.
Also, in safari:
- allow user to select text and drag to google search, rather than forcing cutting/pasting.
- "Search in Google" should always open a new tab, otherwise it's useless if you're actually reading something and want to check a fact.
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
R.
YES! to both.
Sorry, I'm still failing to see where there needs to be a 'Go' button. Hit Return. The button is redundant.
Also, in safari:
- allow user to select text and drag to google search, rather than forcing cutting/pasting.
Good catch, hadn't noticed that one.
- "Search in Google" should always open a new tab, otherwise it's useless if you're actually reading something and want to check a fact.
Interesting idea...
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
Sorry, but no, that's not going to change. Windows broke pre-existing behavior with their key mappings. Home/End were pegged to the Home and End of the document long before Windows came along. (Or the Mac for that matter.) Try Cmd-<- and Cmd--> for what you want.
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
You're right. It's too bad Windows decided to buck the trend.
Unix systems have long used ctrl - Apple used cmd (what you call Apple) instead (and again, long before Windows existed), and it's great, because it doesn't cause any conflicts. You can use both sets of commands within an application, such as Terminal, that needs both sets of behaviors. Ever tried connecting to a Unix box from a Windows app? It can't tell half the time if you want to send the keystroke to the app, or the terminal shell. You want to talk about a pain in the ass...
If one is pasting a URL into the address field, having a GO button would eliminate the need to go to the keyboard.
I didn't expect that redefining key functionality would be accepted, it's just that as more windows users move to macs, now that they are intel-based and thus allow users to utilize the best of two terrific operating systems, this type of crossover in functionality - whether implemented by apple or by ms - would improve the user experience. Given the relative adoption rates for osx vs windows, it would seem such a move would be more likely to be considered by apple than ms. But this is not a show-stopper, just one of those small things that as implemented cause a few swearing sessions, but might be easily rectified. A decent key re-mapper might be a thought; I've not come across a need (as I recall) for ctrl-c, -v, -x or -z in osx apps thus far.
And another nice touch in safari - if one accesses the google search bar and accidently clicks the down arrow when setting focus to the google address, instead of directly in the field, results in the drops down display of past searches. No problem. But, were this to occur using windows my typing would be directed to the edit field closing the dropdown, and not to the contents of that dropdown list itself. Again, duplicating this would be a nice touch; using the keyboard to select one of a handful of past searches is unproductive, as is having to click a second time inside the google field to resume typing. It's especially annoying when working quickly and the just "throwing" the cursor into the google field as you type, only to find nada because the dropdown was shown.
Have "Skype" as IM option in Address Book!
Have Address Book have extendable xml type of structure. Adress book doesn't have to know if Skype or "Skipe" for that matter is valid IM name, it should just store the data. And provide it to programs that actually know how to use it. Same goes to actually all the meta data, why we are still usually confined under predefined meta data? Naturally there has to be some predefined fields for compatibility, but why not also leave option for extendability? Programs that don't know how to use that data can just skip it.
Overall in Mac OS (coming from a Windows background and day-to-day Windows business user):
- When in a text box (such as this edit field), hitting the End key means "go to the end of the line", not scroll the whole damn window. Ditto, the home key means "go to the first char on the line". And in true Windows parlance, CTRL home means go to top of the text (char 1), and CTRL end means go to the end of the text.
It's a Mac, not a Windows machine. Home means the beginning of the document and End means the End of the document. Command-right arrow and Command-left arrow do the sideways stuff that you want. Windows just got it wrong.
- The use of the apple key instead of the control key (e.g. for pasting/copying/cutting/undo/redo etc) is a PITA, as I get home and hit CTRL+C - oops, should be apple+C, then back at work I hit ALT+C - crap, that should have been CTRL+C. Having a modicum of standardization across disparate operating systems is not necessarily a bad thing.
R.
Then Windows should have insisted that there be a Windows key on the keyboards using their OS. Instead, since the bastards Xeroxed the Mac interface, even down to using the exact same fucking keys (x, c, and v) for Cut, Copy, and Paste, then it's their problem if people get confused. These editing functions were originally command-x, etc. and it is NOT Apple's duty to change them to the Control key. Plus, as Kickaha whose brain is hung like a HORSE points out, using the Control key for standard GUI functions is a kludge and steps all over standard Unix shell functionality.
Sorry, I'm still failing to see where there needs to be a 'Go' button. Hit Return. The button is redundant.
I sometimes surf solely with the mouse, without the keyboard in my lap. People should be able to surf without the keyboard unless they need it for typing in text or URLs. They shouldn't need it just to hit Return. I went so far as to have a series of QuicKeys Toolbar buttons that do nothing except enter Return, Enter, Delete, and Escape, so I can do it with the mouse.
photoshop has this feature - view> screen mode> full screen with menubar
though it would be nice to have this ability on the Os side...
This is what a rep at the apple store suggested, but it doesn't do what I'm looking for. That expands the open image's window to fullscreen, not give the program an opaque background. If the image is maximized, I can't view more than one at a time, side by side, or in the proper placement amongst the toolbars, so I rarely find that view the least bit useful.
Not griping at you, as it was a good suggestion, just still frustrated with that aspect of the OS.
1. Notify the user if the S.M.A.R.T Drive is going bad, I use SMARTReporter that will email me if a HD problem is starting and it can add a small icon on the menu bar - green if the HD is OK and red if it is starting to go south. Discovered this one when a HD on my PB went south.
2. Allow an export from pages directly into Mail, just like you can send photos via email. Saving as HTML doesn't seem to work for me and I think a lot of people would like this function.
3. In iCal, set up an easy to find birthday/anniversary feature. I think it's in there somewhere, but no telling where!
4. Add transparency adjustment for the dock. I use ClearDock simply because I prefer to have the background 100% transparent. Shouldn't be that hard to do.
2. Allow an export from pages directly into Mail, just like you can send photos via email. Saving as HTML doesn't seem to work for me and I think a lot of people would like this function.
Better: Bring up the Print dialog, and under the PDF button, select Mail PDF.
Works in any app you can print in.
- "Search in Google" should always open a new tab, otherwise it's useless if you're actually reading something and want to check a fact.
No need to drag and drop. Highlight the text, right-mouse click and select Search with Google...
Dave
It shows the first character or two and the last character or two....
4...B could be a 48KB text file or it could be a folder containing 489GB of videos
Looking at Macintosh HD on my Desktop it reads 297.97 GB, ... .25 GB free
It's pointless as it doesn't actually tell me how many GB are free (it's not really 0.25GB free). I know I have a 320GB drive which translates to a 298GB real capacity.
2. The 'Zoom' button. Fails to work to needs/expectations in just about every single case. Should be a preference change to make it a Maximize button instead.