How do you "teach" people how to use OS X properly?
Both my parents have it all wrong. They put all their documents and crap in the root level of their hard drive just like they did in OS 9 (and OS 8, and System 7, and System 6...). See, they've both been using Macs for well over ten years now so they're used to the Classic OS way of organizing files. Neither one of them uses their home directories and they don't know what they are for. My mom only puts music files there, because they get automatically put there by iTunes. My dad doesn't use iTunes so he doesn't have ANYTHING in his Home folder.
What's funny is I was working on my dad's computer yesterday, trying to fix Dreamweaver, and I was going really slow because everything was organized in an OS 9-like way. Windows constantly opening instead of staying in the same window, no Applications menu in the dock, etc. I was telling him I remember when he was all excited about Copland in 1996. It was delayed. Then it was going to come out in 1998 or 1999. It was delayed again. OS X is the next generation OS. It's what Copland would have been had it come out earlier. He should probably learn how to use it. But he can't get used to it. I guess it doesn't harm anything to have, oh, 20-30 files in your root directory, most of which are installation logs and other various crap that he's never bothered to delete but could whenever, but eventually he'll have to start using OS X like OS X, and not like OS 9 anymore. Is this a lost cause? Does it even matter?
What's funny is I was working on my dad's computer yesterday, trying to fix Dreamweaver, and I was going really slow because everything was organized in an OS 9-like way. Windows constantly opening instead of staying in the same window, no Applications menu in the dock, etc. I was telling him I remember when he was all excited about Copland in 1996. It was delayed. Then it was going to come out in 1998 or 1999. It was delayed again. OS X is the next generation OS. It's what Copland would have been had it come out earlier. He should probably learn how to use it. But he can't get used to it. I guess it doesn't harm anything to have, oh, 20-30 files in your root directory, most of which are installation logs and other various crap that he's never bothered to delete but could whenever, but eventually he'll have to start using OS X like OS X, and not like OS 9 anymore. Is this a lost cause? Does it even matter?
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Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
Both my parents have it all wrong. They put all their documents and crap in the root level of their hard drive just like they did in OS 9 (and OS 8, and System 7, and System 6...). See, they've both been using Macs for well over ten years now so they're used to the Classic OS way of organizing files. Neither one of them uses their home directories and they don't know what they are for. My mom only puts music files there, because they get automatically put there by iTunes. My dad doesn't use iTunes so he doesn't have ANYTHING in his Home folder.
What's funny is I was working on my dad's computer yesterday, trying to fix Dreamweaver, and I was going really slow because everything was organized in an OS 9-like way. Windows constantly opening instead of staying in the same window, no Applications menu in the dock, etc. I was telling him I remember when he was all excited about Copland in 1996. It was delayed. Then it was going to come out in 1998 or 1999. It was delayed again. OS X is the next generation OS. It's what Copland would have been had it come out earlier. He should probably learn how to use it. But he can't get used to it. I guess it doesn't harm anything to have, oh, 20-30 files in your root directory, most of which are installation logs and other various crap that he's never bothered to delete but could whenever, but eventually he'll have to start using OS X like OS X, and not like OS 9 anymore. Is this a lost cause? Does it even matter?
On my wifes machine on the finder desktop I disabled having it show the hard drives, and set the finder to default to her home folder view when she clicks on the mac face on the dock. that seems to work, she does that, or just leaves stuff on the desktop.(which means that stuff is in her home folder too)
potentially, they might run into permissions issues parking user files in directories assigned to system
makes .mac backup of home folder a bit pointless, too
And they have absolutely no need for .mac so the home folder backup doesn't matter.
I basically show them how to create a simple folder structure inside the Documents directory so they ge into the habit of saving all their Office-type files there, while saving all photos to Pictures, audio to Music, etc.
I also explain that any time they want to install something, they should make sure the Applications folder is selected in the installer. A lot of times it isn't by default and that's how crap ends up in the root folder.
My first impulse is to put everything in its place. The people I've turned on to Macs lately (since Jaguar/Panther), I've made it a special point of telling them how it's set up and what their Home folder is all about (and why, ideally, stuff should go in there.
Just makes life SO much easier: backing up, finding stuff, etc. Not an instance I can think of where being a sloppy, unorganized bonehead with shit flung all over the place and installation logs and whatnot all junked over the root level is actually preferable or superior than possessing at least a basic sense of "where stuff goes".
But that's just me...
Originally posted by pscates
I'm such a ridiculous neat freak that I absolutely flip out and get the screaming heebie jeebies when I come across a junky, cluttered, unorganized Mac.
My first impulse is to put everything in its place. The people I've turned on to Macs lately (since Jaguar/Panther), I've made it a special point of telling them how it's set up and what their Home folder is all about (and why, ideally, stuff should go in there.
Just makes life SO much easier: backing up, finding stuff, etc. Not an instance I can think of where being a sloppy, unorganized bonehead with shit flung all over the place and installation logs and whatnot all junked over the root level is actually preferable or superior than possessing at least a basic sense of "where stuff goes".
But that's just me...
I always organize the dock and stuff people mess up when I am at the Apple store.. it annoys me way to much
Originally posted by Ichiban_jay
or ppl that don't know that when you hit the red X button you don't actually close the program...
This problem is made even worse as most macs on display only have 256mb of ram....
Originally posted by Ichiban_jay
or ppl that don't know that when you hit the red X button you don't actually close the program...
Well, that's Classic thinking, since an inactive app should have negligible performance impact.
I've now migrated about 10 clients (~1500 computers, 8000 users, all educational) to 10.2/10.3 - and my personal bugbear is users who drag apps to their desktop - which is on the server. I ran a find for '*.app' in everyone's desktop at one site recently, and cleared around 200 apps ( mostly IE - even though it's in their dock as standard!). So i am considering a teaching technique call "I'm going to hurt you in the face if you do that again".
I always organize the dock and stuff people mess up when I am at the Apple store.. it annoys me way to much
I always thought I was the only one doing that...
(And obviously not mess with where apps are etc, the folders in the users directories are usually sufficient to store most stuff.)
I think Apple should consider having the Home directory appear on the desktop by default, at least in addition to, and perhaps instead of, the drives.
I'm also giving setting the Invisible attribute on my Desktop folder a try. It won't appear in the drop down menu in dialog boxes, but it still appears in the sidebar and Command-D still works. So far so good.
Originally posted by MacUsers
I always organize the dock and stuff people mess up when I am at the Apple store.. it annoys me way to much
This is my HUGE PET PEAVE: People go to the Applestore, go to a Mac, and hunt down the (really clunky) AOL app, open it, and THEN surf the internet or chat. That freakin' KILLS me. Damn. There should be a little piece of paper next to each mac (you know, in a molded plexiglass stand) that tells customers where to go for internet, etc.
"Click the compass icon to surf the internet with Safari, Apple's advanced web browser. Click the Instant Messenger icon to chat with your friends on AIM with Apple's easy-to-use iChat"
Damn, that would be nice.
Originally posted by Placebo
This is my HUGE PET PEAVE: People go to the Applestore, go to a Mac, and hunt down the (really clunky) AOL app, open it, and THEN surf the internet or chat. That freakin' KILLS me. Damn. There should be a little piece of paper next to each mac (you know, in a molded plexiglass stand) that tells customers where to go for internet, etc.
"Click the compass icon to surf the internet with Safari, Apple's advanced web browser. Click the Instant Messenger icon to chat with your friends on AIM with Apple's easy-to-use iChat"
Damn, that would be nice.
It would be nice. I recently switched to MAC and i love it but i needed the help of placebo to get me going on iChat and Safari
people can work with straight away. and
even an advanced os with an _advanced_
gui shouldn't need more time to get used
to for os 9 users than, maybe two or three
hours.
there is no way to _teach_ people how
to use a harddrive when it worked for them
the last four generations of an os.
i think there are some bigger flaws in
a user-perspective of osx.
apple menu for apps is gone. the
"open application" menu is gone.
everything _has_ to be in the dock in
order to access it directly. i feel that
osx is more computer orientated, while
os9 was more user concentrated.
ever noticed that the desktopfolder of os9
was hidden, while the hd icons where lying
on the desktop, while osx desktopfolder
is actually _visible_ as a folder on the hd,
while the hd still resides on the desktop?
Originally posted by Placebo
This is my HUGE PET PEAVE: People go to the Applestore, go to a Mac, and hunt down the (really clunky) AOL app, open it, and THEN surf the internet or chat. That freakin' KILLS me. Damn. There should be a little piece of paper next to each mac (you know, in a molded plexiglass stand) that tells customers where to go for internet, etc.
Nah. It would just get lost, so do what I do: ascertain whether or not the store managers were smart enough not to leave an administrator account enabled for customer use. Usually they are not smart enough, and therefore, you can delete stuff.
Like AOL, Exploder, and any nasty pictures people put on there. Once I was in a retailer where a couple of punks had downloaded a picture of some guy plugging a goat or something and left it on the desktop with a "click here" name. After that I always look around for jpgs or other files in the user level that obviously didn't come from Apple.
Delete when needed... it's not a crime.
Originally posted by Ichiban_jay
or ppl that don't know that when you hit the red X button you don't actually close the program...
It's been a slloooooowwww ongoing process to get my parents to understand that. They're *almost* to the point where they remember to quit instead of just close the window. Whenever I'm on their machines I always peruse the dock to see if there's anything I can quit for them.
Originally posted by Placebo
This is my HUGE PET PEAVE: People go to the Applestore, go to a Mac, and hunt down the (really clunky) AOL app, open it, and THEN surf the internet or chat. That freakin' KILLS me. Damn. There should be a little piece of paper next to each mac (you know, in a molded plexiglass stand) that tells customers where to go for internet, etc.
"Click the compass icon to surf the internet with Safari, Apple's advanced web browser. Click the Instant Messenger icon to chat with your friends on AIM with Apple's easy-to-use iChat"
Damn, that would be nice.
Just buy a few 100 post-its and write than on them, then stick 'em to all the computers
Originally posted by Jellytussle
Well, that's Classic thinking, since an inactive app should have negligible performance impact.
Yeah, it should, but if you ever run top while Microsoft Word is running, even with no open documents, it is rather amazing how much CPU they use.
Anyway, I think people are going to use computers however they can get them to work. Is there some aspect of the interface that needs to be more "logical" for people who stick everything in their root directory?
Personally, once I started using OS X I was putting all of my stuff in my home directory, so I don't understand why other people like their method of doing things. I explain to people that using the home directory is the best way to do things and show them how to use it, but only about half of them seem to get it.