iTunes user interface on Mac and Windows

trumptmantrumptman
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
I was reading at a site call XvsXP or something of that nature and it mentioned the responsiveness of the scrollbars in both operating systems. It mentioned that Windows was better at handling this as the mac would often get behind with scrolling.



It wasn't cited as a big issue and the Mac wins out at the end of the comparison. However I did try both OS's to see if his point was true regarding the responsiveness of the scrollbars and it is in my opinion.



The interesting thing though is I started up iTunes on Windows and not only does it have the Mac user interface elements. It also scrolls like on the Mac. (slight lag)



So I thought I would get your ponderings on this. Is the lag a user interface "feature" or what? It acts the same way in iTunes on Windows and Mac. I use Mozilla on Windows as well which has to emulate certain user interface elements. It has no trouble keeping up with the scrolling on Windows. On the Mac, it scrolls just like the rest of the Mac apps.



What do you guys and gals think?



Nick

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    mount_my_floppymount_my_floppy Posts: 913member
    What do you mean it lags? You mean it clicks over a notch hangs a second and then continues clicking away?



    I think this is probably a feature, If not its a "feature" if you know what I mean.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mount_my_floppy

    What do you mean it lags? You mean it clicks over a notch hangs a second and then continues clicking away?



    I think this is probably a feature, If not its a "feature" if you know what I mean.



    What I mean by lag is if you had a large list of songs and scrolled it down using scroll bar and mouse, it is possible to move the mouse faster than the list will scroll. The list will scroll and "catch up" to where the mouse pointer has stopped. I can do this often with large and long lists on my Mac. The Mac takes about half a second to catch up. I don't know if it is trying to scroll it smoother, or what, that is why I was asking.



    If you have a Mac and a PC, load up a pretty long web page in Mozilla on each. Macsurfer.com would be a pretty good one to try. Then try scrolling each quickly with the scrollbar on the right hand side. The Mac will have a sort of loose feel where it keeps catch up to where the scrolling has move to. The PC scrolls near instantly.



    I thought it interesting though that iTunes on the PC scrolled in the Mac manner, a little lag and it catches up. I wondered if this were a "feature" per se with regard to something they think helps user interaction or what.



    I'm just curious sometimes.



    Nick
  • Reply 3 of 7
    mount_my_floppymount_my_floppy Posts: 913member
    Oh that.. Hmm I'm pretty sure its NOT supposed to do that.



    Actually I wonder if it would still do that on a windows machine if a windows machine had its equivalent to quartz extreme
  • Reply 4 of 7
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trumptman

    [snip]... The Mac will have a sort of loose feel where it keeps catch up to where the scrolling has move to. The PC scrolls near instantly.



    I thought it interesting though that iTunes on the PC scrolled in the Mac manner, a little lag and it catches up. I wondered if this were a "feature" per se with regard to something they think helps user interaction or what.



    I'm just curious sometimes.



    Nick



    I'm curious too, Nick - and as much as I'd like to believe it is a UI "feature", I don't have any research or evidence that points out it is. Wasn't iTunes an OS 9 app originally - how can we tell that it is rid of its legacy code... maybe that's what gives it "the lag"?



    [dumb question] Btw, is iTunes actually a cocoa app, properly optimized for OS X? [/dumb question]
  • Reply 5 of 7
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mac+

    I'm curious too, Nick - and as much as I'd like to believe it is a UI "feature", I don't have any research or evidence that points out it is. Wasn't iTunes an OS 9 app originally - how can we tell that it is rid of its legacy code... maybe that's what gives it "the lag"?



    [dumb question] Btw, is iTunes actually a cocoa app, properly optimized for OS X? [/dumb question]



    Well I've done a little more experimenting and I do think it is a feature of the OS though I'm savvy enough to know why. First I tried Mozilla on OS 9. It scrolled in the same manner as OS X. I also tried scrolling via other means like with keys and in those instances the scrolling was instant. So when the scroll bar lags a bit, it must be engineered to do so relating perhaps to user interaction and how fast our eyes can update and react to what is changing on the screen.



    Or at least that is my educated guess....



    Nick
  • Reply 6 of 7
    hanqhanq Posts: 2member
    this is how they try to make us believe pcs are faster. they just point out the smallest flaws in macs and say they suck. and when pc magazine do these tests they just pick out the stuff pcs are good at. same with mac magazines but they're testing with extremely processor intensive stuff. macs could handle the stuff pcs do but have them do stuff macs do.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hanq

    this is how they try to make us believe pcs are faster. they just point out the smallest flaws in macs and say they suck. and when pc magazine do these tests they just pick out the stuff pcs are good at. same with mac magazines but they're testing with extremely processor intensive stuff. macs could handle the stuff pcs do but have them do stuff macs do.



    Ummmm....this was noted by a very pro Mac site.



    Nick
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