You know how in Prefs you can now change Keyboard Shortcuts in Keyboard. For some reason the system Beeps at me when I'm in Keyboard Shortcut. I am trying to add Command N to make a new folder in Finder (I've wanted to fix that) But in the Command Shortcut field no matter what I press it beeps. Am I doing something wrong?
I could be wrong (see signature), but you probably can't change the keyboard shortcut for New Folder to Command-N becuase it's is already used by the system for New Window. BTW, Command-N for New Window is consistant with every other application in the world. It's just a little difficult to get used to after so many years of "the old way".
Yeah, it's true that interface inconsistencies are all over OS X. The Finder is a prime example of this. Here's a few inconcistencies that really irk me:
- The Finder and Mail should have alternating background colors (white/blue like in iTunes, iChat, Safari bookmarks, etc.) but they don't. They should be in Mail for the message list box (and you can activate them by modifying one of the .nibs). Finder should have the background colors for List View. This might sound picky, but having that alternating background color really makes reading long lists of text easier.
The alternate colours are not required in Columns view though. Because there is only one info per line, the file name. You are right for List view.
Quote:
- If I delete a contact from Address Book, the contact below that one is left selected. In List/Column View in the Finder, if I delete anything, nothing is left selected. In Mail, if I delete a message, the message above that one is left selected. This is rediculous! Having this inconsistent behavior between these 3 apps (which cover all possible cases for deleting something) makes it downright frustrating when you want to delete a list of items 1 by 1. I believe Address Book's delete-then-select-the-thing-below-it method is the best.
You are mistaken for Mail. If you delete a message, the message below that one is selected. Except if you reverse the sorting order, in which case the message above is selected. In any case it is the next message in the list.
I agree the Plus/Minus buttons are dumb and that panel is a mess. I also didn't know to click there.
Really?
I saw them as the logical extension of the New Playlist + button in iTunes, for instance. Anytime there's a column of items (Address Book Groups and People, for instance), with a + at the bottom, it adds a new item. The - seems weird though, since you can just hit Delete...
Quote:
Exactamundo!
Fred Brooks is a Mac fan, and has long said that the only reason that people griped about dragging a disk to the Trash to unmount/eject it was because the *rest* of the system was so well thought out, that that one inconsistency stuck out like a sore thumb and got on people's nerves. Compare that to Windows, where very little is consistent, and stuff like that is just lost in the noise.
We really could bitch and moan about all the UI bugs and inconsistencies in OS X all day, and that's not saying much for the OS. OS X is wonderful, but its interface could be cleaned and refined to a great extent. Apple doesn't seem to be concerned with such matters, though. It really bugs me to see excessive white space between a dialog box's text and its associated buttons. There should be defined guidelines for such things, but apparently there aren't. Apple simply doesn't care about UI consistency like it used to. We used to have Inside the Macintosh, which provided copious details on all aspects of UI design. But it isn't as if Apple doesn't care at all about UI and UE. The OS X team just doesn't care about the small details, though-those little things that make the Mac experience that much better.
A bad habit that came to OS X directly from NeXT/OpenStep is the practice of using vague buttons without labels. Unless a button's function is completely obvious, it really should have a label. I suppose the giant leap forward OS X represents is inevitably linked to a number of steps backward. Nevertheless, I still wouldn't go back to classic.
OS X can't see any of the hundreds of servers it did in Jaguar at Dartmouth. I just installed all updates to everything. Not cool. I have a plain vanilla system no virus craplications, "utilities", haxies, or anything. PBG412" Rev A. I'm really considering moving back to Jaguar.
Edit: Panther stability is ridiculous, Safari crashed 3 times in the last literally 1 minute. Is anyone else seeing this, apps crashing all the time for no reason? All I was doing was switching to it, back and forth from QT Player while watching the MWSF Keynote.
I don't think that there are enough TABS in OS X. There should be more TABS. More TAAAAAAAAAABS.
Aside from Panther's relative tablessness, which could be corrected with more (and bigger) TABS, the widget-quits System Preferences annoys me out of all proportion. iPhoto too. The worst, wheeziest-to-launch app quits when you decide you might want to see what's on your desktop. Can't see why, and I'm not dim. All I know is that it pisses me off.
That and Apple's refusal to implement system-wide TABS.
I do dislike the Downloads window in Safari, and other similar windows - like the file transfer windows in iChat. When switching windows using the cmd-` keystroke, it goes to the Downloads window between every switch. So if I have two windows and the downloads window open, it goes:
Window 1
Downloads
Window 2
Downloads
Window 1
Downloads
etc.
when it should go...
Window 1
Window 2
Downloads
Window 1
Window 2
Downloads
etc.
It does that for me. Window 1, 2, 3, 4, Downloads, 1, 2, 3, 4.
Safari updates are in MacOS X updates and its frameworks are used system wide so like or not it's part of the OS even though unlike MS you can remove Safari without adversely affecting anything. Though now have an itch to go on a safari. Jonathan recommending themes what's next, Paul Thurrot using Macs?
This is a destructive behavior. Shouldn't the default action be to cancel rather than erase the emails?
The downloads window does not show up in the dock menu. Is it not a real window? I don't get this behavior at all.
Any other UI issues that drive you nuts?
What are all those Apps in your dock (not the apple ones) just wondering if they're mods or just normal apps, i recognised word (what's the power symbol do!)
The thing is, the purple help button seems to be a solution to a problem nobody had. I don't recall anyone ever saying "Where is that help button? I can't see it". I think in fact it distracts from the rest of the interface, because there is another coloured button somewhere that keeps drawing your eye away.
As for the lock, I think it is too big and too colourful. On Jag it was small, yet elegant. But it also has no border in pPanther, making it not look like a button at all. That isn't good.
And I agree about the + and - buttons. I spent minutes trying to work out how to add a new folder in my bookmarks in Safari the other day. And then noticed the tiny + button at the bottom. That is not intuitive.
The Accounts panel I think is a real mess. I didn't even realise the "Login Options" was a button for a while there....
they're mixing style and functionality, and failing. most of the time everything works and it looks good, other times, it gets me narked. The dock still annoys me, and the fact i can't add things to the apple menu, I'd love to turn the dock off. But then other times i want it on (i know you can hid it but then it keeps on popping up) Also, the three buttons, X - + why can;t they support one with no colour and not just graphite, just little things really.
To beat a dead horse, I noticed in Safari it stops doing anything if you hold a menu down. You know how Safari always has that lag before it starts loading a page (what's up with that anyway?) if you click a menu it stops. Just wondered why it does that, isn't only OS 9 supposed to do that?
To beat a dead horse, I noticed in Safari it stops doing anything if you hold a menu down. You know how Safari always has that lag before it starts loading a page (what's up with that anyway?) if you click a menu it stops. Just wondered why it does that, isn't only OS 9 supposed to do that?
No. In OS 9, the whole system stopped if you held down a menu. In OS X, only the app does in the worst case. Whether the app does or not is a threading issue.
I've also noticed that when you browse the web using tabs in Safari, and one of the tabs have a loading QuickTime file, such as a movie preview from Apple.com, you have to keep the QT tab focused for it to continue downloading the file. The minute you click on another tab, the movie stops downloading. This is REALLY irritating. Does anyone else experience this obviously wrongful behaviour?
Comments
operating system... How about line wrapping your text
with a reasonable word count per line. Sure, without
wide images, these forums normally wrap everthing
automatically. But this is the type of excuse that
leads developers use to justify their own UI
inconsistancies. True, the problem originates with
someone else's unpolished API, but it is also quite simple
to fix .
Originally posted by Aquatic
You know how in Prefs you can now change Keyboard Shortcuts in Keyboard. For some reason the system Beeps at me when I'm in Keyboard Shortcut. I am trying to add Command N to make a new folder in Finder (I've wanted to fix that) But in the Command Shortcut field no matter what I press it beeps. Am I doing something wrong?
I could be wrong (see signature), but you probably can't change the keyboard shortcut for New Folder to Command-N becuase it's is already used by the system for New Window. BTW, Command-N for New Window is consistant with every other application in the world. It's just a little difficult to get used to after so many years of "the old way".
Originally posted by eVo
Yeah, it's true that interface inconsistencies are all over OS X. The Finder is a prime example of this. Here's a few inconcistencies that really irk me:
- The Finder and Mail should have alternating background colors (white/blue like in iTunes, iChat, Safari bookmarks, etc.) but they don't. They should be in Mail for the message list box (and you can activate them by modifying one of the .nibs). Finder should have the background colors for List View. This might sound picky, but having that alternating background color really makes reading long lists of text easier.
The alternate colours are not required in Columns view though. Because there is only one info per line, the file name. You are right for List view.
- If I delete a contact from Address Book, the contact below that one is left selected. In List/Column View in the Finder, if I delete anything, nothing is left selected. In Mail, if I delete a message, the message above that one is left selected. This is rediculous! Having this inconsistent behavior between these 3 apps (which cover all possible cases for deleting something) makes it downright frustrating when you want to delete a list of items 1 by 1. I believe Address Book's delete-then-select-the-thing-below-it method is the best.
You are mistaken for Mail. If you delete a message, the message below that one is selected. Except if you reverse the sorting order, in which case the message above is selected. In any case it is the next message in the list.
Originally posted by Aquatic
I agree the Plus/Minus buttons are dumb and that panel is a mess. I also didn't know to click there.
Really?
I saw them as the logical extension of the New Playlist + button in iTunes, for instance. Anytime there's a column of items (Address Book Groups and People, for instance), with a + at the bottom, it adds a new item. The - seems weird though, since you can just hit Delete...
Exactamundo!
Fred Brooks is a Mac fan, and has long said that the only reason that people griped about dragging a disk to the Trash to unmount/eject it was because the *rest* of the system was so well thought out, that that one inconsistency stuck out like a sore thumb and got on people's nerves. Compare that to Windows, where very little is consistent, and stuff like that is just lost in the noise.
A bad habit that came to OS X directly from NeXT/OpenStep is the practice of using vague buttons without labels. Unless a button's function is completely obvious, it really should have a label. I suppose the giant leap forward OS X represents is inevitably linked to a number of steps backward. Nevertheless, I still wouldn't go back to classic.
Edit: Panther stability is ridiculous, Safari crashed 3 times in the last literally 1 minute. Is anyone else seeing this, apps crashing all the time for no reason? All I was doing was switching to it, back and forth from QT Player while watching the MWSF Keynote.
Originally posted by Aquatic
Panther stability is ridiculous, Safari crashed 3 times in the last literally 1 minute.
Last I checked, Safari wasn't Panther. Although you may be on a Safari and see a Panther..
Aside from Panther's relative tablessness, which could be corrected with more (and bigger) TABS, the widget-quits System Preferences annoys me out of all proportion. iPhoto too. The worst, wheeziest-to-launch app quits when you decide you might want to see what's on your desktop. Can't see why, and I'm not dim. All I know is that it pisses me off.
That and Apple's refusal to implement system-wide TABS.
Yes, it's a theme.
I love it.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
I do dislike the Downloads window in Safari, and other similar windows - like the file transfer windows in iChat. When switching windows using the cmd-` keystroke, it goes to the Downloads window between every switch. So if I have two windows and the downloads window open, it goes:
Window 1
Downloads
Window 2
Downloads
Window 1
Downloads
etc.
when it should go...
Window 1
Window 2
Downloads
Window 1
Window 2
Downloads
etc.
It does that for me. Window 1, 2, 3, 4, Downloads, 1, 2, 3, 4.
10.3.2
Originally posted by HOM
These are two quickies that bother me to no end.
This is a destructive behavior. Shouldn't the default action be to cancel rather than erase the emails?
The downloads window does not show up in the dock menu. Is it not a real window? I don't get this behavior at all.
Any other UI issues that drive you nuts?
What are all those Apps in your dock (not the apple ones) just wondering if they're mods or just normal apps, i recognised word (what's the power symbol do!)
Originally posted by curmi
The thing is, the purple help button seems to be a solution to a problem nobody had. I don't recall anyone ever saying "Where is that help button? I can't see it". I think in fact it distracts from the rest of the interface, because there is another coloured button somewhere that keeps drawing your eye away.
As for the lock, I think it is too big and too colourful. On Jag it was small, yet elegant. But it also has no border in pPanther, making it not look like a button at all. That isn't good.
And I agree about the + and - buttons. I spent minutes trying to work out how to add a new folder in my bookmarks in Safari the other day. And then noticed the tiny + button at the bottom. That is not intuitive.
The Accounts panel I think is a real mess. I didn't even realise the "Login Options" was a button for a while there....
they're mixing style and functionality, and failing. most of the time everything works and it looks good, other times, it gets me narked. The dock still annoys me, and the fact i can't add things to the apple menu, I'd love to turn the dock off. But then other times i want it on (i know you can hid it but then it keeps on popping up) Also, the three buttons, X - + why can;t they support one with no colour and not just graphite, just little things really.
Originally posted by Aquatic
To beat a dead horse, I noticed in Safari it stops doing anything if you hold a menu down. You know how Safari always has that lag before it starts loading a page (what's up with that anyway?) if you click a menu it stops. Just wondered why it does that, isn't only OS 9 supposed to do that?
No. In OS 9, the whole system stopped if you held down a menu. In OS X, only the app does in the worst case. Whether the app does or not is a threading issue.
Originally posted by Hassan i Sabbah
I don't think that there are enough TABS in OS X. There should be more TABS. More TAAAAAAAAAABS.
I know you weren't being totally serious but...
iChat should have tabs as well...
adium should be used as a model for iChat... there are some MAJOR holes in the IM client that Adium fixes... but needs the apple spit and polish...