What's your thoughts on that, Kickaha? I'm thinking it should probably go in the Apple-menu but your oppinion on the matter would be appreciated! I'm asking since I know your research is in UI-development.
Yeah...it should be in the Apple menu.
And I agree with those that say the Apple and Spotlight menu are justified in being a different color. I'm assuming the majority of complaints stem from the Apple and Spotlight menu being the same color as highlighted menu but that's another story altogether. The Apple and Spotlight menu are system-wide menus and should be clearly separated from the rest of the menus that dynamically change depending on the app that is in the foreground. (of course, the menulings are a gray area )
I really, really, really hope the Finder will get yet another facelift and use the Mail 'platinum' or 'extension-of-Aqua' (or 'upgrade-of-Aqua' look. There is no real reason why the Finder should be metal...the Platinum look would make the Finder much more appealing and much less screen-estate wasting.
Edit: I can't believe the QuickTime Player will still segregate features. What a bunch of bullshit.
Fullscreen and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does fullscreen movie playback...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features? I would have thought that with the new QuickTime APIs and the fact that it's easier to write a movie player that Apple would provide QuickTime Player as is without the fuss and mess of registration to gain basic features.
No wonder QuickTime is not liked on the PC side (and Mac side), you need to pay 30+ dollars to get something as basic as fullscreen playback when every other movie player on the planet offers this for free.
On an aesthetic level I agree with those who say that brushed metal is of questionable quality. But I do however like the style of buttons that metal-windows brought to to table. The navigation buttons in Safari and the Panther Finder, for example. These are in contrast to the icons that aqua uses which are more colorful and space-consuming. However, with this third theme it appears that Apple have found a style in which both the brushed metal-buttons and the aqua-icons can work in the same environment. In the Tiger System Preferences window, for instance, Apple uses the brushed metal-buttons, and in the new Tiger Mail-interface the standard aqua-icons reside.
To Kasper et al AppleInsider Staff: Thanks for your hard work covering Tigers evolution! I much enjoy following the progress Apple is making.
Also, I have a question: With Spotlight now occupying the top-right corner of the menubar, where has the Fast User Switching-menu gone? Is it located in the Apple-menu or somewhere else?
That's a good question. I'll try to provided an illustrated answer this week
Fullscreen, looping video, and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does these...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features?
Applescript can access most QT Pro features without needing a Pro license. I imagine that it's not hard to tap into this stuff with your own application.
Kasper.... fixing links too?
I managed to pullup the QT Pro screenshot last night by fiddling with the filename in the link, but it doesn't work this morning. It showed a "Pro" tag next to all grayed out menu options that require QT Pro. Doens't seem that nice, but I'd take it over the QT Pro ad when the app opens. Please tell me that's gone, Kasper!
Fullscreen, looping video, and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does these...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features?
While I agree with you that those very basic features should have been free, especially since Apple *should* strive to make QT-encoded content the first choice for both streaming video and digital image content in general, I hardly think that this decision comes from within the QT Team, but rather from higher-ups within Apple.
What's your thoughts on that, Kickaha? I'm thinking it should probably go in the Apple-menu but your oppinion on the matter would be appreciated! I'm asking since I know your research is in UI-development.
Actually, my primary research area is software engineering and programming semantics analysis... I just do the UI stuff for kicks. But thanks though.
Placing FUS in the Apple menu has some logic to it - it affects the whole computer, it is congruent with 'Log Out' which is there already, etc, etc.
But.
The items on the right side of the menu bar are convenience items for the most part, not essentials. They provide a UI into, or data, that can be found elsewhere. (Ironically, Spotlight kind of breaks that.) The name of the current login at a glance is a very nice thing to have sitting there as an important bit of information regarding the current environment.
Left side of menu bar = controls
Right side of menu bar = convenience widgets/data
There is an argument to be made for either placement, but I think that the presentation of the current logged in user nudges it to the right side.
Tiger is coming along really nicely. I can't wait for its release; it looks to be the best OSX yet.
What is startling, though, is how pathetic the iterations on iCal are looking. Mail looks much better and has tons of new features, and yet iCal still looks terrible and has a comical feature set.
Why is Apple doing this to iCal? What is their research tells them that coordinating calendars for the business market or for families is not an important part of the digital hub.
It's sad actually. I hope Apple gets with the programs and gives us a solid update for iCal.
Why is Apple doing this to iCal? What is their research tells them that coordinating calendars for the business market or for families is not an important part of the digital hub.
That's what .Mac is for, for consumers.
Business folks can grab a copy of MacOS X Server and easily create their own WebDAV server for such sharing.
What else do you want to see in there?
And you have forwarded those ideas to Apple already, right?
The input menu... used to show up as country flag in the titlebar, ya know?
After whining (mildly) for the past two years about not always wanting a little U.S. flag up in my menu bar all the time just to access the Character Palette and Keyboard Viewer, all of a sudden I miss the dear l'il icons. \
But the new icon *is* more menu extra-like and representative (if a wee bit alphabet soupy).
Point me to a user without conflicting desires, and I'll rename it 'corpse'.
I'm kind of surprised they used the full abbreviation, and not the ISO country code. What are they going to do for say, Mexico? Mex.? A two-letter code that is consistent with Internet addressing would seem to be a natural here.
Business folks can grab a copy of MacOS X Server and easily create their own WebDAV server for such sharing.
What else do you want to see in there?
And you have forwarded those ideas to Apple already, right?
Consumers, true. And small and medium businesses too. It's not really a .Mac thing, it's the program itself.
Yes, over the past year I have sent pages of notes to Apple on iCal, with suggestions ranging from how to have proper tasks to grouping of calendars so you don't have 100 subscribed calendars from 10 people.
I'm doing my part to help, not just complaining here at AI.
Point me to a user without conflicting desires, and I'll rename it 'corpse'.
I'm kind of surprised they used the full abbreviation, and not the ISO country code. What are they going to do for say, Mexico? Mex.? A two-letter code that is consistent with Internet addressing would seem to be a natural here.
Yeah, it's a small thing, but...
You've submitted that idea to Apple, right?
I for one am glad the Input Menu is more menu extra-y. 3rd-party menu extra hacks that don't follow guidelines aside, all of the menu extra followed the guidelines except the Input Menu, which made it stick out like a sore thumb.
And the little flag icons were ugly at best...I don't mind if the colorful flag icons live within the menu but the menubar icon should respect the 'black on white' guideline.
The Family Controls panel appears in the "Accounts" preference pane and offers configuration options for the Mac OS X Finder, Safari, iChat, and most recently Mail. The simplistic configuration panels for iChat and Mail allow instant messages and e-mail correspondences to be restricted to a specified list of screen names and email address. An additional Mail option appears to offer a means of moderating a user's access to e-mail messages by allowing an administrator to approve email address or messages as they arrive.
Screenshots: Family Controls; iChat Config; Mail Config; Finder Config
Configuring Safari with limitations works similarly, but takes place within the browsers preference pane rather than from \tinside the Account panel. Administrators simply manage a list of web sites or domain names that the user is permitted to access. Finder configuration controls remain similar to those found in Mac OS X Panther, with the addition an option to allow for supporting programs and printer administration privileges.
What I'd like to see in Tiger is a way to not restrict access to certain applications or setting some privilleges thereof but to conviniently configure a user's settings. Imagine that as an admin when creating a new user account you could configure the e-mail-servers used by mail and other programms' preferences from one single application so the new user can start without the need to configure anything.
This would also be cool for administring a lot of user accounts in a business environment. There might be a solution included in the server version of OS X - I have never had the chance to work with that - which could easily be ported to the workstation version.
Comments
Originally posted by ZO
wonderful.. now just give us easy networking like in windows and I'll be a happy camper. "right click" any folder, 'share this folder" et voila'.
That's a great idea! I've added it to our Apple Mac OS X Wish List:
Cheers Daniel
Originally posted by Gavriel
What's your thoughts on that, Kickaha? I'm thinking it should probably go in the Apple-menu but your oppinion on the matter would be appreciated! I'm asking since I know your research is in UI-development.
Yeah...it should be in the Apple menu.
And I agree with those that say the Apple and Spotlight menu are justified in being a different color. I'm assuming the majority of complaints stem from the Apple and Spotlight menu being the same color as highlighted menu but that's another story altogether. The Apple and Spotlight menu are system-wide menus and should be clearly separated from the rest of the menus that dynamically change depending on the app that is in the foreground. (of course, the menulings are a gray area
I really, really, really hope the Finder will get yet another facelift and use the Mail 'platinum' or 'extension-of-Aqua' (or 'upgrade-of-Aqua' look. There is no real reason why the Finder should be metal...the Platinum look would make the Finder much more appealing and much less screen-estate wasting.
Edit: I can't believe the QuickTime Player will still segregate features. What a bunch of bullshit.
Fullscreen and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does fullscreen movie playback...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features? I would have thought that with the new QuickTime APIs and the fact that it's easier to write a movie player that Apple would provide QuickTime Player as is without the fuss and mess of registration to gain basic features.
No wonder QuickTime is not liked on the PC side (and Mac side), you need to pay 30+ dollars to get something as basic as fullscreen playback when every other movie player on the planet offers this for free.
Originally posted by Gavriel
To Kasper et al AppleInsider Staff: Thanks for your hard work covering Tigers evolution! I much enjoy following the progress Apple is making.
Also, I have a question: With Spotlight now occupying the top-right corner of the menubar, where has the Fast User Switching-menu gone? Is it located in the Apple-menu or somewhere else?
That's a good question. I'll try to provided an illustrated answer this week
The input menu has changed.....
Best,
Kasper
Originally posted by kim kap sol
Fullscreen, looping video, and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does these...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features?
Applescript can access most QT Pro features without needing a Pro license. I imagine that it's not hard to tap into this stuff with your own application.
Kasper.... fixing links too?
I managed to pullup the QT Pro screenshot last night by fiddling with the filename in the link, but it doesn't work this morning. It showed a "Pro" tag next to all grayed out menu options that require QT Pro. Doens't seem that nice, but I'd take it over the QT Pro ad when the app opens. Please tell me that's gone, Kasper!
Originally posted by kim kap sol
Fullscreen, looping video, and all that stuff should not be 'Pro' features. Anyone can write a freeware app that does these...why does QuickTime team insist people paying for basic features?
While I agree with you that those very basic features should have been free, especially since Apple *should* strive to make QT-encoded content the first choice for both streaming video and digital image content in general, I hardly think that this decision comes from within the QT Team, but rather from higher-ups within Apple.
But what ever did you mean when you said that the input menu has changed?
That "Full screen" is a "Pro" feature is really just incredible. Editing, adv looping, export to various media... fine. But full screen? Lame.
Originally posted by Gavriel
Thanks in advance, Kasper!
But what ever did you mean when you said that the input menu has changed?
The input menu... used to show up as country flag in the titlebar, ya know?
Here:
Best,
-Kasper
Originally posted by Gavriel
What's your thoughts on that, Kickaha? I'm thinking it should probably go in the Apple-menu but your oppinion on the matter would be appreciated! I'm asking since I know your research is in UI-development.
Actually, my primary research area is software engineering and programming semantics analysis... I just do the UI stuff for kicks. But thanks though.
Placing FUS in the Apple menu has some logic to it - it affects the whole computer, it is congruent with 'Log Out' which is there already, etc, etc.
But.
The items on the right side of the menu bar are convenience items for the most part, not essentials. They provide a UI into, or data, that can be found elsewhere. (Ironically, Spotlight kind of breaks that.) The name of the current login at a glance is a very nice thing to have sitting there as an important bit of information regarding the current environment.
Left side of menu bar = controls
Right side of menu bar = convenience widgets/data
There is an argument to be made for either placement, but I think that the presentation of the current logged in user nudges it to the right side.
What is startling, though, is how pathetic the iterations on iCal are looking. Mail looks much better and has tons of new features, and yet iCal still looks terrible and has a comical feature set.
Why is Apple doing this to iCal? What is their research tells them that coordinating calendars for the business market or for families is not an important part of the digital hub.
It's sad actually. I hope Apple gets with the programs and gives us a solid update for iCal.
Originally posted by BWhaler
Why is Apple doing this to iCal? What is their research tells them that coordinating calendars for the business market or for families is not an important part of the digital hub.
That's what .Mac is for, for consumers.
Business folks can grab a copy of MacOS X Server and easily create their own WebDAV server for such sharing.
What else do you want to see in there?
And you have forwarded those ideas to Apple already, right?
Originally posted by Kasper
The input menu... used to show up as country flag in the titlebar, ya know?
After whining (mildly) for the past two years about not always wanting a little U.S. flag up in my menu bar all the time just to access the Character Palette and Keyboard Viewer, all of a sudden I miss the dear l'il icons.
But the new icon *is* more menu extra-like and representative (if a wee bit alphabet soupy).
I'm proud to represent conflicting user desire.
I'm kind of surprised they used the full abbreviation, and not the ISO country code. What are they going to do for say, Mexico? Mex.? A two-letter code that is consistent with Internet addressing would seem to be a natural here.
Yeah, it's a small thing, but...
Originally posted by Kickaha
That's what .Mac is for, for consumers.
Business folks can grab a copy of MacOS X Server and easily create their own WebDAV server for such sharing.
What else do you want to see in there?
And you have forwarded those ideas to Apple already, right?
Consumers, true. And small and medium businesses too. It's not really a .Mac thing, it's the program itself.
Yes, over the past year I have sent pages of notes to Apple on iCal, with suggestions ranging from how to have proper tasks to grouping of calendars so you don't have 100 subscribed calendars from 10 people.
I'm doing my part to help, not just complaining here at AI.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Point me to a user without conflicting desires, and I'll rename it 'corpse'.
I'm kind of surprised they used the full abbreviation, and not the ISO country code. What are they going to do for say, Mexico? Mex.? A two-letter code that is consistent with Internet addressing would seem to be a natural here.
Yeah, it's a small thing, but...
You've submitted that idea to Apple, right?
I for one am glad the Input Menu is more menu extra-y. 3rd-party menu extra hacks that don't follow guidelines aside, all of the menu extra followed the guidelines except the Input Menu, which made it stick out like a sore thumb.
And the little flag icons were ugly at best...I don't mind if the colorful flag icons live within the menu but the menubar icon should respect the 'black on white' guideline.
Originally posted by AppleInsider
Family Controls
The Family Controls panel appears in the "Accounts" preference pane and offers configuration options for the Mac OS X Finder, Safari, iChat, and most recently Mail. The simplistic configuration panels for iChat and Mail allow instant messages and e-mail correspondences to be restricted to a specified list of screen names and email address. An additional Mail option appears to offer a means of moderating a user's access to e-mail messages by allowing an administrator to approve email address or messages as they arrive.
Screenshots: Family Controls; iChat Config; Mail Config; Finder Config
Configuring Safari with limitations works similarly, but takes place within the browsers preference pane rather than from \tinside the Account panel. Administrators simply manage a list of web sites or domain names that the user is permitted to access. Finder configuration controls remain similar to those found in Mac OS X Panther, with the addition an option to allow for supporting programs and printer administration privileges.
What I'd like to see in Tiger is a way to not restrict access to certain applications or setting some privilleges thereof but to conviniently configure a user's settings. Imagine that as an admin when creating a new user account you could configure the e-mail-servers used by mail and other programms' preferences from one single application so the new user can start without the need to configure anything.
This would also be cool for administring a lot of user accounts in a business environment. There might be a solution included in the server version of OS X - I have never had the chance to work with that - which could easily be ported to the workstation version.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Point me to a user without conflicting desires, and I'll rename it 'corpse'.
Nice defense of FUS on the right side, btw.
I'm not saying it's absolutely the right place for it, but on the balance I'd rather it be there than hidden in the Apple Menu.