Feb 10, 2012 - 05:30 PM EST — AAPL: 493.42 (+0.25, +0.05%) | NASDAQ: 2903.88 (-23.35, -0.8%)

Why people love Apple and its products: careful attention to detail

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 · 10:56 am · 24 Comments

“I just noticed something about Apple’s Mail program that perfectly illustrates why people love Apple and its products. Like most e-mail programs, Mail’s main window is divided into columns: ‘From,’ ‘Subject’ and ‘Date,’ etc.,” Leander Kahney writes for Wired News.

“While I was adjusting the width of the columns, I noticed that the date changes format depending on the width of the column. If the column is wide, the date is displayed as ‘February 27, 2006.’ But if you narrow the column, the date changes to a shorter format: ‘Feb 27, 2006.’ If you narrow the column even further, the date format changes to the shortest format possible: ’2/27/06.’ In addition, the time an e-mail message is received is also displayed — if there’s room. If the column is narrowed, the time disappears altogether,” Kahney writes.

Kahney writes, “Compare this to the way other software behaves… The best software… sometimes displays an ellipsis as you narrow the column, the three dots indicating that information has been truncated… But only Apple’s Mail actually changes the format. When I first discovered this, I sat there delighted, making the column wide and then narrow, beaming as the date format switched smoothly and seamlessly between numbers and text to perfectly fit the space allocated. Part of the magic of this discovery was the serendipity. If it had been a ‘feature’ — a behavior purposely brought to my attention by Apple — I would have shrugged and said, ‘so what?’ But because I discovered it by accident, it struck me as artisan touch; a craftsman’s attention to detail.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Next time someone asks you why you use a Mac, point them to this article and tell them to multiply this instance of “attention to detail” by about a million. That’s why we choose the Mac over substandard, mediocre-at-best Windows. The little things add up to create a vast gulf between Mac and Windows. They likely will not believe you, but at least you tried to help them out of the WIndows morass.

Macintosh. Because life’s too short.

Categories: All Sites, News

Thank You for supporting MacDailyNews!

Apple Store Online:
• Order iPhone 4s. From $199. Fast, free shipping only at the Apple Online Store.
• New Apple MacBook Pro. Now faster than ever. Starting at $1199, plus free shipping.
• MacBook Air. Available in two utlracompact sizes. Starting at just $999. Fast, free shipping from the Apple Online Store.
• The new iMac. With next-generation quad core processor and advanced graphics. From $1199. Fast, free shipping at the Apple Online Store.
• The new Mac mini. Now up to 2x faster. From $599. Fast, free shipping. Buy now at the Apple Online Store.

Comment Feed

24 Comments

Habitual Line Stepper

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:02 am · Reply

Amen brutha. My personal fave is the way I can adjust icon size and they scale beautifully right before my eyes…as I adjust the slider. No “Apply” button required.
macromancer

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:09 am · Reply

Mail also puts a green icon next to the emails of anyone who is currently logged into iChat. Details.

iTunes adds to your playcounts even if those songs have been played on your iPod, not just if they’ve been played in iTunes. Details.

If you get an audio chat invitation, iTunes pauses automatically and resumes when you’re done. Details.
Bean

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:12 am · Reply

I like the way the progress bar ‘throbs’ to the right, making it look like it is going faster than it is.
Silly, even misleading – but a nice touch.
Monkey's Uncle

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:19 am · Reply

Why people love Apple and its products: careful attention to detail

Uh not quite. In software Apple does do a wonderful job, but hardware a lot can be desired.

Mighty Mouse, iPod (not a) HiFi, beeping PowerMac G5 power supplies, 120ºF MacBooks and so on and so on.
AG Pennypacker

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:27 am · Reply

I like that he gives credit where it is due – other companies and their achivements. It gives credibility to what he’s saying, instead of saying Apple or nothing.

“I’m the Wizz”
davida

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:30 am · Reply

It’s not just what they produce, it’s how.. I like to think that Apple has higher standards as world citizens. Decent wages/working condtions, fair dealings with partners, and environmental considerations. Will the ‘good guys’ eventually win this time? I’ll put the Kool Aid down now, but it’s so sweet and delicious… just like the new MBs. Can’t wait to get one.
Turd Ferguson

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:30 am · Reply

Habitual ~

Don’t you mean hitting apply and then having to restart your computer for the effects to take place?
Spark

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:31 am · Reply

Okay, that is nice, but Mail has an issue that, if fixed, would may it a Great app. (yes, I’ve notified Apple too).

It has to do with Search in Mail. Logic says that when you are searching the Inbox, you are most likely going to want to use the “From” criteria; conversely when searching the “Sent” box, you are likely to use the “To” criteria. Why can’t Mail default to these criteria? It doesn’t it. It defaults to what every you last used, so if you last looked for an email you sent, the next time you search your Inbox the application begins searching using the “To” criteria as you type in a name. You’ve got to go to the mouse and select the “From” button. Duh!!! Why would I be looking in my INBOX for someone I SENT to?????!!! I wouldn’t! This seems like such an easy thing to logic out and write code for, and it truly amazes me that Apple has still not addressed it after all this time.
Jim

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:33 am · Reply

I also love the ‘on-the-fly’ adjustments you can do in OS X, generally only system-wide settings have ‘Apply’ buttons, everything else, icons, desktop picture, screen saver etc. are adjusted as you select them.

Plus, you can just tell by the appearance of OS X that nothing leaves the Apple Idea Factory until it has been polished and approved by the biggest perfectionist in the world (I’m looking at YOU Mr. Jobs
mr

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:51 am · Reply

That is EXACTLY why I love apple’s software. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed time and again that iTunes doesn’t do this, and that’s the software that most people see.
Monkey's Father

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:53 am · Reply

Uh, QUITE, “Monkey’s Uncle.” Apparently you’ve never owned/used another MP3 player over an extended period of time to compare it with the iPod. I’m talking OWNED, not read about.

Also, if you think that Gateway, Dell, HP, Acer, et al., desktops don’t have power supply problems (like the G5 PowerMac to which you allude), you’re terminally naive. (My company services ALL brands of professionally-configured systems, not just Macs, and no one’s product line is perfect. NO ONE’S!)

If you haven’t had a Compaq laptop almost sterile you with its bottomside heat emanations, you’re luckier than most. (Dell laptops don’t USUALLY catch on fire, DO THEY?) You might want to keep in mind that the “laptop” of yore is dead and buried now . . . that is, if you demand true, professional screaming-meemie performance therefrom. The MacBook Pro is a PORTABLE computer, a lighter version of the most powerful desktop machines ever made, NOT a laptop! From this time forward all portable computers are going to run HOT, especially the new quad-core machines we may see in a couple of weeks. Rest them on some kind of intermediary platform, not your lap, and you’ll have the best of all possible worlds.

Advice: Be careful that you don’t become one of those “the grass is always greener” people who think that SOMEONE ELSE must–necessarily–build/use something better than you do. Politically, I call these folks “porcine patriots,” for they’re not happy unless they crap where they eat first.

Truly, if you had owned more–and different–kinds of computers over the years, you’d think twice before you disparaging ANYTHING from Apple. Yes, of course, there’s room for improvement on the Cupertino campus in many areas, but Apple is so far ahead of any other like company in overall Quality Control, it’s not even funny.
OzzysCross101

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:55 am · Reply

Sounds like Monkey’s Uncle got up on the wrong side of the pitcher of kool-aid. Either that, or I just never had a problem with any of these “issues”.

macromancer, I just found out the Buddies in Mail thing yesterday! It was the neatest thing, and I wasn’t even online! My hat goes off to Apple for more “simple pleasures” than they let on!
mudflapper

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 12:00 pm · Reply

Ignore the racists. They HATE that.

Monkey’s Uncle: Apple makes the best hardware on the planet. Yeah, they have some issues sometimes, it’s hardware—iIt happens. But if you check the figures for customer satisfaction and repairs, you’ll see Apple has, by far, the highest and lowest numbers, respectively. Even Windows-biased Consumer Reports concedes the quality and reliabilty of Apple hardware.

I’ve never been to the Dell or Gateway user forums, but I’ll bet what little money I have in the bank that there are way more dissatisfied customers there than at Apple’s. (Even after adjusting for market share.)
Rick

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 12:06 pm · Reply

It is a bad idea to ask MDN to delete ANY message. Are those messages idiotic? Maybe, but, which criteria will you use to delete and what to left in the blog?

Do you want your message be the one to be deleted?

This is part of the focus on detail idea.
davida

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 12:20 pm · Reply

justed wanted to point something out… Monkey dude was harpin’ about the iPod Hi-fi, perhaps even mildly justified, not iPods themselves. Carry on.
Sure Am Relieved

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 1:03 pm · Reply

I had a program that was automatically launched that I decided I wanted to keep in the dock.

I was about to do a find, then I thought I would pull up a context menu on the program when it was in the dock.

Sure enough, there was a “Keep in Dock” menu item. I couldn’t believe it.

Details again.

I love the way you can have a bazillion items in the dock, but have them magnified (with an adjustable magnification level) as you mouse over them. More Details
Cubert

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 1:07 pm · Reply

I have freaked out plenty of Winblows die-hards by showing them the instant updating done in iTunes and Spotlight when you are typing in the search field.

I tell them to compare that to the stupid dog with the flashlight in Windoze when you are searching. Generally, after that little demo they shut the hell up about how stupid “Apple” is.

Isn’t it ironic that you never hear people defend Windoze? They just slam “Apple” (even if they mean a Mac or an iPod).
MikeR

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 2:55 pm · Reply

I recently plugged in a D-Link USB Bluetooth adapter so my wife’s phone could contact iCal. The intructions were 9 pages long for Windoze. The Mac portion stated plug in and the rest is automatic.

Too bad grammar school hasn’t started up yet. We’d be free of trolls then.
Joe

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 3:28 pm · Reply

Do any of you use Appleworks 6? I doublt it. It is the most pathetic piece of software That I have seen come from Apple but it is what shipped with my G4 iBook. Attention to detail? Appleworks 6 is a half baked joke!
Big Al

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 3:56 pm · Reply

Joe,

If you bought that G4 iBook recently you’ve been taken on the hardware side as well.

As for the state of Appleworks 6, well, that’s the price we all pay for MS Office for Mac OS. There was no other way.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Nick

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 4:11 pm · Reply

Other tech companies pay attention to detail as well… like when you’re texting on a Treo and it automatically capitalizes words at the beginning of a sentence or spells out contraction… similary to the way M$ word does in windows… no company is perfect, but its nice to come across these serendipitious acts of thoughtfulness… Apple just tends to do it more often others.
progeny

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 4:16 pm · Reply

some cool stuff:

>If you get the password wrong in the login window, it shakes its head – doesn’t give you any buttons to push

>If you accidentally pull out the earbud cord (as I often do) while listening to an audiobook on iPod, it automatically pauses playback for me

>spring-loaded folders

>expose – show desktop, grab file, show all windows, place file in folder, return to work – the greatest desktop management tool ever

> the list goes on and on
GmJm

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 4:33 pm · Reply

It’s these tiny things that make a HUGE difference.

I was at a friend’s house, an IT pro with a monster Window’s based machine he made himself, and I wanted to show him my website. As I was about to enter my URL in Internet Explorer, he stepped out of the room to fetch a few drinks. I tried several times, and I couldn’t get my website up; it couldn’t find it. I told my friend and he said “Let me try.” He typed the whole “http://www.nulookgraphics.com”.

I haven’t typed “http://www.” and “.com” in AGES!!! He didn’t believe I didn’t have to do that on my Mac.

He still marvels at the eject key on the keyboard, Exposé function… oh, wait… that just reminds me… ask your Windows friends to type the word “Exposé” with the “accented e” in any of their programs. See what they have to do to accomplish it. Don’t even bother asking them to spell “Noël”. On a Mac, just type alt+”u” before you type the “e”.

On the topic of text characters and simple things Windows can’t do, did you know that your Mac can use ANY of the “alt” and “alt+shift” characters in a system or application password? Windows can not. Talk about a HUGE Apple advantage in security.

But, you think, “How in the hell can I possibly remember ÂÁÎØ˝ıÅ‰Í” as a password. Simple: Just hold down the alt and shift and spell out any simple word. My example was simply the very easy to remember “mydogbarks”. You can compound the security by using a mix of all 4 key alternatives. But that might slow things down, so to speed things up, AND improve security even further (is it possible?), I don’t even use words, but use keys grouped next to each other that I can easily roll or drum my fingers across. And example is “QWERasdfZXCV”. Now, I do this while holding down the alt key and I get this “Œ„´‰åß∂ƒ¸˛Ç◊”. I don’t even care if someone is looking over my shoulder. They are usually looking at the screen and not my fingers, and surely not watching my left fingers playing on the alt and shift keys.

You can very easily make a 128-bit encrypted “disk image” (.dmg) files in Disk Utility, to send ANY kind or quantity of files or folders over email using these same passwords… as long as it doesn’t have to be read by a Windows user. Files can be added, deleted and viewed from these DMG files, and the encryption happens on the fly. It is so fast that you can view a QuickTime video directly from an encrypted .dmg file. Why is this important? Because, if the power goes out, your data remains locked within the encrypted file, nothing is left hanging out vulnerable. If the US government used such simple computer habits, such as encrypting the whole user area (a very simple setting on a Mac) it wouldn’t matter if a laptop with a million social security numbers and birth dates gets stolen. To break a 128-bit encryption, assuming you only try 100 passwords per second nonstop, it will take over 1000 years to crack it. Imagine trying to break an encrypted file within an encrypted home folder with a different password, both using alt characters? After the initial easy setup, it only takes seconds to utilize.

Companies and governments MUST use Mac OS X if they are serious about security!! Using anything less is pure stupidity and/or not really caring about the information. But, unfortunately, politics with its under-the-table cash is more important than security. I’d vote for any President that said they were trashing all of the WIndows PCs and using Macs primarily for the intense built-in security it offers. Only then would I know they are serious about our country’s safety.

These things are so incredibly easy to use and secure that if such functionality were to appear in Windows, it would be seen as a whole new generation of Windows OS.
Kramer

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:08 pm · Reply

I like how OS X “scoots” a window into view when you have to move or copy a file into it.

I like how “viewing info” for multiple items is automatically tiled neatly in order and only overlaps when you run out of screen space.

I like “fast sleep mode”: Command + Option + F12

(But I hate the Zoom button. I wish it worked consistently like the Maximize button does in Windoze.)