“Major new features in the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard like Time Machine are great, but I’ve been thinking about all the other aspects of the Mac OS X experience that could use some spit and polish from Apple’s engineers. They’ve done a fantastic job building a damn impressive OS over the years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvements both big and small (besides: they have to keep their OS product cycle on a good pace). Following is a list of 10 unlikely requests I have for the next version of Mac OS X that might not be worthy of a Stevenote, but they could bring smiles and sighs of satisfied relief to many a user,” David Chartier writes for TUAW.
Chartier’s top X unlikely requests for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:
• Removing applications – and all their baggage
• Don’t make me eject an idle drive
• Multi-disc spanning throughout
• Learn some things from the Windows Start button
• Full NTFS friendliness
• Polish your integration
• Make the screenshot process more obvious
• To click-through, or not to?
• Quick tutorial for new(ish) users
• Release the long-rumored ‘Home on iPod’ feature
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Yager: New Apple MacBook Pro is ‘mobile landing pad for Leopard in plenty of time for Macworld Expo’ – October 24, 2006
Apple confirms ‘resolution independence’ and more coming in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – October 23, 2006
Will Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard get buried by Microsoft’s Windows Vista buzz? – October 16, 2006
Pirillo: Microsoft’s Windows Vista will double Apple’s market share – October 13, 2006
What if Microsoft held a Windows Vista party and nobody came? – October 13, 2006
CNET: Microsoft’s Windows Vista still not ready for prime time – October 12, 2006
Thurrott: ‘You don’t need Windows Vista’ – October 11, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista spyware may prompt users to upgrade to Apple Mac – October 09, 2006
Windows Vista gaming will be 10-15 percent slower than XP – October 09, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s new activation scheme will give users another reason not to upgrade to Vista – October 05, 2006
IT Managers: Do you need Windows Vista or should you ‘Get a Mac?” – September 11, 2006
Infoworld: Microsoft’s WIndows Vista not so revolutionary after all – September 11, 2006
Pirillo: Windows Vista RC1 disappointing, schizophrenic, disordered, inconsistent, and sad – September 07, 2006
Key Microsoft exec exits as clock ticks down on oft-delayed, much pared-down Windows Vista release – September 06, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Development approaches of Mac OS X Leopard vs. Windows Vista yield very different results – August 15, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Symantec researcher: At this time, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X – July 13, 2006
Sophos: Apple Mac OS X’s security record unscathed; Windows Vista malware just a matter of time – July 07, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Computerworld: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ is truly remarkable – October 05, 2006
InfoWorld’s Yager: Apple will take computing to the next level with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – September 06, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Mac OS X Leopard sneak peek highlights – August 09, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Inside Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Spaces’ – August 07, 2006
Take a ride in Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Leopard featuring Time Machine, Spaces, enhanced Mail & iChat, and more – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Server Leopard; to ship in spring 2007 – August 07, 2006
The diatribe (?) by Scott Rose is interesting and perhaps a touch LOUD at times..!
On exactly that topic I find that you SIMPLY need to tell users that IF they choose to use iPhoto (why wouldn’t they?) then they must only use iPhoto and not mess about with folders as well. iPhoto DOES IT ALL FOR YOU. It even has an email out option, and anyway, dragging photo’s out is as simple as dragging from folders.
It couldn’t be easier. You just have to move back from the way Microsoft told you you had to do it…
Scott Rose –
Really if you break it down there is no easy way to attach files when using webmail. Isn’t the purpose of webmail to be able to go to another computer and look at you e-mail? if so you wouldn’t have your photos to attach. I have Apple’s Mail set up for my g-mail account so I can just click e-mail in iPhoto – easy.
Scott Rose:
I think I understand your point, but coud you SPEAK UP A LITTLE?!?!?!? And perhaps a few more pages of ranting would help.
“Locating and opening apps in OSX sucks”
Check out HimmelBar – I love it:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13059
I think the solution for photos in mail would be a simple ‘photos’ button, which opens an iPhoto window similar to the one in iWeb, etc.
OK I just tried it, dragging from iPhoto to a web based emailer doesn’t work. there must be a way round this?
There’s a lame list if ever I read one…
I’d like to see: More interface consistency!
Window views that STAY the way you set them. Make Open and Save dialogues work that way, too! Constantly having to resize the SAME columns is a nightmare.
To add to whatever’s comments, iPhoto 6 handles this process pretty nicely.
If Apple Mail is your program of choice then this is all very simple.
All you need do is open iPhoto, select the photos you want to send in a letter and click on the Email icon at the bottom of the iPhoto interface.
In the ensuing dialogue box that appears, you are given an opportunity to choose the size; ranging from Small (fast download), Medium, Large (high quality), and Actual Size (full quality). You are given the option to include Titles and Comments also.
Finally, select the Compose button from the dialogue box and Apple Mail starts up and creates a blank email with your photo selections already attached, ready to send.
What could be more simple?
I tend to do things like whatever’s does though. I pretty much know what I’m going to send out in the mail and place an email (photoshop) version on the desktop for easy drag and drop access. I eventually delete the one on the desktop and if I have a need to send another copy of that very same picture, I know a copy resides in my Sent Mail box.
Scott Rose___ Web Mail really sucks when you have no internet connection – that is why you should keep things local while at home. Then iPhoto works great..
William writes:
“Step one: select photo in iPhoto.
Step two: drag the photo to your desktop.
Step three: profit!”
Yes, of course this is what I tell users, but this leaves stuff to cleanup on your desktop afterwards, and becomes 2 extra steps to jump through. But yes, in the meantime, this is currently the easiest/quickest/best way to handle this issue.
To everybody else:
Try to break free from the mentality for a second that Apple does everything right. If Apple already has a “media” button in all of their iWork applications (Pages, Keynote, iWeb), why not extend that to the operating system level as well? You guys are not new users — I can tell you from experience in the field that new users get confused by this process.
I don’t understand what is so difficult about opening applications in OS X. You can go to Finder>Go>Applications and open anything. Or use the Dock. Or put a folder on the right side of the Dock with your favorite apps. Of course, putting the entire Applications folder in the Dock is going to take longer to open because of all the things in there. That’s just stupid. If you want to use OS X like it’s Windows, then just plaster your application icons all over the desktop like all the other Windows users do. Most people avoid the Start Menu like the plague because it’s a freakin’ pain in the butt.
The Apple media palette is a powerful organization tool to be sure. I would also like to see it in open dialog boxes. I would also like to see search. Perhaps all files can be organized by file type and broken down by other meta data such as folders (category) and date. I think that’s the direction Apple is trying to go in, but they haven’t given us the half-way solution.
I would like to see WYSIWYG fonts in font menus. What’s up with that Apple?! C’mon!
Click throughs must be default. It’s expected.
Make the front app more obvious by adding a slight alpha mask to other apps, but not the background.
Fix the menus in the Finder. While you’re at it, figure out what the Finder is. Take it there.
If I have text selected, let me drag and drop it. Make this default in Apple apps.
Tell my company to let me use my Mac in the office, and connect to the network.
“Tell my company to let me use my Mac in the office, and connect to the network.”
That’s the biggie for me…
Create a fake second optical drive to hold my coffee cup just like in my car!
Didn’t I hear that the next Mail will have iLife integration. You can already resize photos in Mail, so we just need to drag them to Mail from a media viewer and resize. Also, iLife integration will be offered to developers as well.
I’d like to be able to access all of the characters in a Universal font set using a keyboard shortcut. This is the one habit I picked up from my nasty daytime work in Windows. I know there are keyboard shortcuts for many odd characters on the Mac, but I can never remember them, and I hate having to hunt through a Keycaps type app just to copy-paste what I need. Give me alt-0153 (the Trademark symbol), alt-0189 (the 1/2 symbol), and alt-0176 (the degree symbol).
I like the way this works in Windows and I wish there was something similar on the Mac.
Just my 2 alt-0162’s worth.
Tergenev – Yeah that is real easy to remember – and Please don’t use those damn (fraction) 1/2, 1/4 etc. keys — those things reek havoc
Peabody’s Take on the Top Ten Unlikely Requests:
Chartier’s top X unlikely requests for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:
• Removing applications – and all their baggage
• Don’t make me eject an idle drive
• Multi-disc spanning throughout
• Learn some things from the Windows Start button
• Full NTFS friendliness
• Polish your integration
• Make the screenshot process more obvious
• To click-through, or not to?
• Quick tutorial for new(ish) users
• Release the long-rumored ‘Home on iPod’ feature
1. What? You want Apps removed, or all the baggage that goes with them?
2. This is an interesting idea as long as I have complete control over when.
3. YES!
4. NO! I hate the “Start” button and the whole idea of it.
5. YES!!!
6. Integration with what?
7. Yes. Even through its really not that bad, put a button on the keyboard labeled “Screen Shot”. Why not?
8. What?
9. Sounds good.
10.I’m clueless, but it sounds good.
Oh is is soooo hard to type option-r to get ® and option-zero to get º Yeah I want to be able to type alt-0162 which means exactly what?
…click and command-click until you have all the photos you want selected. Click on the Email icon at the bottom of the screen. Select how to resize the images (small, medium, large, full – you’ll even get an estimated size of the full email message for each selection) and whether to include titles and/or comments. Click compose. Add one or more email addresses, change the default subject line if you wish, and add any additional text you want to the body of the message.
This is not hard. Whether or not you use Mail as your primary mail client, it is included with your system and can work with any mail service. If you cannot be bothered to learn how to use you computer that’s your problem, not the manufacturers.
Ok, after reading the Full Article, here’s the ammendments:
1. This does need to be improved as OS X has finally gotten to where Windows has always been in successfully getting things completely removed.
6. Interoperability within the OS X environmnet seems finally ready to make some important leaps. I for one keep having to fight off the spouse wanting to go back to Entourage because the functionality of iCal, Address Book and Mail, are all put together there. And I have to admit I’d like to see the big three come together in OS X. What would be really cool is if you could choose to integrate them or not, or maybe just two of them.
8. I was unclear in the article if he is an opponent or proponent, but I want click-through. How about allowing the user to tweak how much, when, etc.
10. Home on iPod sounds like a very cool idea.
Tergenev,
Isn’t it easier to remember Option plus one key than Alt plus a four digit number? Open Keyboard viewer to see what key each symbol is attached to, then learn it. The Mac OS X way is four times easier to remember.
I do like the idea of iPhoto pics available in open/dialog windows. Maybe not just photos, but a “Media Browser” perhaps? Until Apple adds that, this Automator action hint for accessing the iPhoto library (system-wide) works great for me:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060429075843216
There’s also a similar hint for the color picker somewhere on MacOSXHints
My 2 cents:
As far as the Dock is concerned, I believe it’s way more intelligent than the Windows “Jurassic” start bar. All you have to do is make a folder of all your favorite aliases (organized with sub-folders how you like) and keep it in the dock. I made my own “Apple Menu Items” folder like in OS9. I can customize it whenever I want and as much as I want. It’s very responsive. Right click (control+click with single button mouse) to instantly show the contents. It will take slightly longer if you have a big load of files & folders, though. Pretty snappy on my G5 single 1.8.
I love OS X, but some of my biggest probs now are:
1) Finder windows…should be able to set one view and have it remember it for every freakin’ window…period. Very simple. Also, have a setting to auto adjust columns to your preset spec. I find myself always wasting time resizing columns to clean them up. I have an automator action for that, but it should be that way already.
Also, also…get rid of the very tired brushed metal interface for the Finder and QT. It’s sooo done. I think the finder should be more like a widget and easily changed via html & CSS to one’s liking.
2) Feature request: Auto activation of fonts system-wide from ANY app. This will free up loads of ram. None of the 3rd part apps do this properly. LinoType’s FontExplorerX still falls a bit short, but is good for freeware.
3) For the love of all things sacred…get rid of the extremely irritating file extension noob dialog box. At least for advanced users. In fact, make a whole “advanced” setting in the system prefs that deactivates all noob warnings so power users can fly through their work/fun.
My kids (and wife, shhhh…) drag applications from DMG images to the dock not realising they aren’t the real apps. Later the DMG is discarded and their dock item stops working. I tried for ages to find their old copies of MSN this way!
Can Apple make the Finder warn the user and offer to put a copy in the Applications folder before placing THAT copy on the Dock?
Also, Finder tabs and sort alternatives in Column View would be nice. I want only one Finder window open like I have only one Safari/iTunes/iMovie/iPhoto window to handle the lot.
Strangely enough, it isn’t.
The other thing is that by tying up these one key combinations to single character items, all of the keyboard shortcuts that *should* be in Word but aren’t, which I have thusly added to all of my Word templates, and all of the Word templates used by my entire company, become all mucked up when taking files across platforms.
Look, I learned these add-on keyboard shortcuts for Word from several tech writers I’ve worked with in the past, and they speed up my document creation about 3x:
alt-1 – Apply Heading 1
alt-2 – Apply Heading 2
alt-3 – Apply Heading 3
alt-4 – Apply Heading 4
alt-5 – Apply Body Text
alt-6 – Insert a figure placeholder graphic and {Seq (Figure)} fielded caption
alt-p – Start a numbered procedure (Counting done by a {Seq (Step)} field, thus avoiding the HELL that is Word’s autonumbering features.
alt-x – Add a step to a procedure (Seq (Step)}
alt-. – Add a bullet point (Bullet character, tab, Bullet Style)
alt-, – Add an indented bullet point
The point being that I’ve used alot of simple keyboard combinations to actually allow me to do my job faster. I actually like the formality of reaching for the alt button and the four number keypad combo to put in a custom character. My docs work in Word on both platforms, but Apples’ option-shortcuts interfere with mine.
It’s not like I’m not an Apple fanatic. I am. This is just one thing that bugs me when I try to write text on the Mac side.