“A few million Mac users devoted the weekend to installing and rummaging through OS X Lion, Apple’s latest and maybe last cat for Mac. Overall, impressions are good, but a few quirks caught my eye,” Ron McElfresh writes for Mac360.
Fixes, tips and tricks for Mac OS X Lion:
• Make Library reappear
• Alex has friends (including Samantha; download her today)
• Add iCal Events
• Dictionary fun
• Folder fun
• Zooming
• Preview signatures
McElfresh writes, “Lion contains a few hundred new features similar to the above. So far, our experience with Lion has been very good. A few 3rd party apps still need to be upgraded, but no major issues to date.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Scrolling hint: In OS X Lion, imagine a long sheet of paper; pull it down to see the top, push it up to see the bottom.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Anyone have any major issues with their Lion install yet?
Nothing major, but iTunes artwork doesn’t show in the finder anymore. And as a follow on, in 3rd party apps like DJay for example.
Had one instance yesterday after doing a fast user switch where the screen went black instead of switching desktops. The mouse pointer was still visible and moved with the trackpad, but nothing else worked. I wound up logging in remotely via SSH and triggering a reboot.
Pretty much everytime I wake my MacBook up from sleep, I have to go into Network Diagnostics in order to get back online. I’ve seen other message board postings of people having the same issue.
I’ve seen that, too. Yours is a MacBook? Not a MacBook Pro?
I have the same problem with my mid 2009 MacBook Pro since installing Lion using Airport Extreme router.
nothing major really.
BUT… I put it on my iMac now.
Apple’s new BS gestures are more screwed up than previously thought..
inverted scrolling up/down is one BS move. fixable to be correct.
but swiping left to right between pages… are broken as well. you CAN’T have 3 finger drag, and swipe between pages at same time. Swipe between pages only works in Safari… unless you change it to 2 or 3 fingers… and then it breaks 3 finger drag.
In launchpad, the iOS look for apps…. moving between pages, is backwards from what it is on iOS. and backwards from “natural” scrolling. swipe right to see the page to the right, iOS is Right to see the page to the left.
Not the only one with the swiping screwed up it’s all over the discussions.
I saw a third party app that corrects all the gestures, and even lets you adjust them per app. Was made for SL, works in Lion but not the new stuff. the Dev is updating it for Lion.
I’ll be using it when it is…
It’s going to be installed on MANY Lion Mac’s…
(Actually just checked the site, there is a Lion Beta available now) http://blog.boastr.net/
Quicktime Player is no longer playing AVIs. Sometimes, web content that contains Flash (oh, yeah) will actually continue to keep playing even after Safari is shut down, even force quit. Annoying….
Lion makes Safari even worse than it was before. It now doesn’t find a server every 2 clicks, doesn’t load all images and weighs down the whole system. Keynote and iPhoto are also crashing much more often than before. Modifications of Spotlight search results and Preview saving are really moronic. And when working with the server the system no longer recognizes me as the administrator and asks every two minutes for the admin password. Otherwise Lion is brilliant.
As I feared, it breaks Eudora. Sob
Entrouge email …. Switched to Mail and won’t import contacts …..
If I had to do over shoulda imported to Mail in Leopard and then over to Lion ….. But was able to download from our mail server so it should work out …. And have info on my iPad so I’m going to try that tomorrow ….
The first time it started up after the update, it loaded everything except the Finder. I could launch an app from the Dock and it would work fine, but I had no Finder menu bar, and no desktop icons. Forced a restart and it was fine. Haven’t has any other big issues.
This is annoying…I’ve got the new scrolling thing down with Lion, but now Windows machines and older Macs are doing it backwards! Is anyone else noticing that? I work in IT. Nearly every Mac or PC I work on is now backwards. When I get home to my MBP, everything is normal.
I turned it off for now. I’m going to get a trackpad for my desktop and change it back.
i tried to restore an address book file to fix one that was goofy, from before the Lion update…no go. No error dialog. Nothing.
The best Operating System ever !!
Thanks Apple !
Installed Lion Saturday. Seamless. My mid-2009 model 2.3 Ghz MBP with 8GB ram is real snappy! I never liked Spaces but the new iteration via Mission Control has won me over. I also like the new gestures.
I backed up via time machine and repaired permissions and made sure everything was up to date first and BOOM!!
I only had a little Wifi issue so far, and I did the trick to make the library visible again. But everything else is great!!
Oh yeah, iCal doesn’t sync with MobileMe when I add events on my Mac. Maybe the linked article explains the fix for that…
Ok. My test event from iCal just showed up in my phone. So that’s working again. (or still)
Scrolling has been wrong since the beginning. Lion finally fixes that, but it’s an adjustment.
Keynote auto save has been an issue for me, very slow to save a document. (like 15min per save)
Other than that the system has been much faster in response and overall snappiness!
Hold option key down while pressing “Go” in finder to get to library.
or http://www.macworld.com/article/161156/2011/07/view_library_folder_in_lion.html
I went the chflags route. But pick between the 18 ways.
or 19.. someone created a KB shortcut.
If there was a way to activate Launchpad with a gesture, hot key or something I would use it a lot more often; I hate having to click on it in the Dock to launch it, thus adding an extra keystroke to launch apps. You also can’t put LP folders in folders yet.
I LOVE versions in the iLife apps!
Their is it’s 3 finger and thumb pinch brings up launchpad
For LaunchPad, just create a keyboard shortcut, or re-assign on you never use.
I want Launchpad to go away, or enable a disabler. 😉 And, I hate the new ‘autofill’ function.
I get that MDN feels the need to defend Apple a lot, but I don’t think the harping on the scrolling change really makes sense. I was a little taken aback by it at first, but I was wiling to give it a try. Sure enough, it soon seemed fairly natural.
But then I plugged my laptop into my desk setup. First time I used my mouse scrollwheel, and I could see why people were upset or even angry by the change. You can argue whether flipping the direction makes sense on a trackpad vs. touchscreen, but on a scrollwheel, it makes no sense. So, I changed the preference. Easy enough.
MDN’s patronizing hand-holding on this issue only serves to reinforce the feeling some have that its writers are kind of ivory tower elitists. We in the Mac world grew tired of that stereotype long ago, so it would be nice if MDN didn’t try to build it back up. We’re big kids. We don’t need talked down to on this issue. Apple, as usual, has made an OS that can easily adapt to its users’ needs and preferences. Let the users have their own preferences.
You fight for the users.
I agree. The track wheel is the hardest part. I had the trackpad gestures down but the wheel I seem to get wrong every time. Just today I’m noticing that I get it right more often than not. Benjamin Franklin said it took 21 days to change a habit. I don’t know. I see how it’s going by the end of the first week with it.
The reverse-scroll makes sense only on trackpads or Apple’s Magic Mouse since it’s also a touchpad surface (and even then it’s a bit tenuous, but given pinch-and-zoom, the argument can be made for it).
But it makes no sense at all on a scrollwheel mouse. You aren’t manipulating an imaginary sheet of paper, like MDN keeps saying, you’re manipulating a physical wheel. And if you think about it, it’s the wheel that’s on the imaginary sheet, and if you scroll the wheel down, the turning wheel would indeed push the the imaginary sheet upward.
Second point: ergonomics.
One of Windows (and other OS’) many flaws is that their keyboard shortcuts activate using control key, which you’ll get at using your pinky fingers, the weakest in your hand. On a Mac, the command key is naturally accessed with your thumb, the strongest. Guess which OS contributed more to my hand strain?
Now we have Lion’s reverse-scrolling. 90% of the time people are scrolling down a page. With a physical wheel it’s better for the finger to curl inward, not extend out.
“But then I plugged my laptop into my desk setup. First time I used my mouse scrollwheel, and I could see why people were upset or even angry by the change.”
and THIS is 99% of the reason for the uproar.
Good thing we have BTT now to correct the errors.
Only problems I’m having are with Adobe products. Specifically DreamWeaver. I have CS5 versions. They do NOT behave well with spaces and now with Mission Control. Dreamweaver hogs processor cycles something fierce, even when it appears to be just sitting there. It’s so bad at times it causes iTunes to stutter!
Apple Lion OS – the Vista of OS X
By no stretch of the imagination. These annoyances are truly minor. People are just creatures of habit. And we know how hard it is to break habits.
Hardly…
Personally i see two. 2, TWO….. issues I have with Lion.
Sidebar reorder in finder. bugs me, but i can live with it. (even the dull icons if I Must… Hope Candybar can rescue us someday)
and Apple’s change in Scrolling/gestures. BetterTouchTool is the best solution. Allows you to keep all the new stuff you want, AND not only correct the problems the new gestures screwed up… but allows you to change them on a Per App basis…
and it’s free!
outside those two things.. I can’t think of any other hateful thing to say about Lion.
98% happy with it. (probably closer to 99.8% in terms of features/changes)
“Sidebar reorder in finder. bugs me, but i can live with it.”
I hate it. Having the ability to custom order the sidebar seems like a minor code change, so let’s hope they do it, or someone, like Onyx or MacPilot, gives us the option.
Yeah, i agree.
I can get used to it… but it still makes me swear at it every time i see it.
Explain please, or be relegated to troll status.
My rule of thumb is to give the UI six months before you customize it. In this case, I think it is very bad advice to make the Library visible.
Microsoft has introduced some new terminology. In Windows, “Libraries” are places to put documents. A switcher might get confused and put documents there, or delete things that they shouldn’t. New users can get confused if they get advice from Windows users. You can’t underestimate the klutziness of a non-geek user. It took a friend of mine three hours to find the App Store on his iMac, even with help from Apple over the phone! It might even confuse you if you are using Parallels and accidentally confuse the OS X Library with a Windows Library.
New users and switchers have no business being in the Library, so hiding it is best. Expert users know how to get into the Library when it is hidden, so hiding it is harmless. If you go there so often that you have to unhide it, something is wrong.
Apple hid the Library for a reason. Keep it hidden.
except many people need to access it to change/delete stuff.
http://www.macworld.com/article/161156/2011/07/view_library_folder_in_lion.html
Apple has their reasons, and honestly i DO see their point. to stop the average user from screwing something up. But I think it should be unhidden on admin accounts, and hidden on normal user accounts.. that would stop 99% of the problems with people complaining about it being hidden, and with people screwing up the Library contents.
Read at least the top part of the article from MacWorld. there ARE reasons to get into the folder.
Everything works great except Face Time. After installing lion I can’t turn on Face Time.
I saw someone mention this in the Apple discussions…
By chance do you have the old Beta FaceTime? before it was on the App Store?
I can’t remember what they had to do, but they fixed it. I don’t think Apple disabled the Beta of Facetime (yet) but they may have done something to try and make you just pay the .99 and get it, if you didn’t get it with your Mac.
I still have the last Beta on my MBP.
it’s not Apple’s fault that they can’t give away FaceTime to all the previous Mac’s, they do have to charge or there was some fine with FCC or something… it’s a stupid situation but it’s not apple’s fault.
Head over to the Discussions and see if you can get it fixed.
I used a program called Scroll Reverse on Snow Leopard in the run-up to Lion. Now Lion is here, and I have no problem it. I’m scrolling the window, not the scroll bar, and that seems much more natural. Give it a month, then complain.
Maybe Adobe hired Microsoft to do the quality control.
Lion is OK, but I want Expose back from Leopard. Or am I missing something in Mission Control. I want to click the middle mouse button and see ALL open apps… and ALL open windows in all those apps. Expose did that, why did Apple have to over think Mission Control…???
Anyone else having trouble with the PDF plugin working in the Safari browser? I have both Adobe’s and a third party plugin, one of which worked in Snow Leopard, but can’t get it to work in Lion. Any suggestions?
Please ignore my previous post. Did some experimenting and found the problem. Lion is really roaring. Really like what I see so far.
To ‘rectify’ the reverse-scroll issue – open system preferences>mouse or track pad>then uncheck ‘scroll direction:natural’.
So far, smooth transition to Lion. Only issue I’ve had is that iWeb, running in Lion will only open the last opened .sites file, no matter if you double clicked on a different .sites file. Now I have open different .sites files by dropping them into the iWebDrop app.
Personally I like the fact that you CAN reverse the scroll but I think it’s still more ergonomic to pull your finger down to scroll down. The default should be the old way. Let’s see…I had a problem in full screen view in Aperture where I got a black screen trying to view my photos full screen. I really like the 2 finger scroll left to go back a page…and very quickly and nice eye candy too. One thing I would like added in safari is…if you click a link and it opens up another tab…when I swipe left with 2 fingers…safari should close that tab and bring me back to the last tab…very much a time saver!! That’s my 2 cents
I updated and it’s been very slow. Safari runs slower and so do most things. Sl ran fine but lion is slow
AppleWorks 6 is no longer available. Now I’ve lost access to 280 documents.