Ask Apple for these (please!)

[andypeter]

Hi everybody, hope you're having fun with the Public Beta, sorry if you're not.

I've been talking with a group of UK Mac users about what simple features Apple could add to Mac OS X, that they would actually be likely to add (rather than a an obscure wish list that they will dismiss out
of hand). We've come up with the following, and I would love it if other mac users who thought the same way would let apple know through the OS X feedback page on apple.com. The aim is to post very politely
and simply to them, and let them know that these ideas are widely supported (I hope they are).

i) Bring back spring loaded folders. They are indispensible to lots of us; a simple feature that really helps out ease of use and workflow, and wouldn't conflict as far as I can see with any of the new GUI
conventions or methods.

ii) In the dock, shade the icon of the foreground app. In testing, users have been unable to distinguish what app they are in from the menu bar title alone. The triangles to show running apps work fine, but
extra feedback about which is the foreground app would be very handy. There already exists a routine to do this, because when you use cmd-tab to app switch, the app icons shade as you tab through them.

iii) Allow us to change the accent colours from blue or graphite to any we choose. This again is possible because people have done it. These kind of touches bring that personalised feeling to the mac, which OS X
Public Beta seems to be lacking a little.

They don't seem like huge features, but little touches add up and make the difference between an ok GUI and an insanely great GUI.

There were other features that would be nice as well, but the aim is to be realistic about what Apple are likely to respond to and change/include.

Personally I would love to see windowshade return. Apple will probably not do that because it would require another GUI widget on the title bar of a window. I could live with just double clicking the bar to windowshade, but I am dubious about Apple implementing that.
Windowshade is great for a quick view of what is behind a window without minimising. An alternate would be to breifly make the window transparent.
Anyway, if anyone supports the feature suggestions above, please let Apple know, and tell your friends and co users to do the same.

Hopefully Apple will listen.

Cheers,

The North

[wmoss]

Spring loaded folders - I liked these in OS 9, but I haven't really felt their absence in Mac OS X because I've gotten out of the habit of throwing stuff on the desktop. I haven't tried this, but if dropping stuff on the big Finder buttons worked, that'd be helpful.

Shaded current app - I would like to see this one. Seems like a natural thing to do.

Custom Hilight Colors - I don't think this will happen without a _reason_ other than simple aesthetics being given. Either due to marketing pressures or user interface designers, I think they are going to stick with blue. My guess is because it's a very calm, non-computerish color. Indeed the special effects guys in the Matrix did a lot of work to remove the color blue from as much of the matrix scenes as possible to give it a bleaker, sterile, computerish feel. Blue seems to be Apple's color for now.

Windowshade - I'm ambivalent about whether it returns or not. It was only useful to me for reading something that was right behind it and then immediately opening it back up again. Since all the titlebars were in almost the exact same place, it was hard to deal with if you brought other windows to the front (to scroll for example) and then needed to unshade the first window. I'd end up dragging a bunch of Windows about 20 pixels diagonally from each other to try and find the one I was looking for. Grrr.


A few of suggestions that I'd like:

Movable focus - In Java apps and MS Windows, it's possible to control almost all of the user interface from the keyboard. Part of this comes from being able to use a key to change the "default" button or input area. It'd be nice to be able to move the "pulsing blue button hilight" to different buttons and sliders just by tabbing.

Better Drag & Drop - Scrapbook is gone. The NeXT shelf is gone. They try to get you not to use the desktop if possible. How are we supposed to organize and easilly access our clipping files? The dock is the answer I suppose, but I'd like a separate app that's easy to drag into, search on, and drag out of.

Terminal - I know that it's included in the public beta, but I think that people should say "Thanks" and encourage them to keep it in.

[red_pages]

I don't see why people can't tell what app they are running by looking at the first item in the menubar. It is in bold. Of course, it is on the opposite side from OS9, so it will probably take people a little time to adjust. I agree with the other two suggestions though. It seems especially silly that we aren't able to choose the accent color when the functionality is already built in and we were able to do it in OS9. I have submitted to Apple a feedback on that and the spring loaded folders as you requested.

[Lister]

If they didn't keep the terminal I would drop Apple like a hot potato!
-Lister

[andypeter]

Originally posted by Lister
If they didn't keep the terminal I would drop Apple like a hot potato!
-Lister

Too right! I need that terminal, for telnet into my news server if nothing else. It is the fastest telnet I have seen so far across mac or windows platforms. I like it just as it is thankyou Apple.

[Pascal]

The feature I see missing the most in OS X is definitely the folder tabs. Ever since this was introduced in the Finder, every single launcher I had disappeared and stuff that used to land on my desktop did not anymore : I had an easily accessible storage space.

The other thing I see as MIA, is the file tree that I always added to the Apple menu (via an alias of the main hard drive) : ever since the first days of System 7, I have been using the Apple menu as a Start menu (thanks to the Now Utilities, then the Apple Menu CP). (BTW, MS did not even invent anything new there : System 7 appeared in 1991, if I remember well ! ) One could always argue that this file tree can be easily replaced by the Computer button in the new desktop, especially in the browser view, and I would probably agree. Aside from that, the Apple menu was never really useful to me.

If they didn't keep the terminal I would drop Apple like a hot potato!

I would not see why they would make it disappear : if it is there in the PB, I believe it will still be there in the final version. My understanding is that OS X, from now on, will keep gaining features, not losing some.

I don't understand why spring loaded folders and drag & drop clippings could not be implemented : they should be. These two options are a big plus of Mac OS.

The shaded active app is a great idea.

Custom accent colours and other means of Desktop customising should be kept. I just cannot stand the blue anymore : Mac OS 7 had a blueish tone since the beggining, Mac OS 8 icons had a compulsory blue colour, the standard Mac OS desktop and the Mac logo is blue, the standard Windows colour scheme is blue... Everything in the computer world is blue nowadays. Now don't misunderstand me : I like blue (after all, its my country's colour), but as they say : variety is the spice of life ! Let me have tangerine accents on my desktop if I feel like it !!!

As a final word : the dock could be hugely improved if click-and-holding on an application icon would reveal a menu of all the windows (active documents) associated with that app. That would minimise the window juggling required to find the desired one...

[andypeter]

Originally posted by Pascal
The feature I see missing the most in OS X is definitely the folder tabs. Ever since this was introduced in the Finder, every single launcher I had disappeared and stuff that used to land on my desktop did not anymore : I had an easily accessible storage space.

Try Drop Drawers (sorry no URL, try carbontracker.com)
It is 10x more configurable than popups, not so stable yet (just carbonised I think). I don't miss popups yet, odd cos my desktop in OS 9 has about ten all the way across the screen.


As a final word : the dock could be hugely improved if click-and-holding on an application icon would reveal a menu of all the windows (active documents) associated with that app. That would minimise the window juggling required to find the desired one...

Yeah, totally. I forget to say in my original post that they should implement something like that. alt-click would do just as well. alt-click on document in the doc should un-minimise all other associated documents as well (alt-click on minimise genies all docs belonging to that app).

cheers,

andy

[eVo]

One minor feature I'd like to see and I hope others would help me tell Apple, is that in column view, have the ability to press 'home' on the keyboard to go back to the root of your computer when in a deep root so you don't have to scroll. And be able to press 'end' to go back to the end of the root.