Smoothly going from 9 to X with Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Snapshot.

[fishbonex]

I'm on it right now, at home. It never crashes, networking is a breeze and is overall a great OS. But...

I work at home almost as much as I do at work, where I am still running 9.2. Why? Because I work in a hi-speed envirorment, and the window shade-less Os DOES slow you down. And that slight few-second delay to open a file adds up and seriously bogs down any groove you might be in. Besides that, I have several minor/major issues with OS X that I can't seem to resolve at home:

-Double-clicking file opens it in Preview or IE, not native App.
-Drag and Drop file does not open it in Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Image Ready
-Downright slow and sluggish in Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Image Ready and IE
-Snapshots are taken as PDF files and go straight to your desktop
-A lot of my fonts do not show up (granted, in X I am not using a Font management program)
-NO SNOOD!!!

I wonder if I only had X installed, would it be faster than it's running? The only program I NEED OS 9 for is Quark Xpress, but it's a major program. I find myself restarting in 9 when I have to work because the above programs all FLY in 9 and as I said, are sluggish in X.
Some people might not think these issues are a big deal, but they seriously cramp my working style. I don't know if the problems are because I'm using an older 400MHz G4 with 832MB or if having OS 9 also installed is slowing it down, but if anybody knows how to fix some of these issues, please point my in the right direction!!

 

[fryke]

Nope, OS 9 installed doesn't slow down your Mac OS X. Quark XPress is certainly bad in Classic and a big reason to stay in 9.

However, you can set screenshots to be taken in other formats with TinkerTool, I believe (or something else), and I have to say that once you _adapt_ to the new ways, your workflow will actually be faster in Mac OS X.

Opening files with a specific app is a breeze, just hold down the Command key while dragging a file to an app that doesn't want to open the file per se...

 

[RacerX]

Originally posted by fishbonex
-Double-clicking file opens it in Preview or IE, not native App.

That usually means that the resourse has been stripped off at some point (usually via e-mail or downloading from the web). You can tell the system what apps you want a document to be open with in the Info panel for that app. Further you can set the default app for that type of document at the same time (I set Acrobat to be used in place of Preview because I utilize many aspects of the full version of Acrobat on a daily basis).

-Drag and Drop file does not open it in Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Image Ready

Okay, I don't know about Dreamweaver, but Photoshop and ImageReady are two apps I spend a ton of time in and I have never had that problem unless the resource fork was gone and the file didn't have an extension. If it has a resource fork (that is, if you created it on a Mac and moved it between Macs using Mac media) drag-and-drop should work. Fryke pointed out what to do if that doesn't.

-Downright slow and sluggish in Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Image Ready and IE

I haven't had any problem with Photoshop or ImageReady and both my systems are G3s running at 350 MHz or less. I don't use IE unless I'm testing compatability (same with Netscape), I generally use OmniWeb (specially for working on web pages in it's source editor) or Safari. That could very easily be something to do with your system that is not a general problem with Mac OS X.

-Snapshots are taken as PDF files and go straight to your desktop

Where would you like them to go? The original place (root level of the boot drive) was counter-intuitive for many users (I do phone support, I know of what I speak). Having the file appear where the user can see that it was generated has saved me a ton of time helping others.

Also, what format would you like? Originally screenshots were pict files (which was pretty much a Mac-only file format). Then we had TIFF files, but then again, it wasn't easy to share. With PDF you know that most any other system out there is going to be able to see it and it doesn't require the system to do anything other than dump the current screen image to a file as the screen image is already a PDF. I would say this is a step up from the old pict file format and should be considered an advantage over Mac OS 9.2.

-A lot of my fonts do not show up (granted, in X I am not using a Font management program)

Generally, Mac OS X looks to three places for fonts...

• 
  /Library/Fonts
  /Users/home_folder/Library/Fonts
  and the Classic System Folder's font folder

Plus many of my client have already moved to Suitcase. The current version works in both 9 & X.

-NO SNOOD!!!

I have no idea what that is.

 

[fryke]

Good answers, RacerX. And I guess Snood is some sort of game that would run in Classic?

And I just have to repeat one of the basic benefits of using Mac OS X: You can keep your applications open. In OS 9, I always had to _decide_ what to work with. I kept two copies of Photoshop, one using 80 MB of RAM, one using 300 MB of RAM (when I had 512), and I always had to quit the big one as soon as I wanted to use either GoLive, Illustrator or InDesign concurrently. Now in OS X, I just open them all. I'm glad that I can tell Photoshop the percentage of RAM it should use, but somehow I'd rather not, as I fear as long as it's opened, it hogs RAM - even in the background and without images open...

The most important thing, I think, is that you _HAVE_ to try and adapt to the differences Mac OS X has over Mac OS 9 - and you'll not only SEE the advantages, you'll feel them. And use them. And start to miss the days when you thought OS X was a bad idea.

 

[chevy]

MacOS X is to MacOS 9 what MacOS was to the old Apple II text oriented OS.

The text oriented OS is MUCH faster. But you are faster with Mac OS, because the limitating factor in not CPU power, but human reaction, human reflexion, human creativity. That's why I find MacOS X is better than MacOS 9... and my iMac is better than any 4GHz PC.

Just do it faster.

 

[fishbonex]

Nobody wishes OS X would run smoother than 9 than I do, believe me. I am a HUGE Mac evangelist and still pump OS X to people, I know all of it's benefits and have been working on these machines for nearly a decade. But this new OS is alien to me (where I used to be able to fix and tinker with the old one), so I don't know how to fix these issues I do have and NONE of them are happening in OS 9.2. I apreciate all advice in advance!

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
That usually means that the resourse has been stripped off at some point (usually via e-mail or downloading from the web). You can tell the system what apps you want a document to be open with in the Info panel for that app. Further you can set the default app for that type of document at the same time
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this one works. I went into the apps Info dialog box, where do I enter this? I am just finishing having my ".PSD" open in "preview", so my frustration is fresh on the surface! These files are transferred between Office and Home via FTP or Firewire drive, either way same problem.


quote:
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-Drag and Drop file does not open it in Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Image Ready

Okay, I don't know about Dreamweaver, but Photoshop and ImageReady are two apps I spend a ton of time in and I have never had that problem unless the resource fork was gone and the file didn't have an extension. If it has a resource fork (that is, if you created it on a Mac and moved it between Macs using Mac media) drag-and-drop should work. Fryke pointed out what to do if that doesn't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whether I have created these files on my Mac at home or at work, same issue. Drag and Drop only works the first time you do it, when it is also launching the app. After that, it doesnt work even if I am holding the Command key down.


quote:
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-Downright slow and sluggish in Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Image Ready and IE

I haven't had any problem with Photoshop or ImageReady and both my systems are G3s running at 350 MHz or less. I don't use IE unless I'm testing compatability (same with Netscape), I generally use OmniWeb (specially for working on web pages in it's source editor) or Safari. That could very easily be something to do with your system that is not a general problem with Mac OS X.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Safari and Chimera iron out some more bugs, I will move full time over to those browsers when I am surfing. But I still need to test my work in IE, and will continue to need to work inside of it. All of these apps in OS X are slow to open, slow to bounce between and slow to respond.


quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Snapshots are taken as PDF files and go straight to your desktop

Where would you like them to go? The original place (root level of the boot drive) was counter-intuitive for many users (I do phone support, I know of what I speak). Having the file appear where the user can see that it was generated has saved me a ton of time helping others.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would like them to go to the root folder, or in a folder I can designate. Unfotunately, what is helpful to others in not helpful to me. I'm sure most people don't need to take over a dozen a day, so a snapshot on their dektop is not disorganized or cluttered. I need to view them by date, D and D several at a time and have them open quickly in either Photo or IReady. These files I need to import into PSD's, to build into other files. A PDF is not helpful to WORK with, Pict files were. I am not looking to save these, mail these or even share these. The snapshot is a tool in which we (my crew) work with to build other files. A JPG would be even better, and unfortunately with Jaguar, Tinker no longer works.


quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generally, Mac OS X looks to three places for fonts...

/Library/Fonts
/Users/home_folder/Library/Fonts
and the Classic System Folder's font folder
Plus many of my client have already moved to Suitcase. The current version works in both 9 & X.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think another person answered this in another thread for me. OS X has probs with True Type and such? All of my fonts were moved into these library's, OS X apps just don't recognise all of them. Not wierd fonts like "Phil's Semi" but standards like "Helvetica Rounded" do not show up. I have to try Suitcase to see if this works, I used to be a ATM user, but maybe suitcase is the way to go.

Again, thanks in advance to anybody who spends time responding to my probs and valuable brain time on these issues. As for SNOOD, that was a joke I dropped in my post. It's a very addicting, simple cross platform game that we play at work for stress relief (www.snood.org). I really don't have any issues not really being able to play it in X!

 

[chevy]

fishbonex,

you have a really excellent discussion here. It is worth a new thread in the Mac OS X System and Software forum.

I suggest you start it.

Chevy.

 

[chabig]

fishbonex,

If you hold the control key down when you take a shapshot, it gets placed onto the clipboard where you can paste it into Photoshop.

If you really use snapshots as part of your workflow, buy Snapz Pro X. You will be glad you did.

Who asked about Snood? It's available for OS X:
Snood for OS X. It's beta software, but I've been playing it for a while and can't tell why it's not an official released version. It works great.

Chris

 

[RacerX]

I hope this one works. I went into the apps Info dialog box, where do I enter this? I am just finishing having my ".PSD" open in "preview", so my frustration is fresh on the surface! These files are transferred between Office and Home via FTP or Firewire drive, either way same problem.

I should have been more clear on this one, sorry. You need to select some file, in this file.psd, bring up an info panel for that file. Select the section Open with: and choose the application you want. When you are done, if the application is the one you want as the default for all files of this type, press that change All... button.

Whether I have created these files on my Mac at home or at work, same issue. Drag and Drop only works the first time you do it, when it is also launching the app. After that, it doesnt work even if I am holding the Command key down.

If the changes you make in the Info panel don't help this, then I'm at a loss. There are some problems which I can't fix via phone or correspondence, I would have to be there to see the problem in action to make a better assessment.

Hopefully someone else has had the same problem and knows a fix to it, but if they don't, you may want to find someone in your area that could take a closer look at this.

Once Safari and Chimera iron out some more bugs, I will move full time over to those browsers when I am surfing. But I still need to test my work in IE, and will continue to need to work inside of it. All of these apps in OS X are slow to open, slow to bounce between and slow to respond.

I tend to only use Safari for quick browsing more than anything else (forums and new sites), otherwise OmniWeb for me.

As for the slow down, again it is hard to tell from here so I'll have to give the same as the above on this one too.

I would like them to go to the root folder, or in a folder I can designate. Unfotunately, what is helpful to others in not helpful to me. I'm sure most people don't need to take over a dozen a day, so a snapshot on their dektop is not disorganized or cluttered. I need to view them by date, D and D several at a time and have them open quickly in either Photo or IReady. These files I need to import into PSD's, to build into other files. A PDF is not helpful to WORK with, Pict files were. I am not looking to save these, mail these or even share these. The snapshot is a tool in which we (my crew) work with to build other files. A JPG would be even better, and unfortunately with Jaguar, Tinker no longer works.

Not being Apple, I can't make changes to how the system works. There are threads on making the file format change, but I personally have never done it so I done know how it is done.

I would remind you that the desktop in Mac OS X is nothing more than a folder in your home directory. If you wanted, you could open a window, navigate to the desktop and view it in list view (something I miss every time I see my Mac OS 9 clients who keep dozens of items on their desktop)

I guess I'm something at a lost with the file format of screen shots issue. I spend a huge amount of time writing tech articles, letters, web pages, etc., and have to take constant screen shots everyday. The PDF files the the system produces are image PDFs, that is they are like PDFs generated in Photoshop. I drag-and-drop these into both Photoshop and ImageReady and both handle them without any problems that I can see. Infact they handle them just like PSD, TIFF, JPEG and PICT files that I drag to those applications. If you are using these as you say, then the file type should play no part in how you are using them.

Here is some advice that may make your day run a little better. In my first answer of this post I pointed out how you could set a file type to be opened by some default application of you choosing. Why not make all PDF files open with Photoshop? Then when you take a screen shot, you can double click on it, up pops Photoshop.

I think another person answered this in another thread for me. OS X has probs with True Type and such? All of my fonts were moved into these library's, OS X apps just don't recognise all of them. Not wierd fonts like "Phil's Semi" but standards like "Helvetica Rounded" do not show up. I have to try Suitcase to see if this works, I used to be a ATM user, but maybe suitcase is the way to go.

Wow, that is a strange thing to here. Mac OS X's preferred font type is TrueType. Now some applications do like PostScript fonts better than TrueType (as you can imagine, many of them are from Adobe), but there is a solution. You could try converting some of your TrueType fonts to PostScript with TrueBlue.

Also, as you seem to be having a number of issues that would seem to be related to resource forks on files, you could try adding .dfont to the end of a couple TrueType fonts (or copies of TrueType fonts) that you are having problems with as a test to see if the systems sees them any better.

As a long time user of ATM Deluxe and ATR, I have little background with Suitcase, but many of my clients love it.

edit: TrueBlue

 

[RacerX]

This is what the info panel should look like when setting the default application for a file.

 

[fishbonex]

Been away on business for a few days, so I havn't even tried some of those solutions. I just didn't want too much time to pass by without some kind of response from me.

There are too many good ideas in your post to get specific, but thanks for the instructions on the "get info"... and the idea about having my PDFs open in Photo is brilliant. The reason I stay away from them for what I need them for relates to the whole "sluggishness" problem. Imagine my frustration at already feeling like my apps are running slow, only to have them pop open Acrobat on me when I only wanted to view it in Photo!! ARRGGH!!!

And chabig, thanks for the info on Snood X!! I was only kidding abou tit not being out for X, but only cuz I just assumed it wasn't!! Thanks, I'm going to download that first!!

I will post back after I try out these ideas, again, I apreciate everybodys advice in advance!

 

[fishbonex]

Well, It's been a few weeks and I have ironed out a few MINOR problems, thanks to Racer X and Chabig (thanks again!). However...

The biggest issues for me are using Photoshop/ImageReady and Dreamweaver. This is how I make my living, and I have to say working in these programs in OS X is painful. I can't stand the snail-pace it takes to perform simple functions like layer effects, file/open, selections, locating basic fonts, etc. I am using the OS X native updates to these programs as well (DW MX, PS7/IR3) so it's not a case of needed to work in a program "built" for OS X.

I have come to the conclusion that OS X, for me, was a major mistake. I'm sure users who are not using these programs, or have newer machines than I do (1st generation G4 400, 832 Mb), are not encountering these probs. I have to restart into 9 in order for me to be able to work productively (which means getting a reasonable ammount of work done quickly) and without frustration.

I thank god I never upgraded to X at work, I would be totally screwed. Instead of the love-fest we all seem to have with it, a little "waiver" saying it might not be in your best interest to upgrade (or something) should have been released to those with older machines. I love OS X, so long as I'm not WORKING on my computer.

 

[thedbp]

Having a first gen g4 could be the root of your problems. You are a graphics professional. You are using a PCI graphics subsystem, which is vastly inferior to the AGP standard (which itself is soon to be eclipsed by PCI Extreme, Hypertransport, etc.).

Anyway, the point is, your computer will never be able to process the complex graphics of the OS and your chosen apps and display those graphics as fast as a system with a more modern graphics bus. If you had Quartz Extreme, you'd feel very, very differently.

How can you address this without buying a new computer? Short answer is, buy a new computer. You're talking about a 4 year old machine. In a production capacity, that is ancient. I mean, I knew a guy who did all of his graphic design on an 8100 and stored it all on Zip disks until summer 2002, but he would have been much more productive with a new system, you see?

Otherwise, you can upgrade your processor or, and here's something no one else suggested, which surprises me, is upgrade your video card. For about 100-125 bucks you can get a Radeon 7000 PCI card which has dual-display support, DVD support, 32 MB VRAM, S-Video and composite video output, and other bells and whisles and it will GREATLY improve the performance of apps that use HW accelleration on graphics cards.

Just for reference, both of my main computers are PCI graphics-based. Blue and white G4 and a beige desktop-style G3. Both heavily tweeked and upgraded. I have Radeon 7000's in both of 'em. Hope this helps.

 

[fishbonex]

or at least worth the shot, thedbp!

I realize I should upgrade, but last year was a slow year biz wise for me and try to explain to the wife why I need ANOTHER mac! So I was hoping there would be an inexpensive way to at least try to fix this thing, it was working fine before the upgrade afterall. A new processor wasn't with it, since for about $1000 more I could just buy a new machine. But this video card idea, I never thought that a new card alone might help.

I am goign tot order one today, thanks for the tips!!

 

[thedbp]

glad i could be of (somewhat limited) help. I originally shelled out the clams for the card so I could get DVDs to work in Mac OS X (the hardware decoder card that I paid extra for in '99 was unsupported by X in '00). Lo and behold, I noticed incredible improvements in my graphics apps, and the OS in general. Plus now I can watch my DVDs on my TV. Sweet. Loved it so much I bought the company (i wish). Actually I just bought a second card for my beige G3 and got even more dramatic improvements over the paltry 6MB Rage Pro in that sucker. Put the DVD-ROM from my B&W into the beige when I upgraded to a SuperDrive and now the beige is DVD-capable too. Cheers!

 

[fishbonex]

thedbp, you are a genius. Simple as that.

I just finished installing my Radeon 9000 card, which took all of 3 minutes, and my machine is hauling ass. Not only that, I could swear it looks better to boot. I never thought abotu video card, and never found anythign mentioning that in any of my searches. You fucken rule!

Now on to my other MINOR issues with OS X!!

by the way, your screen name... it doesn't stand for "the david bowie project", does it? I only ask cuz a friend of mine has used that term before and the acronym (the dbp)...