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Window resize – Apple are you sure?

Adi — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:22:39 +0000

The difference between PC and Mac in term of window resizing (where to drag in order to resize a window) is old and everybody got used to it by now.Basically PC windows have a drag-able border, when you place the cursor over the window border it changes to a resize-cursor and allow you to drag the window border resizing the window, this works the same in all directions, and in corners:

Macs windows however have one single resize area in the bottom right corner, there is no cursor feedback, if you drag it the window will resize – towards down and/or right only:

Switchers find it a little annoying but Mac OS X has other features that compensate this – the green button that toggles window size and of-course Expose.And now, suddenly after years of industrial silence, comes Adobe with the new CS3 UI for Mac, that allow you to resize the interface windows (aka ‘palettes’) from the border – XP style..

It’s about time to change this behavior in the Mac Aqua, it is not convenient.At least add a feedback cursor.

Porting app to Mac – mash native services

Adi — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:02:09 +0000

Scott Stevenson of Thecacao has a great point differentiating cross platform applications and native mac applications, another basic difference in the user experience between ported apps and native Mac apps is that Mac native applications enjoy core services such as Dictionary-Thesaurus, Speller, etc.. I rely on those services, and the consistency in keyboard shortcuts they bring to my working environment.For example take a look at Photoshop CS3 beta for Mac – it has a built in speller, the interface is primitive and not really attractive compared to the advanced docked palettes (see cap), surely less intuitive than the OS native speller.

confusing interface – what was checked? is that correct?

primitive interface – so many buttons, the default button is not aplying the change!

the good familiar mac dictionary – even look nice..
Skype provides the native mac Speller and Dictionary services, Firefox (and Camino) has no speller nor dictionary
Applications well ported to Mac should respect user habits, unless they really upgrade or improve the native OS service – they should not confuse the user by not providing those services or providing poor alternatives, for me it is not that different than the ability to copy & paste from one app to another.

Windows on Mac – getting closer!

Adi — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:45:35 +0000

I installed the latest Parallels build (3186) few days ago, and forgot about it, I said before I rarely need “de vindoz”, but today I had to check CSS consistency for a project I work on, and since there still are few windows users out there, I wanted to check IE and FireFox on Windows – hey, Parallels!I remember when I just got my Mac, I couldn’t wait to show-off the cube transition effect between OS, but when I had to actually work with the two OS, it was too slow and I quickly removed the effect.Now Parallels has a mode called ‘Coherence’, allows you to launch and run Windows applications directly from your Mac desktop, it hides the Windows desktop, and adds the Windows start bar. The application windows blend with mac windows. the behavior in the Z order is not natural, all Windows applications are grouped as one for the Mac OS (reasonable though), it is very comfortable.For the simple task of proofing Html rendering it was the fastest method I ever used, I could actually work fast – the only problem was the different shortcuts, the command vs. control issue.Command-Tab shows Windows Apps (see cap) as well as the Dock (weird! what are all those icons doing there?), even Expose works reasonably.

However, the Windows rudeness is somehow “infecting” my pure Mac environment, when the XP screen-saver kicks-in, it covers the Mac desktop. When I quit Windows its desktop suddenly appears blocking the Mac desktop all through the logout process, then Parallels window demonstrates all transitions allowed – slide-out-slide-in-flip-flap-shrink-splas-stada.. it’s like Mac OS is so happy to get rid of this “thing” it celebrates the ram released.

The ultimate beta tester?

Adi — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:49:55 +0000

I like testing new pioneering apps, as a student back in 1999, I was crashing my old G4 with the OS X beta few weeks after it’s release, compiling Apache and php with Unix tutorials ages before binary installations were available, I guess it comes along with using a Mac.Taday it’s the same – I had to try Parallels Desktop beta, and signed up for VMware fusion beta the day they opened the registration form… only to find out that I dont use it at all.Apparently I was the first israeli to receive an invitation to participate in the Venice Project Beta, yes IPTV is close to my heart, but how cold they know?More on my impressions on The Venice Project soon.

Hey, what about Leopard?

Adi — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:22:54 +0000

The Macworld Keynote is behind us, yea the iPhone looks pretty amazing, and AppleTV would be cool in my living room, but I was more interested in Leopard, where was it?!Beside the expected final knock-out to Vista, and the GUI evolution that was not yet revealed, I was betting on some virtualization capabilities in the OS level – being able to run exe natively, something that will push the competition with PC’s to a different era.There is no doubt that the Apple hardware products are a phenomenal success, but without the OS edge it will not take too long for the competitive market to match and fill the gap. Beside, as a Mac user I am expecting more than what is showcased in the ‘Leopard Sneak Peek’, everything should be better, every detail, for example, before blowing our icons to enormous 512 pixel make them dynamic – why is iCal stuck on July 17th?!