OSX Annoyances / Wishes

[Diatribe]

After my switch to mac at the beginning of this year I can honestly say that this was
one of the best decisions I have ever made. And although OSX is an awesome OS
and far superior to Windows in sheer usability and features there are still things I'd
like to see changed or added in order to improve my productivity even more. And to
lessen those grrrrr moments . And of course, some are just for pure enjoyment

Here is a list of all annoyances I have with OSX or improvements that I'd like to see.
I wrote each one of them to Apple via their comments page. If some of you have the
same gripes please write to Apple also. A lot of the same requests and we might
even see some of those things changed in Tiger.

I would also love to hear what kind of annoyances or wishes other people have
with/for OSX and if you guys actually write to Apple about them.

Programs/wishes

OS X
• being able to change the background picture at certain times not just intervalls and be able to specify as many as I want like the options for smart lists (for a night/day rythm for example)
• be able to resize window from more positions than just the lower right corner
• make a video background possible and offer clips like a beach, a look upon a city and have it change from day to night just like you're looking out of a window
• the possibility to link to do/ to ask items to names and whenever that person comes online in ichat, I open an email and type in his/her name... etc. the item pops up and reminds me that I wanted something from that person
• offer alarm-clock ability to wake from sleep and play iTunes for example and have a simple countdown with an alarm too
• better speech recognition
• be able to customize the computer speaking voice or have a bigger selection (at the moment there is only one that sounds decent)
• have a popup like the volume and brightness floaters for the change of keyboard language instead of a symbol in the menu bar
• give me the possibility to change the OS language without having to reinstall the OS
• be able to isync entire home directories between computers
• be able to have a transparent dock as an option
• be able to choose whether programs stay open or quit after closing the window (for example I want preview and quicktime to quit after closing and calculator to stay open)

iChat
• ichat to be able to use nicknames instead of full names out of the adress book
• ichat to use tabs
• ichat to use msn
• re-login after lost connection
• profile option
• be able to have only pictures in the buddy list (bigger pictures but still a slimmer buddy list)
• ichat not to save each conversation as its own file but rather one file per contact/buddy

iPhoto
• iphoto to get more filters or at least the ones preview has, like mirroring for exampl
• be able to delete pictures from the library in albums - I know that you can alt-option-delete them but I would like to have a regular option also not just a shortcut

iTunes
• be able to change the delete option with tab (from no to yes)
• functionality like synergy, synergy is not as responsive as I'd like it too be and crashes from time to time
• iTMS --> offer possibility to dl songs in a quality up to 320 k/bit offer artwork with the songs and song text then I would buy all my stuff at iTMS not just some
• sleep function
• fully functional undo option for all actions

Mail
• scheduled sending of emails
• be able to send video mails with an isight

Safari
• to be able to select a tab right after creation, not having to wait for a partial load

Stickies
• be able to show only one but have more in the background without having to export them to a text file
• be able to stick one to the desktop so it cannot be moved easily

Preview
• be able to switch between playing gifs and splitting them into pics

Adress Book
• if you don't know the first name of someone but put in Dr. and no first name it won't show the doctor in the name list of the cards. This is annoying the hell out of me because often I don't know the first name of a person but would like identify them by their title

iCal
• ical to resize to former size after info is closed just like it gets smaller to show info
• let iCal remind me to call someone or send an email at a specific time opening mail etc. with the right email adress already etc. opening adressbook showing the telephone number that I need to call

Quicktime
• playlist for movies
• give me controls while in full screen mode
• remember volume after closing

 

[King Cobra]

This part is a repeat from a post I made back on March 22, 2004, slightly adjusted to remove language:

My #1 pet peeve about Panther is the layout of items in the Finder window. Now excuse me for being one of the 0.1% of Apple users that works with 800 x 600, but in OS 9, I could have 7 columns of files in a single finder window that took up about 30 to 40% of my screen. In OS 10.3, the number has been reduced to 2 !! I don't want everything to be spread out a mile apart from everything else. What happened to the clean/condensed finder window option from OS 9? Or at least the option to set invisible panel sizes between each item? I don't see any such option. (Oh, and in 10.2, that number of columns was 4. What's going to happen for OS 10.4...one column?? Bull!)

Now, how about some sci-fi functionality with 10.4?

[1] Finder search: I want to be able to put my cursor (on-screen) right over the little search query and, without clicking, have a text flasher (you know, the small, vertical line that flashes once or twice a second when you edit text files) right on the search query...then be able to type something and send the query as a search. "Mouseover searching"

[2] Finder folder navigation: I want to be able to have the option of doing a mouseover over a folder for 0.25 seconds (adjustable) in a Finder window and have it act like a spring-loaded folder for as long as I don't move the mouse away from the spring-pop-up. The purpose would be to "peak" inside folders so I don't have to double-click on them (or click at all) to see what's inside. And if I were to move the cursor inside of the spring folder, that folder would stay open until I close it again with command-W (or the "X" at the top left of the Finder window). "Mouseover spring-loaded folder previews"

And I also want an alternative option for a "tool tip" (you know, the small rectangular faint yellow rectangles that replaced the OS 9 balloons) beside each folder that gives a list of the folder contents upon mouseover. I think this would be better.

[3] I want to have the same option for the Dock, with an option for both file view and list view. "Dock mouseover spring-loaded folder previews"

[4] I want to be able to do a mouseover over the Trash in the Dock and know how many items are in the Trash, and what total KB or MB size they consumer. "Mouseover trash information display"

The sci-fi factor in each of these is the mouseover, where you never have to press a button or a keystroke to open an application, sort of like moving your hand around magically in the air on an imaginary mousepad to access a file or a folder.

(Hell, if you're not sure if that's a great idea, then imagine that your navigating through your Finder windows using the mouseover, and when you get to that text file, again mouseover it and it opens in the application of your choice. Try it.)



Other functions:
[5] I want an option to change the color my item text beside each folder or specific folders independent of the folder labels, like, cyan text on a blue label.

[6] Like in OS 9, I want to know how many items are in the Trash, and what total KB or MB size they take up, before I empty the trash (i.e. upon the confirmation dialog).

[7] I want the Finder sidebar to be an option, not a default, for using Finder windows. Also, I want to have Jaguar Finder icon navigation returned (place items on top of the Finder windows).

This probably won't happen, but:
[8] I would like to see the entire Finder GUI dressed in that of the Shinobi theme for OS X.

But, now, I have additional requests:

[9] When I click and hold the cursor over a menu column, such as File, I should be able to hold down the cursor, navigate to the phone icon (I am on dial-up, remember), have its menu open, and select the option to connect when I release the mouse button. - bug fix

[10] I want a working Search bar in my Finder windows when I have a whole bunch of items at the top of the Finder window (see [7]). - bug fix

[11] When I control-click on a file on the desktop or in a Finder window and go to Open With, sometimes the Open With menu does not pop up, rather than at least show to the left or right of the Open With option. - bug fix

[12] Get rid of the modem errors! Dial-up users using Panther experience it. In trying to connect to the internet, there is about a 10% chance of getting a modem error upon trying to connect. I find that highly annoying. It never happened in Jaguar. - a must bug fix.


"One more thing..."

[13] Allow "easy networking" between two computers. There have been many posts on this forum requesting information as to how to network two Macs, and a Mac with a PC. I think, in plain English, Apple should make a networking application with an OS X GUI that allows drag-and-drop file networking between two machines connected by a single ethernet reversable cable. But let's not enhance Network Utility. Let's make a simplified app for this, which would enable all the necessary sharing preferences and the IPs...so simple that all you have to do is connect the cable, and the application opens, ready for network transfers. My suggested name for this is (as simple as this can be): Network.

 

[Fukui]

• being able to change the background picture at certain times not just intervalls and be able to specify as many as I want like the options for smart lists (for a night/day rythm for example)

I've sent this in before as a request: http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

You can change the language without restarting (or even add languages). Just restart the program application your using and it starts up in the language you added/chose!

Preview
• be able to switch between playing gifs and splitting them into pics

There is a play button in the toolbar, just choose "customize toolbar" and drag the play button, then click it with a gif and it will play the animiation.

A lot of those suggestions are great, but they can also be handled by third party add ons (that just changing hidden preferences, not hacks), just check versiontracker.com or macupdate.com and you'll find lots of "enhancements."

 

[fartheststar]

Hopefully in 10.4 with the addition of the widgets, you'll be able to do all that and more through apple or 3rd party widgets... some of the intitial posters suggestions at first... seemed to be extravagant for me, but they're not. It's all about working efficiently and getting your computer to help you out.

Windows is miles behind them even now as far as I'm concerned. With the new widgets, it'll be even better....

Im running 10.2.8

My pet peeve: In most programs when a popup question comes up (like in the poster's issue with iTunes, I want to be able to tab between the "Yes" and "No" , or OK / Cancel, or whatever the options are.

 

[Diatribe]

I've sent this in before as a request: http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

You can change the language without restarting (or even add languages). Just restart the program application your using and it starts up in the language you added/chose!


There is a play button in the toolbar, just choose "customize toolbar" and drag the play button, then click it with a gif and it will play the animiation.

A lot of those suggestions are great, but they can also be handled by third party add ons (that just changing hidden preferences, not hacks), just check versiontracker.com or macupdate.com and you'll find lots of "enhancements."

Hehe, thanks. Don't know why I didn't figure the gif one out myself.

By the program application you mean my restore DVD? Or what are you talking about?

I just don't like 3rd party add ons that much if a simple change in the program would do the same. And as far as I have looked I haven't really found 3rd party add ons for the stuff I suggested. And if it exists, like synergy, it's buggy.

 

[Diatribe]

"One more thing..."

[13] Allow "easy networking" between two computers. There have been many posts on this forum requesting information as to how to network two Macs, and a Mac with a PC. I think, in plain English, Apple should make a networking application with an OS X GUI that allows drag-and-drop file networking between two machines connected by a single ethernet reversable cable. But let's not enhance Network Utility. Let's make a simplified app for this, which would enable all the necessary sharing preferences and the IPs...so simple that all you have to do is connect the cable, and the application opens, ready for network transfers. My suggested name for this is (as simple as this can be): Network.

That is an awesome suggestion. Even if you know how to connect them it's a pain to do so if you change the connections often, like from bluetooth to fw or ethernet.
I just wrote Apple too to implement sth. like this.

 

[aus_dave]

One thing I did like in Windows was the ability to sort alphabetically within a directory and list folders first. It bugs me that it can't be easily done in OSX.

 

[Diatribe]

I managed to change the OS Language. It is sooo easy it's quite strange that I didn't see that... I guess I am still looking for the windows kind of way to do things once in a while.

Not many posts either... I guess this means everybody is completely happy with OSX.

 

[Counterfit]

My pet peeve: In most programs when a popup question comes up (like in the poster's issue with iTunes, I want to be able to tab between the "Yes" and "No" , or OK / Cancel, or whatever the options are.

You do know that hitting escape will always choose "Cancel" right?

 

[Timelessblur]

iTunes
for the windows uses beable to remove from taskbar when minimized (rather annorying because all the other major media players (yes including WMP) can do that and just have a little icon in system tray. Prouble need to a windows user to understand why that is so nice for some programs

OSX
Improve the Fast user switching. As it stands right now Apple fast user switching is weaker and has more problems than windows fast user switching (not saying that windows does not have some problems with it but as it stands XP fast user switching is just well better)

ichat for windows would be nice as well

 

[jsw]

• be able to resize window from more positions than just the lower right corner

My single biggest gripe with the OS. It's such a little thing. Why don't they fix it?

 

[Timelessblur]

for got to add. Able to full screen a window in OSX like you can on XP. other wise at a click of a button no draging or resizing it. I am honstly surpised that apple never down this.


Also have the opition of having the pull down menus on the active window and not at the top of the screen (something I have always hated about Mac OS since back in the day of the first Mac OS) basicly kind of like they are done in MSwindows OS's. And yes make it a opitional since i know that some people dont want to have there pull down menus only at the top or are used to it. Setting up the desktop and the work space on a computer is very personal and there is no real right or wrong way to do it.

 

[5300cs]

• ichat to use msn

When Apple decided to go with AIM as their chat program protocol thingy, m$ openly blasted them saying it was (more or less) a stupid idea. I think iChat doing MSN has a snowballs chance in H-E-double-hockey sticks for the time being...

 

[ct77]

Im running 10.2.8

My pet peeve: In most programs when a popup question comes up (like in the poster's issue with iTunes, I want to be able to tab between the "Yes" and "No" , or OK / Cancel, or whatever the options are.

I can't remember if this is available in 10.2.8, but it's an option in 10.3.x:

- System Preferences
- Keyboard & Mouse
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Enable "Turn on full keyboard access"

 

[ct77]

Programs/wishes

OS X
• be able to resize window from more positions than just the lower right corner

Have you tried using the "green gumdrop" in the upper left corner?

I can understand that you'd miss being able to resize the window from any corner as in Windows. Not everyone may agree with me, but I find the green gumdrop on OS X to be a better alternative, because it does the resizing work for you.

The green gumdrop, for applications where it makes sense, doesn't simply maximize the window like in Windows -- it makes the window only as big as it needs to be to get rid of a horizontol scroll bar.

You can try it easiest with Safari. Go to a website, and use the lower-right corner (I know, I know <grin>) to make the window smaller, so a horizontol scroll bar appears at the bottom of the screen. Now, click the green gumdrop. Notice how the window resizes to be just big enough to get rid of the scrollbar, but no bigger.

Simple and elegant. =)

 

[Abstract]

- When I download a file to the desktop, it doesn't show up unless I go to the desktop and click my mouse cursor somewhere.

- The Finder.......make a new one. Even Windows Explorer is easier to navigate, I find. I really don't know why, but I never got annoyed with Windows Explorer. I know they're essentially the same sort of thinking, but please oh please add the file pathways to the top of the Finder so that it's easier to navigate (eg: Home>Music>iTunes>iTunes Music>Broken Social Scene>Feel Good Lost>Stars and Sons).

- And when you select iTunes in the Music folder, it really should just go to the iTunes Music folder. There's no need to select iTunes and iTunes Music afterwards, is there?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

My biggest pet peeve with Mac OS X is having to force quit the Finder every time the icons get messed up. I'm sure it's just a bug, but I'm surprised Apple hasn't fixed this one yet.

Also, regarding the menubar in windows request someone posted earlier, that doesn't work too well with the other parts of the Mac OS. For example, how are you supposed to quit an application that has no windows open? In Finder, how do you use the menus if the desktop is the only thing showing? Plus, Apple wants to be different from Microsoft in their OS, so I'm sure they won't change this.

 

[Timelessblur]

My biggest pet peeve with Mac OS X is having to force quit the Finder every time the icons get messed up. I'm sure it's just a bug, but I'm surprised Apple hasn't fixed this one yet.

Also, regarding the menubar in windows request someone posted earlier, that doesn't work too well with the other parts of the Mac OS. For example, how are you supposed to quit an application that has no windows open? In Finder, how do you use the menus if the desktop is the only thing showing? Plus, Apple wants to be different from Microsoft in their OS, so I'm sure they won't change this.

Well I said make it opitional to let you choose if you want to have the menus add to the windows them self you know with a little check box. Also wasnt this a list of pet peevies and wishes? That menu set up on apple computer has always been a pet peeve. Even on the orginal Mac OS I used back in the 80's before I ever touch a MS windows OS (which was Windows 95) so the saying that I am used to windows is not the reason why I hate it. I have always hated it since day 1

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Well I said make it opitional to let you choose if you want to have the menus add to the windows them self you know with a little check box. Also wasnt this a list of pet peevies and wishes? That menu set up on apple computer has always been a pet peeve. Even on the orginal Mac OS I used back in the 80's before I ever touch a MS windows OS (which was Windows 95) so the saying that I am used to windows is not the reason why I hate it. I have always hated it since day 1

Okay, you have a good idea of how to implement it, but that still leaves the issue of applications not being aware that the setting can be toggled and always using the top-of-the-screen menu bar (unless Apple was smart, and made the change inside the menu API, so the public functions didn't change, just the location of the menu bar). That IMO would be THE way to do such a thing.

 

[darrion]

hopefully I'm not repeating anybody, but the two things I'd most like to see but haven't seen mentioned (only been on the mac for 3 weeks so far so still learning my way):

-emacs, I'd like to be able to launch emacs in a seperate window, ala Linux. I really got into using emacs or gedit for source coding school projects while I was using Linux and while X-Code is nice, its just not the same.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

hopefully I'm not repeating anybody, but the two things I'd most like to see but haven't seen mentioned (only been on the mac for 3 weeks so far so still learning my way):

-emacs, I'd like to be able to launch emacs in a seperate window, ala Linux. I really got into using emacs or gedit for source coding school projects while I was using Linux and while X-Code is nice, its just not the same.

Did you know that you can have multiple Terminal windows open at once? Using this, you could have, say, three Terminal windows:
1. showing top, the process viewer utility
2. showing the bash prompt
3. showing an active emacs session

 

[darrion]

Did you know that you can have multiple Terminal windows open at once? Using this, you could have, say, three Terminal windows:
1. showing top, the process viewer utility
2. showing the bash prompt
3. showing an active emacs session

I did not know that. Thank you for the info, I will try it oout and see what I think of it.

 

[gekko513]

I do not agree with the resize in corner thing. I think it's a much better solution to have resize in just one corner. The reason is simple. The Windows way wastes so much space. It's only a matter of habit, anyway.

As for maximize, I think the idea with OSX that you're not supposed to work with maximized windows and switch between them with the taskbar as in Windows, but rather work with several windows on the screen at the same time. This way of working is consistently encouraged in OSX. Drag and drop is a much more common action on OSX, and d&d works a lot better if you work with several windows on the screen at the same time. Also, Expose doesn't work properly if all your windows are maximized.

But for resolutions of 1024x768 and less I must admit that I prefer maximized windows.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

- set system fonts
- change system icons (without 3rd party hackware)
- a non-candybar-esque theme. i.e. a pro-aqua.
- themeability.
- apple following their own UI guides.
- apple opening their sytem, since they talk about open source so much.
- options for people who know how to use a computer (not just super simple, brain-dead UI's).

i could keep going but im tired.

o yea the one i hate the most, AUTO UPDATE THE AMOUNT OF SPACE LEFT ON THE HARD DISK!! I should not have to restart to get it to display correctly, that is pathetic. It auto-updates (relatively) in the Finder window, but what about on the desktop!?

 

[Timelessblur]

Okay, you have a good idea of how to implement it, but that still leaves the issue of applications not being aware that the setting can be toggled and always using the top-of-the-screen menu bar (unless Apple was smart, and made the change inside the menu API, so the public functions didn't change, just the location of the menu bar). That IMO would be THE way to do such a thing.

Do I care no. Apprently you are one of the hard core maccy that well I hate and have no respect for because you dont like change. And quite clearly you dont know how is even done on MS windows and really dont understand it.

Implentlying it would be more than likely not be that hard to do. The apps dont tell the top the computer where to put the menus it just tells the OS what menus it needs and what is in them the OS takes care of all placement. YOu just have to look at how it done on XP and you noticed that I change the location of the window and it does not phase it. Hell look at some programs that have been ported over like Firefox. Firefox is pretty clearly a straight port from windows and it has not problem with menus.

You app argument is pretty pointless and not a good argument
Look at windows not all those apps use menus. Apps that have problems with it can change.

AND LASTLY I REPREAT this thread is about pet peives and wishes and I just planly dont like it and wished it would change. Is it going to happen, more than likely not. Now go crawl back in you little hole where you dont have to see people thoughs on what they wish would change about Apple's OS