OSX Annoyances / Wishes

[JFreak]

• make a video background possible

there are several hacks available, just install one.

• give me the possibility to change the OS language without having to reinstall the OS

just go to system preferences and adjust language preferences - there you go. i don't remember if you have to log out and in again to make the language change, but you shouldn't have to reboot. and definetely don't have to reinstall.

• be able to have a transparent dock as an option

there's a 3rd party software available, interestingly enough called "the transparent dock".

• 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)

you can choose - close the window and it closes the window, tell app to quit and it quits. those commands are apple-w and apple-q respectively, and the two letters are next to each other. how hard it can be?

• be able to send video mails with an isight

of course you can send video files, if your email provider can handle it. most email systems have some kind of a limit for maximum mail length.

---

the #1 annoyance with osx is that having become so used to apple-forward and apple-backward navigation in safari i always forget that i cannot do that in finder. i'd like to go back to previous folder with the same keyboard shortcut but it does nothing.

the #2 annoyance is that i'd like to have fast user switching without the current user name in the menu bar - the user should in my opinion have to be able to fast-switched from apple menu where the logout command is also found. unfortunately, fast-switch feature forces the user name to menu bar.

 

[JFreak]

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

the same reason why they choose to keep one-button mouse: simplicity. there's one place for window resize and that is enough

 

[JFreak]

Able to full screen a window in OSX like you can on XP. 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 basicly kind of like they are done in MSwindows OS's.

why on earth don't you use windows if you think it is better that way? it is fundamental to macintosh gui to have several windows open instead of one that fills the entire screen, and for that reason it is also very fundamental to macintosh gui to have one menubar, as there is maximum of one active window at any given time simplicity, my friend, adds productivity.

...and in this case also reduces screen clutter. i have a windows workstation at work, and having to have several windows open simultaneously the system just wastes a lot of screen space with many unnecessary menu bars. i cannot use more than one at any given time, so why do they have to be there? i also fail to see why window maximizing would be such killer feature - that thing belongs to the past, to the time when dos programs tried to look nice

oh yeah, i think you need to think about this gui think a bit more - which is better, the good implementation or the implementation you have become used to?

 

[JFreak]

- 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.

yes, the desktop would have to be refreshed as soon as something has been inserted there. i totally agree, that's annoying having to touch the desktop or wait for it to be refreshed.

 

[Akraz144]

iChat wants

your list for ichat seems like it would be easily satisfied by downloading Adium X, an awesome open source project. check it out at http://adium.sourceforge.net

you can be logged in to MSN and AIM (and others!) simultaneously, and it has tabbed chat, and you have a LARGE degree of control over the look of the program. I was curious, and have been using it for about a week. The only reason I can think of that I would go back is if I ever got an iSight. That, and you gotta love the ducks.

 

[Diatribe]

there are several hacks available, just install one.

just go to system preferences and adjust language preferences - there you go. i don't remember if you have to log out and in again to make the language change, but you shouldn't have to reboot. and definetely don't have to reinstall.

there's a 3rd party software available, interestingly enough called "the transparent dock".

you can choose - close the window and it closes the window, tell app to quit and it quits. those commands are apple-w and apple-q respectively, and the two letters are next to each other. how hard it can be?

of course you can send video files, if your email provider can handle it. most email systems have some kind of a limit for maximum mail length.

If you answer my questions at least try to be serious. I mean seriously, as I have written before I know that there are hacks out there it's just that most of them don't work without hickups. And I for example have never gotten transparent dock to work flawlessly. If you have, lucky you.

And for my pet peeve with the closing option... come on. You do know that if I hit close window in calculator it QUITS the app right? Of course you knew that, you were just trying to be funny right?

And when I say be able to send video mails, then I mean implement it in an app and don't make me record it via iMovie and then send it as an attachment.

But thanks for the language tip, I figured that out in the process of this thread, but thanks again. Wasn't too hard, weird that I missed it.

 

[Diatribe]

your list for ichat seems like it would be easily satisfied by downloading Adium X, an awesome open source project. check it out at http://adium.sourceforge.net

you can be logged in to MSN and AIM (and others!) simultaneously, and it has tabbed chat, and you have a LARGE degree of control over the look of the program. I was curious, and have been using it for about a week. The only reason I can think of that I would go back is if I ever got an iSight. That, and you gotta love the ducks.

Yep, that's exactly the problem... I do own an iSight. And I just don't feel like having two clients open. Call me weird but I just don't like it. Having said that though, I do have Adium installed and even in my dock, I just don't use it as often.

 

[Diatribe]

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"

Yep, it alleviates some things, still doesn't let you change between ok/cancel though.

 

[Timelessblur]

why on earth don't you use windows if you think it is better that way? it is fundamental to macintosh gui to have several windows open instead of one that fills the entire screen, and for that reason it is also very fundamental to macintosh gui to have one menubar, as there is maximum of one active window at any given time simplicity, my friend, adds productivity.

...and in this case also reduces screen clutter. i have a windows workstation at work, and having to have several windows open simultaneously the system just wastes a lot of screen space with many unnecessary menu bars. i cannot use more than one at any given time, so why do they have to be there? i also fail to see why window maximizing would be such killer feature - that thing belongs to the past, to the time when dos programs tried to look nice

oh yeah, i think you need to think about this gui think a bit more - which is better, the good implementation or the implementation you have become used to?

No even on my windows computer I dont uses full screen on indivial folder windows unless I going to be draging and droping stuffi not folders in that folder. Normal they are just as large as I need them and I used the draging and droping with muitiple windows.

Full screen is more usesfull in dealing with applcation like web browsing, Office apps stuff like that. It is mostly only in apps that I even use the full screen mode or when I need or want certain folder to be almost like my desktop.

 

[Bluefusion]

- 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.

Yes, it's a bug because the Desktop is really just a folder, and folders don't change unless they "update"; Tiger should fix this as it's constantly scanning contents of folders, but that's not a promise.

- 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).

You're not serious, right? Explorer being simpler than the Finder... right. Column View provides an instant visual backtrack, just hold down Shift and use your scrollwheel and it'll go left-to-right rather than up-to-down. In addition, try Command-clicking the name of any open window (this works for documents as well, in any program where there is a small picture preview of the file in its titlebar) and you will see the path directly. The Finder is, in my opinion, flawless; but that could just be me. Explorer is the most useless piece of crap I have ever tried to work with; and believe me, I work with it a lot.

- 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?

You're complaining as to how iTunes organizes its files? Fair enough, but it's sort of silly IMO. If you want to locate a file, right-click (control-click) on it in iTunes and choose Show Song File. Done.

 

[Bluefusion]

• 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

This is so... Windows. I mean, I'd hate little "notifications" popping up everywhere, but that's just me. I do think iCal can and should be improved, dramatically even, but this is not the way to go about doing it.

• offer alarm-clock ability to wake from sleep and play iTunes for example and have a simple countdown with an alarm too

Do a Google for "iTaf". Freeware. I use it every morning.

• better speech recognition

It's pretty damn good as it is, and Tiger's is improving. It's not as if Windows has anything even worth mentioning in this particular field...

• be able to customize the computer speaking voice or have a bigger selection (at the moment there is only one that sounds decent)

Tiger has a few more, and they sound pretty good; in addition you can customize them quite a bit now (including tone, rate of speech, vowels, etc.).

• have a popup like the volume and brightness floaters for the change of keyboard language instead of a symbol in the menu bar

The bezels are for systemwide functionality including brightness, volume, and Bluetooth system detection. Language settings are decided on a per-user basis, and therefore would not make sense to fit here.

• be able to isync entire home directories between computers

I believe Tiger might let you do this, but don't know for sure.

• be able to have a transparent dock as an option

Try TinkerTool or Cocktail; Cocktail is free.

• 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)

Bingo. I say this should just be DECIDED once and for all. Metal apps should quit when every window is closed, and Aqua (white) apps should remain open. Something, anyway. There needs to be a standard way of doing things. Calculator makes sense to me, as it's A calculator. What always annoyed me was Activity Monitor for some reason, because I close the main "activity monitor" window and the program still takes up CPU.

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

As most people have said, Adium will give you all of these abilities (well, nearly all, anyway). iChat is far from perfect, but it gets the job done relatively well. I don't like its logging system, and used Adium religiously for many months, but now am going back to iChat because I don't really care that much about tabs anymore--with Exposé, you can see all your conversations easily enough anyway...

iPhoto
• iphoto to get more filters or at least the ones preview has, like mirroring for exampl

With Core Image in Tiger, this might very well happen; there will be an extensible image plugin library that anyone will be able to write to and programs such as Preview and iPhoto might be able to utilize all of them (much in the way that GarageBand is able to use ANY Audio Unit plugin, regardless of who made it)

iTunes
• be able to change the delete option with tab (from no to yes)

I think this should just be changed, period. How often do you delete something and want to keep the original file? Either way, Command-Y for Yes and Escape for cancel. Works for me.

• functionality like synergy, synergy is not as responsive as I'd like it too be and crashes from time to time

With Dashboard, Apple's got an iTunes controller, but I guarantee we will be seeing tons of new exciting ones that possibly put even Synergy to shame

• 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

128k is enough for most people; while I would prefer to download 160 or 192 AACs, I recognize that it's easier for Apple to deal with the smallest file sizes possible, and 128k AAC sounds GOOD. People who stress out about losing a slight bit of quality shouldn't be buying digital downloads to begin with; I mean, come on. You sacrifice something, and in the case of most people, the slight reduction in quality is not an issue. I, too, can recognize the slight difference between a 192 AAC and an original CD, but do I care? 128k sounds fine for the vast majority of people, and so it is what Apple went with. If you buy your own CDs, you're welcome to rip them at whatever bitrate you desire, but it's more expensive to do that.

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

Scheduled sending would be nice, I guess... but who on earth would ever be able to receive a VIDEO EMAIL? Do you have any idea of the file sizes involved? I run my own domain and have unlimited email space, but would never think of sending video files through email! Keep in mind that many people are still on dialup!

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

Why? What possible purpose does this serve?

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

Double-click on the top bar of the sticky note and it will collapse; maybe this will do?
As for sticking it on the desktop, try choosing a sticky note and going to Note--> Floating Window. It can still be moved, but it is always visible above all other open windows.

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

A fair criticism. Apple should be utilizing the "Title" tags properly; this sort of thing is almost definitely going to be a part of Tiger's Spotlight technology.

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

The way you describe it here is more logical, but Apple usually figures people can remember things themselves I guess. If you've got someone's email address already up, and you know you have to call them, do you really want an incessant reminder to do so? Basically, if you have to be following all the possible steps to get you TO the contact info you have to interact with, it seems like the Mac OS' "Assistant" would step in too late anyway. For most people, if you get to someone's email address, having something say "SEND FILE ON MONDAY" would just get annoying. I dunno.

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

For playlists, try MPlayer; and it's true, controls would be nice in full-screen mode. Volume is set on a per-movie basis, but this can and probably should be changed, the more I think about it.

 

[JFreak]

If you answer my questions at least try to be serious. I mean seriously, as I have written before I know that there are hacks out there it's just that most of them don't work without hickups. And I for example have never gotten transparent dock to work flawlessly. If you have, lucky you.

And for my pet peeve with the closing option... come on. You do know that if I hit close window in calculator it QUITS the app right? Of course you knew that, you were just trying to be funny right?

And when I say be able to send video mails, then I mean implement it in an app and don't make me record it via iMovie and then send it as an attachment.

But thanks for the language tip, I figured that out in the process of this thread, but thanks again. Wasn't too hard, weird that I missed it.

i didn't mean to be funny, sorry if it seemed like that i myself have had zero trouble with transparentdock and video desktop backgrounds, nor has anyone i know in real life.

the closing of app windows really has to stay the way it is - there's absolutely zero reason to make it a user preference which would confuse many and only few people would benefit from it. i think calculator is "the exception that makes the rule" (i'm not sure if this saying translates, but in finnish we have such saying anyway)... it is just a good thing that apps will not close themselves unless told to, and it's not so hard to hit apple-q to quit an app, is it?

and video email? can you describe what you want? i think i didn't quite understand. do you think that when you compose email there should be a "record video message" button so you could automatically attach such a file? do you think there should be a "record audio message" also? don't you think that email app should be about recording text messages? and as i said, there's only so much you can currently send via email, usually 2MB is safe and most email servers reject +10MB files... how much video do you think you could fit into 2MB? currently there just isn't a feasible way to deliver video via email, but maybe that's just me. once the transfer rates are fast enough i believe the whole email system gets a major revamp.

 

[sparky76]

My request is a very simple one. My Windows machines beep when I press Caps Lock, so I do not end up with HALF A PARAGRAPH OF CAPITALS. Why can't OS X have this option?

 

[jefhatfield]

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.

for everyday user friendliness, os x is better than os 9...but that's what apple inc had in mind...pro users of the graphic design industry though have felt a slow evolution of os x to their needs

back end font management control could be better in os x

and

better relationship with input of pre press industry who still uses os 9

 

[Bluefusion]

for everyday user friendliness, os x is better than os 9...but that's what apple inc had in mind...pro users of the graphic design industry though have felt a slow evolution of os x to their needs

back end font management control could be better in os x

and

better relationship with input of pre press industry who still uses os 9

Please don't quote a monstrous paragraph unless you have to respond to specific points; thanks.

 

[Bluefusion]

My request is a very simple one. My Windows machines beep when I press Caps Lock, so I do not end up with HALF A PARAGRAPH OF CAPITALS. Why can't OS X have this option?

Look at the screen? That is, after all, where the typing goes...

The Caps Lock key also lights up very brightly, if you're looking at the keyboard.

It's true, Windows has lots of "features" where Apple has simply assumed that most people just... do things the normal way. Like looking at the screen.

As for passwords, Apple does provide visual notification that the Caps Lock key is on when typing them in.

 

[jefhatfield]

Please don't quote a monstrous paragraph unless you have to respond to specific points; thanks.

he he...i guess the first post in this thread was quite a bit to quote

i snipped it accordingly

also, i would like to see a version of os x for professionals which would be faster by not having as much eye candy on it

 

[Bluefusion]

he he...i guess the first post in this thread was quite a bit to quote

i snipped it accordingly

also, i would like to see a version of os x for professionals which would be faster by not having as much eye candy on it

Heh, thanks; that just gets on my nerves

On a faster machine (pro-level, like a PowerBook or G5), OS X is incredibly fast... I mean, it's always been fast on whatever the highest-end systems have been. The eye candy isn't what's slowing it down; the Finder is the main sloooooowpoke in my experience. OS X could definitely benefit from some serious optimization of the actual Finder and applications, rather than the system itself (which is unbelievably fast; try the command line sometime!). Windows may always have faster window resizing, but it also does window resizing in a very different way, and Longhorn probably will be quite slow with all the visuals enabled.

I want a G5

 

[Diatribe]

First off, I really apreciate you took the time to read my entire post and actually respond to a lot I wrote.

Do a Google for "iTaf". Freeware. I use it every morning.

Thanks I will try that.

The bezels are for systemwide functionality including brightness, volume, and Bluetooth system detection. Language settings are decided on a per-user basis, and therefore would not make sense to fit here.

Yeah, but I usually write in more than two languages per day and it's just bugs me to have it in the menu bar, but I guess that is just me and I admit that it is a very personal gripe.

128k is enough for most people; while I would prefer to download 160 or 192 AACs, I recognize that it's easier for Apple to deal with the smallest file sizes possible, and 128k AAC sounds GOOD. People who stress out about losing a slight bit of quality shouldn't be buying digital downloads to begin with; I mean, come on. You sacrifice something, and in the case of most people, the slight reduction in quality is not an issue. I, too, can recognize the slight difference between a 192 AAC and an original CD, but do I care? 128k sounds fine for the vast majority of people, and so it is what Apple went with. If you buy your own CDs, you're welcome to rip them at whatever bitrate you desire, but it's more expensive to do that.

Yep, I could, but you know not all songs on a CD are great.
No, seriously, 320 AAC is a very marginal loss and I think Apple should at least offer it as an option. After all they marketed their xgrids as the cheapest storage around. So show us. And give us 1 GB of .mac storage too while you're at it.

Scheduled sending would be nice, I guess... but who on earth would ever be able to receive a VIDEO EMAIL? Do you have any idea of the file sizes involved? I run my own domain and have unlimited email space, but would never think of sending video files through email! Keep in mind that many people are still on dialup!

I see your point, I guess that was kind of a stupid request. I take full responsibility for that.

Why? What possible purpose does this serve?

It would enhance my work speed, since I wouldn't have to wait for being able to click it or clck it more than once.

Double-click on the top bar of the sticky note and it will collapse; maybe this will do?
As for sticking it on the desktop, try choosing a sticky note and going to Note--> Floating Window. It can still be moved, but it is always visible above all other open windows.

Yeah, I know that. I guess I just have too many that not even collapsing is good enough. And I would like to stick just ONE to the desktop, but oh well.

The way you describe it here is more logical, but Apple usually figures people can remember things themselves I guess. If you've got someone's email address already up, and you know you have to call them, do you really want an incessant reminder to do so? Basically, if you have to be following all the possible steps to get you TO the contact info you have to interact with, it seems like the Mac OS' "Assistant" would step in too late anyway. For most people, if you get to someone's email address, having something say "SEND FILE ON MONDAY" would just get annoying. I dunno.

The way I mean it is just to show you a person related todo item when the person is online, etc. I just forget to ask people stuff when I talk to them and remember it afterwards.

For playlists, try MPlayer; and it's true, controls would be nice in full-screen mode. Volume is set on a per-movie basis, but this can and probably should be changed, the more I think about it.

Yeah, got mplayer, I just would like to have the same functionality in QT too.

 

[Diatribe]

i didn't mean to be funny, sorry if it seemed like that i myself have had zero trouble with transparentdock and video desktop backgrounds, nor has anyone i know in real life.

the closing of app windows really has to stay the way it is - there's absolutely zero reason to make it a user preference which would confuse many and only few people would benefit from it. i think calculator is "the exception that makes the rule" (i'm not sure if this saying translates, but in finnish we have such saying anyway)... it is just a good thing that apps will not close themselves unless told to, and it's not so hard to hit apple-q to quit an app, is it?

and video email? can you describe what you want? i think i didn't quite understand. do you think that when you compose email there should be a "record video message" button so you could automatically attach such a file? do you think there should be a "record audio message" also? don't you think that email app should be about recording text messages? and as i said, there's only so much you can currently send via email, usually 2MB is safe and most email servers reject +10MB files... how much video do you think you could fit into 2MB? currently there just isn't a feasible way to deliver video via email, but maybe that's just me. once the transfer rates are fast enough i believe the whole email system gets a major revamp.

Hehe, good. No harm done.
And yes, you are absolutely right. The idea with the video mails was kind of immature and not very well thought about. My bad.
And the videobackground would be nice to have using core video because as of right now, the ones that are on the market use way to many resources.

Oh and if that was serious... thanks for your input.

 

[JFreak]

And the videobackground would be nice to have using core video because as of right now, the ones that are on the market use way to many resources.

gpu only calculates pixels to be shown, not the content, so there's nothing you can do about it; video is video and processed by cpu - that's why you need minimum of about 300MHz G3 for flawless viewing of a dvd movie.

you could - if properly implemented - use corevideo for adding a real-time filter effect (processed by the gpu) on top of dvd/quicktime video, but the video nevertheless eats cpu cycles.

i think those background hacks let you put anything quicktime can open to the desktop, plus the system screensaver. i don't remember, as i tried it and decided that i don't want to look at moving desktop. in my opinion it takes focus off the app that i work with. and, as you said, that unnecessarily consumes cpu cycles.

 

[JFreak]

Longhorn probably will be quite slow with all the visuals enabled.

The Longshot may not even have the new gui in 2006...

 

[Vanilla]

This may appear very minor but it IS irritating.

in Windows the calculator has a "digit grouping" option, which adds separators to long numbers:
e.g. 123456789 would be displayed as 123,456,789

Well I've looked all over the calculator function in OSX and I cannot find an equivalent.

As I say, minor but irritating.

Vanilla

 

[Diatribe]

gpu only calculates pixels to be shown, not the content, so there's nothing you can do about it; video is video and processed by cpu - that's why you need minimum of about 300MHz G3 for flawless viewing of a dvd movie.

you could - if properly implemented - use corevideo for adding a real-time filter effect (processed by the gpu) on top of dvd/quicktime video, but the video nevertheless eats cpu cycles.

i think those background hacks let you put anything quicktime can open to the desktop, plus the system screensaver. i don't remember, as i tried it and decided that i don't want to look at moving desktop. in my opinion it takes focus off the app that i work with. and, as you said, that unnecessarily consumes cpu cycles.

Yeah, I guess it would only be possible with backgrounds that would not move a whole lot and with a G6.
Oh well, I just got carried away.