Something Apple really need to change in Leopard

[Fredstar]

Trying to switch my grandad to an iMac and OSx but it is hard to convince him it is the best way to go! He loves the fact that there are no viruses for the imac etc etc.

But something i have a concern for is that he is long sighted, so even with glasses when viewing a screen he likes big fonts and big buttons etc. In XP this is done quite well, pixelated but still the buttons and writing becomes very clear and large. I was sure i could do this with OSx but you can't from what i can see. You can only temporarily zoom into areas, this is no good though. I am worried if i switch him over he won't be able to see the close/minimize/expand buttons at all etc.
Is there nothing in Tiger that can increase it all nicely, with not too much pixellation?

As a side note, Apple need to sort out the little green button. It is an awful feature at the moment, why didn't Apple just make it expand each window to the full screen like XP?

thanks
Fred

 

[croshtique]

The Universal Access Zoom function seems to do what you want already; although bear in mind the icons etc. will become horribly pixellated if you zoom in close enough. I wouldn't say they're unusable though at that level.

You can perhaps make all Finder icons the largest possible; make the dock huge and customise Safari's preferences to make text appear larger etc.

 

[Linam]

i never really understood the green button what is it for?

 

[MisterMe]

i never really understood the green button what is it for?

The green button at the upper left corner of each windows maximizes the window within your screen real estate.

 

[maya]

The green button at the upper left corner of each windows maximizes the window within your screen real estate.

Actually, the green button will at times expand the size of the window only in a vertical orientation. Other times both horizontal and vertical orientation. Kinda weird.

 

[Applespider]

As a side note, Apple need to sort out the little green button. It is an awful feature at the moment, why didn't Apple just make it expand each window to the full screen like XP?

Because having it not fill the whole screen like XP is more productive. The only reason for Windows working 'better' full screen is so that you can get to the menus at the top of the screen more easily; if you have windows all over the screen in windows, you can't get to the program's navigation windows. In the Mac, since the menus are permanently attached to the top of the screen, you can have the application windows anywhere but Fitt's Law still applies.

The green button 'should' if the interface guidelines are followed, expand the window to the width/height it needs to be to display the contents so long as your screen is capable of it. It means that you can display other windows behind the working window so that you can drag and drop/check the news/see your iTunes.

Having windows full screen used to be a necessity because working on an 800x600 resolution screen meant that you needed the whole real estate of the screen to get any work done! Nowadays, the majority of the time, working full screen in Windows wastes screen space since much of it is filled with white/grey space. The only program that I use at work which I need the entire width of the screen for is Excel since I have spreadsheets that go up to row BJ on occasion.

 

[mpw]

Actually, the green button will at times expand the size of the window only in a vertical orientation. Other times both horizontal and vertical orientation. Kinda weird.

Isn't it something to do with pre-sets in whatever program the window is in expanding (or contracting) to the optimum window size rather the the MS Windows idea of simply maximizing the window to you screen?

Maybe it has some merit but I do think the MS Windows method make more sense to the new or inexperienced user.

 

[PlaceofDis]

you can always dowsize the resolution too.

 

[mpw]

...BJ on occasion.

*giggles like a school boy*

 

[Linam]

so nobody knows what the green button is actually for?

 

[mpw]

so nobody knows what the green button is actually for?

There's a pretty good answer in post 5 from Applespider

 

[portent]

I'd suggest you use a lower resolution. This is easier on a CRT than a flat-panel monitor, but it does effectively make everything larger.

Leopard should have a "zoom" feature, not just for font sizes but for toolbar icons, buttons, scroll bars, etc. (It's called "resolution independent interface"; it's possible in Tiger with the developer tools, but it's pretty rough.)

 

[dummptyhummpty]

My take on the green button...I think it works fine. Say im going to my favorite car website and someone posted a HUGE picture of some car or something. Well my Safari window is probably at 800X600 now (or close to it - and I have a 24in screen) as I can still use Adium and whatever else i'm doing at the time. Well now I want to see this car ... I press the green button and Safari expands to the width of the picture (and if it can the height) so I can now see the entire picture. Okay, cool, now i'm done with this picture so I press the green button again and Safari downsizes to fit the site i'm now looking at. I mean, how big does the Safari window need to be when viewing macrumors.com? ;-)

 

[mkrishnan]

Leopard should have a "zoom" feature, not just for font sizes but for toolbar icons, buttons, scroll bars, etc. (It's called "resolution independent interface"; it's possible in Tiger with the developer tools, but it's pretty rough.)

Yes, I too think this is very important for the future of UI design. I hope it gets implemented for users in Tiger.

You cannot wall-mount the rev B-C iMacs, sadly, but that's a perfect example of where this is necessary. It would be wonderful to put a 20" iMac on the wall and use a BT kb/mouse to run it from the sofa. Or to do the same with a large monitor and a Mac Mini, for instance....

 

[tjwett]

so nobody knows what the green button is actually for?

the green button will resize a window to fit only the data inside it. so if you're looking at a 700 pixel wide website it will size to fit it. this is much more economical than if it blew up and filled the entire screen.

 

[Fredstar]

Interesting about the green button, and i guess it does that quite well but i find it very inconsistent at times.

I hope Apple are working on a independant resolution interface, things like all the resizing tabs, especially for Safari, are so small on a big display.

Anyways thanks, i guess i will take a gamble on getting him the imac, lowering the resolution looks horrible but the last resort i guess.

 

[bousozoku]

so nobody knows what the green button is actually for?

The Zoom Box, as it was originally known, is there to allow an application to judiciously use screen space--i.e., not taking over the whole display, as tjwett said, to best fit the data to the display. If the user wants to do more, they can generally re-size the window to do that with the resize box at the lower right corner but that can be restricted to not allow a window to take over the whole display. It is also supposed to work in such a way that it will not occlude other windows within an application. Its secondary click function is to return to the prior window size, hence being the zoom box and not the maximize box.