What do YOU want from MacOS X 10.5 "Leopard" ?

[motulist]

Judging by these posts it looks like a lot of us want Apple to tie up a lot of the loose ends that some might consider banal but become really important when you use an OS on a day to day basis. I'm talking about all the usability things that Apple is supposed to be all about, things like a consistent interface, easier navigation in finder windows and open/save dialogs, better tab management in Safari, Finder not crashing, etc. It's the everyday type of things that need to be improved.

 

[odedia]

Actually, Mac OS X has a system-wide support for right-to-left languages. Just control-click on any textbox and you'll see the option for text direction. Many applications that use the standarad input framworks that Apple provides for developers have native text direction support, such as TextEdit and Adium. However, this doesn't apply to the applications you've just mentioned. iLife, iWork, and Microsoft Office all don't have support for text direction. It's up to the developers of those apps to add support for text direction.

As for the system menu localization, that could be a valid issue. But I've actually seen Mac OS X 10.2 with Arabic menus when I visited Dubai a few years ago.

That's my point, it's too hard to switch between writing directions, plus you have to have it supported at the application level. I want this kind of crucial thing to be system-wide, and EASY. In windows, I just click Ctrl+Shift everytime I need to switch between languages/directions. This can be 5-6 times in a single sentence. I don't think it's right for me to stop typing to press Ctrl+mouse button everytime I need to change language (I know about Cmd+Space but that too is not enought, it just changes language, not writing direction). It's just not intuitive at all. Plus, in Windows I can just press Shift down while typing to have english text even if I'm in hebrew mode. This is great for just adding a word or two in english, like "CTRL" for example, inside hebrew text.

Regarding arabic menus - There are hebrew menus as well but they are not allowed to be released in Israel because it messes up the system - same thing for arabic. They start having bugs that they don't know where they're coming from (for example: Quicktime always crashes). This was confirmed to be by the official representative here in Israel. Hopefully these problems will get fixed in time for Leopard.

Oded S.

 

[MacVault]

Network and Printers

Along with feng shueing the UI, I think OS X needs some serious improvement in how it allows the user to deal with networking, shares, printer management, etc. I guess this all has to do with the GUI.

 

[odedia]

You make a fair point, but I think your frustration is more with a combination of the free market economies from which compuers come & the curses of geography. The unfortunate truth is that many hebrew speakers are located geographically within a set of some larger in number (to that area) group, e.g. The USA. The greeks are surrounded by Left to right language speakers, and the average Hindi speaker isn't in a position to buy a computer. And since hindi speakers account for about 1.2 billion people, the number of people actually looking to purchase a computer that uses right to left interface is considerably smaller than 2 billion. I can't really comment on Arabic speakers, as the only ones I know well (who don't live in English speaking countries) all speak English and have never commented on this one way or another, nor am I familiar with the general economics of Arabia, the Gulf, Persia, or the middle east. With the exceptions of UA Emirites Dubai & Abu Dhabi. So since computers are too expensive for hindi speakers, and most hebrew and greek speakers are completely surrounded by people whose languages move left to right, it likely that there isn't enough demand to make computer companies spend lots of time developing right to left interface capabilities. I'm not saying it's fair, more like I think that circumstances are stacked against your wishes.

Unfourtunatly that's Apple's problem. Microsoft was smart enough to address every population, large or small, and that's why their software is on almost every goverment's computers in the world. If you want to be number one, be number one for everyone.

 

[quigleybc]

The dock is just an application right? So maybe this could be hacked. Maybe you can duplicate the dock application so you have three of them, launch dock 1 set to display on the bottom. Change your dock setting to the left and then launch dock 2 and then set it to the right and launch dock 3. Since the placement settings only take effect before the dock is launched the changed placement setting shouldn't change the placement of the docks that are already open. It might work, it might not, but if you want this feature you should give it a try. Personally I hate the dock and I'd like to be able to get rid of it altogether if I could.

Interesting idea, I'll try that when I get home...though I have my doubts.

I could see how the dock would be annoying if one had a small display, or a notebook. I have two 17 inch displays running non mirror side by side, so screen real estate is not an issue....

I like the dock, it just gives the GUI an "apple" feel IMO....

 

[quigleybc]

iTunes "pro"

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I think the concept of an "iTunes Pro" would be sweet. Similar to Quicktime Pro.

Just more features and options for people that use iTunes as their primary source of music.

Once you get into the 100's of gigs library, and have countless artists and albums, even if they are properly tagged, it can become cumbersome to scroll through your artists and find the one you want.

Yes I have a lot of playlists for that. But, often times I like to find the artist I want through the "browse" feature in the library.

Whenever, you minimize iTunes and then come back, the artist you were previously viewing will be set back to the beginning of the artists in the list...and you are forced to scroll back down to the artist, although the albums you were viewing, will remain where you left them.

So, better viewing would be good.

Also, adding some "pro" functions like sound wave editing, viewing...more compatibility with FLAC,SHN, OGG, APE ect....

not having to manually switch what format you want to convert a song to in the preferances would be good too.

How about some recording features in iTunes pro? Yes I know we have G band, but recording say a little guitar solo over a song you were listening to would be fun...

If Apple is so hell bent on being the digital music juggernaught, I don't thing the concept of an "iTunes pro" is so crazy...

But, that's just my opinion..

 

[merlin_1102]

Hey

I would like to see:

Bug fixes for my mac book pro, e.g. no more dimming the screen when I have that option turned off.

Fix to FAT32 drivers (I noticed prolonged use seems to crash the driver).

Macbook Pro 15" right click with two fingers on track pad.

Overall better responsiveness

Safari 3 with fixes for active links being highlighted WHEN you click. Better tab suppot, and search as your type Support ala FireFox.

 

[howesey]

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I think the concept of an "iTunes Pro" would be sweet. Similar to Quicktime Pro.

Just more features and options for people that use iTunes as their primary source of music.

Once you get into the 100's of gigs library, and have countless artists and albums, even if they are properly tagged, it can become cumbersome to scroll through your artists and find the one you want.

Yes I have a lot of playlists for that. But, often times I like to find the artist I want through the "browse" feature in the library.

Whenever, you minimize iTunes and then come back, the artist you were previously viewing will be set back to the beginning of the artists in the list...and you are forced to scroll back down to the artist, although the albums you were viewing, will remain where you left them.

So, better viewing would be good.

Just type the artist in the search box.

Minimise, moving from one play list to another keeps where I scrolled to.

 

[imacintel]

The ability to have dashboard widgets on your desktop, like Konfabulator, but without it.

I'll also second the iChat and MSN Messenger thought.

It is called the forums search. Please look it up, it is sticky.

 

[VanNess]

Just type the artist in the search box.

And don't forget the search bar, where you can refine your search further by choosing results based on the artist's name, or by the song's name, or by the album's name, or by the composer's name.

Especially handy if you do have gigs of iTunes content stored away.

 

[EGT]

Safari needs better bookmark management. Seriously.

 

[milo]

As for Quicktime maybe its extortion but take into account how much Apple charge for there OS comapred to windows....and if you dont want to pay just use VLC instead.....

Or even iTunes!

3. Already there.

They certainly don't have resolution independent interface, at least not without using developer hacks. I'd like to see it as part of the main release of OSX.

I mostly just want bugfixes and basic stuff. Like sorting in the column view. And command R to reveal files in spotlight (I often want to move them, not open them). Fix the finder so that docs selected in column view aren't counted as "in use" and can't be saved over. Copy/paste files. Bring back the old file replace box that shows sizes and dates. WAY more codecs for quicktime, including divx, 3ivx and ac3, plus getting all the video and audio formats to work within browsers.

AND MOST OF ALL, WHEN I SET MY FINDER WINDOWS WITH THE TOOLBAR TURNED OFF, ***KEEP*** THEM THAT WAY. I can't believe there's no way to turn off that damn toolbar view in the finder, seems completely ridiculous.

Better support for sharing iTunes libraries between multiple users on the same machine. Seriously, there's no good way to do that??

Overall, I don't care much about flashy new stuff, just (FINALLY) get the basics right. Please?

 

[MacVault]

Integrated Backup Tool

I would like to see a tool built into Leapard to backup to firewire drives, network drives, encrypted network/internet backups, etc. Built in scheduling, fully featured backup options, etc.

With all the media (itunes/movies/etc) it is even more important to backup data. Apple should also make a "home network server" with some kind of full redundancy such as RAID1 for backing up to, with option to fully encrypt backup data. It is especially important that Apple make such a device because it needs to offer AFP and HFS+ filesystem in order to maintain all file metadata, etc.