Features Mac OS X should have

[Frederico Luna]

Hi!

I've been a mac user for about 4 years now (SL, Lion, ML, Mavericks and now Yosemite). I love the Mac, but there are two features that I still think that Mac OS X should have:

- A task bar of some sort instead of the dock.
- Simpler windows maximizing.

I'm using two separate apps to emulate Windows behavior on these two items (uBar and SizeUp).

What do you guys think?

 

[jbarley]

Hi!

I've been a mac user for about 4 years now (SL, Lion, ML, Mavericks and now Yosemite). I love the Mac, but there are two features that I still think that Mac OS X should have:

- A task bar of some sort instead of the dock.
- Simpler windows maximizing.

I'm using two separate apps to emulate Windows behavior on this two items (uBar and SizeUp).

What do you guys think?

What do I think?
I think clicking on the green dot in Yosemite to maximize a window is a lot simpler then using a third party hack.

 

[J.gerbes]

Hi!

I've been a mac user for about 4 years now (SL, Lion, ML, Mavericks and now Yosemite). I love the Mac, but there are two features that I still think that Mac OS X should have:

- A task bar of some sort instead of the dock.
- Simpler windows maximizing.

I'm using two separate apps to emulate Windows behavior on this two items (uBar and SizeUp).

What do you guys think?

It sounds to me that what you want is Windows, unfortunately.

The Mac's dock is one of the most important UI elements, it provides the same window switching and closing/opening functionality as Window's task bar. It differentiates itself by putting the applications forefront, resizing the dock to fit accordingly, rather than just placing the (open) apps along a bar.

The dock also integrates the Finder and Trash, making it a one-stop-shop for most interactions. What it doesn't have is a 'start menu'. But for opening apps you have launchpad (or the applications folder) and for log out, shut down etc. you have the Apple menu. Also, search (spotlight) is built into the top bar or keyboard shortcut.

I think that what you also need to remember is that in OS X, the top menu bar is static. It's there even if you don't have anything open. It provides quick access to settings, and adapts itself to provide interractions with the currently open app. Having a fixed task bar seems redundant in my opinion.

As for window maximising, as someone has already mentioned, Yosemite has cleaned this up a lot. I agree that full screen mode isn't always too comfortable to use (switching back and forth) but it has its uses. OS X apps are designed to work great from a minimum size upwards. Normally there is little or no benefit to having a window fill the screen. In fact, it makes it somewhat harder to switch rapidly between windows.

OS X is different to windows. That's really all you can take from this.

 

[jbarley]

there is little or no benefit to having a window fill the screen. In fact, it makes it somewhat harder to switch rapidly between windows.

Switching between full screen windows is as easy and rapid as "cmd+tab".
How hard is that?

 

[darkweather]

- delete without sending to trash
- "paste and go" for safari
- and some other windows explorer capabilities for finder.

 

[AirThis]

I assume you're working with a mouse because if you were using a macbook with a trackpad this question probably would be superfluous. You just use spaces, and swipe left or right...

 

[n-evo]

People wanting a taskbar is kinda ironic to me now Microsoft is bascially ripping off Mission Control in Windows 10.

I have to work with Windows 7 on a daily basis and I really miss Exposé / Mission Control. Something I hate as well: There's no way to restore all minimized windows of a certain app just by clicking the taskbar icon. Instead the window switcher (not sure what it's called exactly) pops up and windows have to be restored one by one. Apparently you can right click and undo the action, but then ALL minimized windows are restored of every app?

With OS X Yosemite all you have to do is click the green button to go full-screen (= maximize). Not sure how things can be made even easier, or why that's harder than the situation on Windows.

 

[kolax]

The Dock and Windows Taskbar are the same thing really. Both show open applications, and both hold 'shortcuts' to applications and folders.

Double clicking on the menu bar in Yosemite (not the green button) will maximise the window, while the green button will make the application full screen.

I think you need to learn more about the features of Mac OS X instead of hacking your Windows ways onto it.

Also, you should start using Spotlight for everything. Press CMD-SPACE and start typing stuff. Yosemite is making Spotlight awesome (it's replaced Afred for me).

 

[n-evo]

Double clicking on the menu bar in Yosemite (not the green button) will maximise the window, while the green button will make the application full screen.

Double clicking the toolbar/titlebar (not the menu bar which is the bar at the top of your screen with File, Edit, View, etc.) will Zoom the window. Which is actually different from maximizing on Windows. Full-screen is the most similar to that. Alternatively you can old option and click the green button to Zoom. Otherwise it wil just make an app go full-screen, if supported.

 

[Frederico Luna]

I assume you're working with a mouse because if you were using a macbook with a trackpad this question probably would be superfluous. You just use spaces, and swipe left or right...

I used to have a Mac Mini, but now I have a Mac Air 2013 for about a year. This is one of the reasons I miss these two features I mentioned. On the Mini, I had a 23 inch display connect to it. On such a big screen, I really didnt't miss fullscreen apps because the regular 'mac resized' windows were already big enough. As for the dock, with the big screen I didn't mind losing some screen real estate either.

Trust me, I know almost all useful shortcuts on Mac OS X. I'm not saying I can't work with it as it is right now. I just wish it had these two windows features or behaviors, even if they were optional.

----------

Double clicking the toolbar/titlebar (not the menu bar which is the bar at the top of your screen with File, Edit, View, etc.) will Zoom the window. Which is actually different from maximizing on Windows. Full-screen is the most similar to that. Alternatively you can old option and click the green button to Zoom. Otherwise it wil just make an app go full-screen, if supported.

Exactly. These two options bring the 'old' zooming behavior, which is different and worse (in my opinion) to Windows behavior.

 

[maflynn]

I don't want OS X to turn into windows, so a task bar is not something I'd want. I think there's apps to help bring that sort of functionality to OS X. Search around you may find something you like.

As for simpler minimize, its simple enough, though the maximize is a bit convoluted.

 

[KALLT]

It sounds to me that what you want is Windows, unfortunately.

The Mac's dock is one of the most important UI elements, it provides the same window switching and closing/opening functionality as Window's task bar. It differentiates itself by putting the applications forefront, resizing the dock to fit accordingly, rather than just placing the (open) apps along a bar.

The dock also integrates the Finder and Trash, making it a one-stop-shop for most interactions. What it doesn't have is a 'start menu'. But for opening apps you have launchpad (or the applications folder) and for log out, shut down etc. you have the Apple menu. Also, search (spotlight) is built into the top bar or keyboard shortcut.

I think that what you also need to remember is that in OS X, the top menu bar is static. It's there even if you don't have anything open. It provides quick access to settings, and adapts itself to provide interractions with the currently open app. Having a fixed task bar seems redundant in my opinion.

As for window maximising, as someone has already mentioned, Yosemite has cleaned this up a lot. I agree that full screen mode isn't always too comfortable to use (switching back and forth) but it has its uses. OS X apps are designed to work great from a minimum size upwards. Normally there is little or no benefit to having a window fill the screen. In fact, it makes it somewhat harder to switch rapidly between windows.

OS X is different to windows. That's really all you can take from this.

I agree with this. The Dock was one of the key reasons for me why I switched to OS X. I don’t want to trade it for a task bar like Windows has, not even the one of Windows 7/8 (which is already a bit more Dock-like).

With respect to window maximising or snapping, I agree. This is something OS X should provide natively. Since Yosemite replaces the green maximise button with the fullscreen button, desktop users are left with a workaround. They should show some more love to desktop users. Whenever I see super-simple apps like SizeUp/Window Magnet/Cinch or PopClip, I always think that Apple somehow failed to anticipate these. The attention to detail is something I always found very charming about OS X.

As for the rest, there are no system-wide things I acutely miss. But I do think that Apple lost its focus on some of its core apps. I would like to see Apple really focussing on the core aspects of OS X next time, i.e. fixing bugs and extending features where they make sense.

Just to mention a few:

• Finder has too many glitches and has become less wieldy. I’d love to use the tabs, but their implementation is just so poorly thought out. I wish the feature would behave like tabs in Safari (i.e. open everything in a tab instead of a window), like you would expect. I also dislike that the window/sidebar/columns are sometimes resized for no apparent reason. It just feels very buggy sometimes.
• Notification Centre is currently neither useful nor avoidable. I rarely check it due to lack of some kind of visual indicator that shows me whether I have unread messages. It doesn’t seem to be addressed in Yosemite. Currently, I almost never open it and use the Dock for everything. I also turned important messages into dismissible notifications (the ones you have to click on to dismiss). With all the new features in Yosemite, I still don’t think that I will ever care about NC this way. How can Apple not see this?
• iTunes. There is just too much wrong with this app, I don’t want to get into it.

 

[Frederico Luna]

Switching between full screen windows is as easy and rapid as "cmd+tab".
How hard is that?

Mac's "new" full screen is not bad, but in my opinion is worse than windows maximizing.

1st - It has a slow transition animation when you go in and out off full screen.
2nd - It hides everything but the app you are using. I still want to have my "task bar" and my menu bar showing up.

 

[tkermit]

I think there's apps to help bring that sort of functionality to OS X.

Hyperdock / Hyperswitch

 

[n-evo]

Exactly. These two options bring the 'old' zooming behavior, which is different and worse (in my opinion) to Windows behavior.

Agreed. The Zoom function's idea is great, but very poorly executed. When you Zoom a window and move or resize it the original window size is immediately forgotten. In the case of moving a window the Zoom button won't do anyhting anymore.

Zoom should always revert back the the original window size (the size it had when you launched the app). Even after moving or resizing. But it doesn't do that. Not sure if Apple every fixed it. I just gave up on zoom after Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Then again, I don't use full-screen on my 27-inch iMac either.

 

[kolax]

Double clicking the toolbar/titlebar (not the menu bar which is the bar at the top of your screen with File, Edit, View, etc.) will Zoom the window. Which is actually different from maximizing on Windows. Full-screen is the most similar to that. Alternatively you can old option and click the green button to Zoom. Otherwise it wil just make an app go full-screen, if supported.

Ah yes. I have windows full size, and double clicking the menu bar will either make them full size (zoomed) or back to the original size. It was because I had previously made those windows full size when zoomed that I forgot what the behaviour actually is.

Once I have my windows set size, I don't really resize them. But if I was working on a laptop and plugging in a second screen, I can see why that ability is needed.

 

[Abba1]

What do I think?
I think clicking on the green dot in Yosemite to maximize a window is a lot simpler then using a third party hack.

Agreed! I like the dots (red, yellow, and green) and see no reason to go to something more cumbersome. One of the beauties of Mac is the ease of performing commonly used functions such as minimizing, maximizing, and closing, amongst other things. Since the 1960's, Ive worked on various types of computers such as Mag Cards, Tape (yes there really was a system that used tape to record and it was considered the best of the best at the time), PC's and Macs and the only one that is both easy and intuitive is the Mac. Don't change what isn't broke!

 

[Abba1]

It sounds to me that what you want is Windows, unfortunately.

The Mac's dock is one of the most important UI elements, it provides the same window switching and closing/opening functionality as Window's task bar. It differentiates itself by putting the applications forefront, resizing the dock to fit accordingly, rather than just placing the (open) apps along a bar.

The dock also integrates the Finder and Trash, making it a one-stop-shop for most interactions. What it doesn't have is a 'start menu'. But for opening apps you have launchpad (or the applications folder) and for log out, shut down etc. you have the Apple menu. Also, search (spotlight) is built into the top bar or keyboard shortcut.

I think that what you also need to remember is that in OS X, the top menu bar is static. It's there even if you don't have anything open. It provides quick access to settings, and adapts itself to provide interractions with the currently open app. Having a fixed task bar seems redundant in my opinion.

As for window maximising, as someone has already mentioned, Yosemite has cleaned this up a lot. I agree that full screen mode isn't always too comfortable to use (switching back and forth) but it has its uses. OS X apps are designed to work great from a minimum size upwards. Normally there is little or no benefit to having a window fill the screen. In fact, it makes it somewhat harder to switch rapidly between windows.

OS X is different to windows. That's really all you can take from this.

I totally agree about the dock and top menu bar, which are really first rate. And, you are also correct about Launchpad. There are apps that I occasionally use that I don't want cluttering up my dock and I get to them via Launchpad, but can get to them via Spotlight if I wish. Having Finder and Trash on the dock is also very useful as is using Finder for secure delete. There is nothing in Windows that makes navigating that easy.

If nothing else, the Dock and menu bar alone set Mac OS X apart as a superior OS. Moreover regarding full screen: you can switch back and forth using green button for full screen and, as with so many thing in OS X, escape to get out of it. Not really a problem.

 

[mojolicious]

What it doesn't have is a 'start menu'.

I still don't understand the logic behind removing the 'Apple Menu Items' functionality with the launch of OSX, and the death of Unsanity/FruitMenu still makes me cry at night.

 

[fisherking]

I still don't understand the logic behind removing the 'Apple Menu Items' functionality with the launch of OSX, and the death of Unsanity/FruitMenu still makes me cry at night.

while not driven to tears about it , i hear you. the dock (at least, on a 12" powerbook and now a 13" macbook pro) always seemed a huge misuse of screen real estate, and i loved the black translucent menus in fruitmenu...

which i now have in yosemite!

yosemite is impressive, my fave OS X since snow leopard, and maybe ever.

am looking forward to the official release (and the coming year-of-bug-fixes)...

 

[Abba1]

I agree with this. The Dock was one of the key reasons for me why I switched to OS X. I don’t want to trade it for a task bar like Windows has, not even the one of Windows 7/8 (which is already a bit more Dock-like).

With respect to window maximising or snapping, I agree. This is something OS X should provide natively. Since Yosemite replaces the green maximise button with the fullscreen button, desktop users are left with a workaround. They should show some more love to desktop users. Whenever I see super-simple apps like SizeUp/Window Magnet/Cinch or PopClip, I always think that Apple somehow failed to anticipate these. The attention to detail is something I always found very charming about OS X.

As for the rest, there are no system-wide things I acutely miss. But I do think that Apple lost its focus on some of its core apps. I would like to see Apple really focussing on the core aspects of OS X next time, i.e. fixing bugs and extending features where they make sense.

Just to mention a few:

• Finder has too many glitches and has become less wieldy. I’d love to use the tabs, but their implementation is just so poorly thought out. I wish the feature would behave like tabs in Safari (i.e. open everything in a tab instead of a window), like you would expect. I also dislike that the window/sidebar/columns are sometimes resized for no apparent reason. It just feels very buggy sometimes.
• Notification Centre is currently neither useful nor avoidable. I rarely check it due to lack of some kind of visual indicator that shows me whether I have unread messages. It doesn’t seem to be addressed in Yosemite. Currently, I almost never open it and use the Dock for everything. I also turned important messages into dismissible notifications (the ones you have to click on to dismiss). With all the new features in Yosemite, I still don’t think that I will ever care about NC this way. How can Apple not see this?
• iTunes. There is just too much wrong with this app, I don’t want to get into it.

Agreed, particularly about iTunes. I'm tired of being asked to sign in all the time. Another thing that needs fixing is Time Machine. It should transition to OS updates, be they incremental or full OS updates, without the user having to do anything. And, if it is slow to prepare because of the transition, as it was with the Yosemite Beta, it should notify the user to that effect. This is a real problem for people who only use TM for their backup.

 

[phillytim]

I really hope you guys are telling your great ideas directly to Apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Talking about them here probably won't change a thing.

 

[KALLT]

Agreed, particularly about iTunes. I'm tired of being asked to sign in all the time.

Do you use a cookie manager or do you clear your Safari cookies often? If so, then you might accidentally be deleting the ones that affect iTunes. iTunes uses WebKit as well, so it is equally affected when you clear cookies and thus requires you to log in every time.

I had this problem with the app Cookie.

 

[mojolicious]

I really hope you guys are telling your great ideas directly to Apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Talking about them here probably won't change a thing.

Talking about them here definitely won't change a thing.

Talking about them there definitely won't change a thing, either.

 

[nilk]

If you don't like the out-of-box experience of OS X, there is nothing wrong with using 3rd party utilities to make it work how you want them. 3rd party utilities are part of the OS X ecosystem and are a part of what make it great. Not all of Apple's first-party software is going to satisfy everyone. If I couldn't customize my OS X experience to my preference, I'd probably be using Linux instead.