Mac OS further customization

[nath_]

I am looking to make the Mac os interface my own and have a huge problem with mac os' design, especially because most of the os' key functions are located on the left (when most users are right-handed).It has become a huge problem to me over the years in terms of pain, due to bad design. I have gotten mocked and almost insulted by users on other apple related discussion boards for having only criticized the design of a paid product but well...I am looking for help from serious persons who know better than I do, I mean people who know where to look in the OS and how to alter things. Aside from the left/right thing, I am looking to alter the interface completely for my own comfort, further than what the existing apps allow one to do.

I have indeed tried to switch to linux because that OS lets one customize the interface according to one's need, but sadly it's not possible as there's no sound on apple computers in linux, and linux doesn't have photoshop which is what I use for a living, only older versions can be run on specific dists. I doubt Windows would let me move those icons and menus to the right either.

Thank you.

 

[yitwail]

I have gotten mocked and almost insulted by users on other apple related discussion boards for having only criticized the design of a paid product but well...I am looking for help from serious persons who know better than I do, I mean people who know where to look in the OS and how to alter things.

Is this you? https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/rcf7ek

 

[nath_]

Indeed !

I have never met a macos or windows user who hasn't complained about the same thing, considering most people are right-handed.

Moreover, it has to be feasible, it exists in some linux environments as a simple switch in the system prefs, "move buttons right/left", there are such options for the start menu, file browser dock icon etc

 

[hg.wells]

Interesting views, as a right hander I can’t say I’ve ever noticed or felt the design of the OS was more focused towards left handed users. Looking at some recent stats approximately 10% of people are left handed. Which wouldn’t suggest that Mac OS was designed with left hand users in mind.

Most applications tend to be left to right due to the way most users read. For instance email applications, personally I couldn’t imagine seeing my inbox and folders moved to the right hand side.

Lots of apps do have flexibility around this with floating menus such as Photoshop, but I can’t see a major change happening in Mac OS.

 

[nath_]

The efforts one's eyes and arm make while reaching for those buttons and menus on the left have a disastrous impact on the ribs, neck and jaws, then hips and ankles, not to mention the brain itself. I mean major incapacitating trauma, very often. Since I as well have started experiencing pain due to decades of mouse+bad design I feel like bashing those companies for such a choice...once you understand the pain you feel is due to that and you can't spend more than 10 minutes on the expensive machine you've bought it's that ... OR a genius programmer who knows mac os delivers his fix...I have such hope

 

[AZhappyjack]

The efforts one's eyes and arm make while reaching for those buttons and menus on the left have a disastrous impact on the ribs, neck and jaws, then hips and ankles, not to mention the brain itself. I mean major incapacitating trauma, very often. Since I as well have started experiencing pain due to decades of mouse+bad design I feel like bashing those companies for such a choice...once you understand the pain you feel is due to that and you can't spend more than 10 minutes on the expensive machine you've bought it's that ... OR a genius programmer who knows mac os delivers his fix...I have such hope

Seriously? Methinks you are being overly dramatic. From the early days of personal computing the interface has been similarly laid out. With some early linux distros, and the MS Windows operating system, etc, it has been so. Now, some 35 years later (MS Windows was introduced in November, 1985), it's a problem? It would be fair to say that it's been this way since many of us were born, and obviously it's been this way since ALL of us have been using GUI on personal computers.

Even so, changing the layout is not a simple matter, unless the code is written to allow that... which means that you must convince the good folks in Cupertino (and Redmon) to accommodate your requests. And then you must do the same with every app developer for whom you want to redesign the user interface. Software simply isn't written to allow such customization.

I sincerely wish you well in your quest for personal nirvana, but I honestly see neither a problem nor an easy "solution".


EDIT: After reading through your reddit post, I see that you ARE being overly dramatic. I have a 27" 5K iMac and I can move the mouse pointer from the lower right corner of the screen to the upper left corner by moving my mouse less than 5" on my desktop - it requires a simple movement right to left of my hand and the mouse. No twisting gyrations that make my shoulder, back ribs or hips hurt, nor does it make me feel like I fell "from a second floor". IMO, there's no disclaimer (required) that using these products will inflict pain or discomfort because it simply isn't true. But good luck with your quest to change the world.

 

[nath_]

Thanks sir yes, as you're in your thirties it's still okay but in my case when I reached like...44...45 I started getting quite amazing pain that is due to those basic design elements (as much as to the mouse itself). I understand your concern , and must let you know that health issues induced by years of day-long use of the screen/mouse thing are numerous and well-known by physicians, ostheopaths and also neurologists One relative was forced to become left-handed at 60 in order to use her computer and I'm forced to become left-handed too, using a trackpad, at 46.

Yes the point is such a feature implies altering hard-coded things so I'll gladly take or trade help/hints.

thank you, have a nice day

 

[AZhappyjack]

Thanks sir yes, as you're in your thirties it's still okay but in my case when I reached like...44...45 I started getting quite amazing pain that is due to those basic design elements (as much as to the mouse itself). I understand your concern , and must let you know that health issues induced by years of day-long use of the screen/mouse thing are numerous and well-known by physicians, ostheopaths and also neurologists One relative was forced to become left-handed at 60 in order to use her computer and I'm forced to become left-handed too, using a trackpad, at 46.

Yes the point is such a feature implies altering hard-coded things so I'll gladly take or trade help/hints.

thank you, have a nice day

Actually, I just turned 68 years of age in the past week. And I have been using computers with GUI for over 30 years.

With regard to Apple or other OS manufacturers hard-coding things to make your world possible, that's simply not going to happen. Your reddit post repeatedly suggested that Apple create free things to make your dreams come true. Good or bad, they are in business to make money for their investors/shareholders. Burning resources to make these kind of sweeping changes is not free - or even cheap. And much of the time that Apple or MS make even simple changes, those changes are frock with errors, problems and unintended consequences, requiring investigation, problem determination, analysis and correction - an iterative process that is, itself, costly and counter-productive to the corporate goals.

We all have complaints about how this feature works, or how that one could be improved, but the bottom line is they really don't care. They have roadmaps for their software laid out years ahead, and work towards implementing those designs. Given the cost in resources and funding, it's just not going to happen.

Again, best of luck, but unfortunately, no one is listening to the pounding of your drum.

 

[nath_]

What you say is exactly what I have noticed: they don't give a damn and probably prevent the designers and programmers from communicating with their customers regarding anything. I have also found that people online sound like paid fascist apple trolls for no reason, it's already good to find "not that" in your reply, thank you.

Lucky you because I can't imagine myself still using a computer at 68 and I know many persons in my case.

I'm waiting for a specific linux dist to work better with imacs, there is no sound for imacs users so far , but it will let me use the 2017 version of photoshop professionally though...when you see how awesome it is to be able to customize everything you're stunned. For a professional use you need to display a custom OS that suits your brand's image with icons, cursors, without preinstalled programs etc so I found many mac OS users feel constrained to switch to linux too (like Windows users).

thank you for your reply sir, have a nice day

PS: and a happy birthday, one week late

 

[vddobrev]

It's because we read left to right in the English language. Switch to Arabic and everything will be reversed, right to left.

 

[NoBoMac]

TLDR. But...

Most applications tend to be left to right due to the way most users read. For instance email applications, personally I couldn’t imagine seeing my inbox and folders moved to the right hand side.

This.

And then you get the oddball like me that has the dock on the right side. So my Finder is at the top and EVERYTHING is on the right side (though I do that due to mounted drive icons land there and rarely need to click on them directly, so already wasting space on the screen there, might as well put the dock there to avoid "wasting" space elsewhere [and yes, I've always had auto-hide turned on for the dock]; personal taste).