OS X 10.12 Wishlist

[Joseph C]

Ah, so less of Ive's pastel gradients. Yeah, I would like that. The problem is that apparently it has been psychologically proven that those bright colours are considered most attractive by people (I have no source for that, I read it half a year ago or so) and therefore they are here to stay... until the next fad comes.

The next fad will almost certainly be darker, deeper colours that are less garish.

I do think there's a lot to be said for the flat style meeting skeumorphism a little more. I think the whole dynamic, subtly shifting icons from the Apple TV will make their way to iOS and maybe the Mac somehow too. On iOS I guess it could be more of a motion thing, on Mac more of a hover/clicking thing.

I have replaced my Mac dock icons with similar icons but darker versions and they look great. I'll upload a screenshot when I'm on it next. They are very much in the Mac style but just without the brightness which in my opinion is too much and not aesthetically pleasing.

Apple also need to sort out the whole icon shape on Mac too. Some icons are circular, others not, it's all a bit random. Either adopt circles across the board or ditch them in my view.

The attached image is more like I mean in terms of colours but not icon style. Not as cartoony as these and would be more like the current flat but detailed icons on OS X, but colours more like that.

 

[garagethrash]

It will be renamed macOS this year (or next if delayed) (iOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS!), and basically be mostly iOS but optimised for cursor, and productivity. It will most likely be locked to the mac app store, but allow side loading apps like iOS does now. this also nips any rising security threats to OS X in the bud. This will be what pushes desktop class software for the iPad pro as well. It will have all the nice APIs that OS X is missing, Siri, health/homekit, news app, touchID support etc.

OS X has clearly already been abandoned

 

[Michael Goff]

It will be renamed macOS this year (or next if delayed) (iOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS!), and basically be mostly iOS but optimised for cursor, and productivity. It will most likely be locked to the mac app store, but allow side loading apps like iOS does now. this also nips any rising security threats to OS X in the bud. This will be what pushes desktop class software for the iPad pro as well. It will have all the nice APIs that OS X is missing, Siri, health/homekit, news app, touchID support etc.

OS X has clearly already been abandoned

I don't think that's coming until the early 20s. The whole naming scheme for the next ten years thing should have been the hint to everyone.

 

[bmac89]

I would like to see darker toolbars - more like Snow Leopard.

I still use Snow Leopard as my main OSX and when I use El Capitan I find the toolbars very light / white-ish gray. I think it has progressively got lighter with each new OSX. The darker gray in SL was much easier on the eyes as well as being easier to distinguish active and inactive windows.

As others have said a full dark mode theme would be nice, but I would even be happy if they just toned down the white a bit!

Also I find scrolling text with the trackpad not very smooth - it is blurred and fatiguing on El Capitan / Yosemite but I have no issue on Snow Leopard. Maybe it has something to do with using a non-retina screen - I don't know?!

 

[navaira]

Also I find scrolling text with the trackpad not very smooth - it is blurred and fatiguing on El Capitan / Yosemite but I have no issue on Snow Leopard. Maybe it has something to do with using a non-retina screen - I don't know?!

Oh that's interesting... scrolling on a Macbook Air is blurry as well, but how would Snow Leopard avoid that?

 

[bmac89]

Oh that's interesting... scrolling on a Macbook Air is blurry as well, but how would Snow Leopard avoid that?

I really don't know why, but I definitely find scrolling in SL easier on the eyes and less blurry. I wish I knew why!

 

[Michael Goff]

Oh that's interesting... scrolling on a Macbook Air is blurry as well, but how would Snow Leopard avoid that?

I really don't know why, but I definitely find scrolling in SL easier on the eyes and less blurry. I wish I knew why!

Would the font change have anything to do with it?

 

[vivian30]

Also, I think Apple should remove a lot of the silly iOS inspired features that were added to OS X (well some of them at least). For example, Launchpad. It seems a bit out of place with the rest of OS X, and there are many more convenient ways (such as search) to access apps on the desktop.

 

[bmac89]

Would the font change have anything to do with it?

If I recall correctly - the font change happened in El Capitan, but I found both El Cap & Yosemite trackpad scrolling to be blurry compared to Snow Leopard.

 

[Michael Goff]

If I recall correctly - the font change happened in El Capitan, but I found both El Cap & Yosemite trackpad scrolling to be blurry compared to Snow Leopard.

There was a font change in Yosemite.

Lucidia Grande to Helevetica Neue to San Francisco. Forgive my spellings, please.

 

[bmac89]

Focus Follows Mouse in Split Screen:

One place that I think focus follows mouse would be perfect is in split-screen. Move the mouse to the left app or the right app and the focus follows the mouse cursor.

I got thinking about this after someone mentioned (elsewhere) that they would like to see focus follows mouse. I think this could be quite problematic in normal use, especially when moving the mouse up to access the menubar etc. One way to avoid this would be a delay but I still think it could be problematic and very easy to accidentally trigger, but I guess it could be an option in system preference (or terminal command) with an adjustable delay.


Split Screen Menubar:

I also think we could possibly have a seperate menubar for split screen windows. I have mocked together a very rough cut and paste screenshot (in preview! ) Of course the menubar is hidden in fullscreen / split screen but this screenshot shows what it could look like when the mouse triggers the hidden menu bar.

Option 1:

Option 2a:

Option 2b:

 

[ErikGrim]

Nope. That design would obliterate the Fitts' law which the Mac menu bar is built upon.

 

[bmac89]

Nope. That design would obliterate the Fitts' law which the Mac menu bar is built upon.

I understand what your saying. I love the menu bar in mac osx and would not want a windows style menubar attached to every window.... however I feel split screen is a bit different. Essentially it is a fullscreen space cut in half and there is no depth with windows layered behind. What your saying is true and I guess it might not be good in practice, however I think an option for focus follows mouse in split screen would be great.

 

[Simche]

Outlook-support in OSX mail-app would be wonderful. It works like a charm on iOS but not so good on Mac... Using Airmail 2, great alternative

 

[bmac89]

Show All Windows:

Minor wish.... I wish we could have the old function (like Snow Leopard) for show all windows back. i.e Click & hold app icon on the dock to activate 'show all windows' for that app.

Anyone know how I can achieve this? I tried BetterTouchTools but could not see any way to implement this behaviour.

 

[keithop]

Show All Windows:

Minor wish.... I wish we could have the old function (like Snow Leopard) for show all windows back. i.e Click & hold app icon on the dock to activate 'show all windows' for that app.

Anyone know how I can achieve this? I tried BetterTouchTools but could not see any way to implement this behaviour.

I use hyperdock https://bahoom.com/hyperdock/ which gives a view of all windows for the app when you hover over the app in the dock. (I also have "show all windows" if I click and hold a dock icon but I dont know if I'm getting that natively or from hyperdock).

I sometimes feel like macosx is getting further away from where I want to be :/ I feel like I'm having to install more and more addons to make it feel right with each version. Perhaps it's just me.

I keep trying to do a pro/cons for windows 10 v el capitan... but it doesn't help that I'm fundamentally biased towards apple so it ends up depressing me One thing I've never been able to overcome, explorer has always felt more natural to me than finder ;( explorer is nothing special but it's just simple and works.

There must've been a windows 10 v macosx comparison thread on here sometime ? I'd quite like to read one to see how people overcome the negatives

 

[ButteryScrollin]

Outlook-support in OSX mail-app would be wonderful. It works like a charm on iOS but not so good on Mac... Using Airmail 2, great alternative

there's been exchange support in Mail since 10.6.

 

[keithop]

there's been exchange support in Mail since 10.6.

...welllll there's exchange support, and then there's PROPER exchange support ;-) sure it talks to exchange, big wow, but as far as I know, at the moment, nothing other than outlook on mac supports proper PUSH email for example. mail/airmail do IMAP IDLE but that's far from ideal.

I'd really love Apple Mail to have proper Exchange support but we've been waiting an age, the APIs are all there waiting...

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Outlook-support in OSX mail-app would be wonderful. It works like a charm on iOS but not so good on Mac... Using Airmail 2, great alternative

Do you mean Outlook.com support? Outlook via Exchange already exists.

 

[bmac89]

I use hyperdock https://bahoom.com/hyperdock/ which gives a view of all windows for the app when you hover over the app in the dock. (I also have "show all windows" if I click and hold a dock icon but I dont know if I'm getting that natively or from hyperdock).

I sometimes feel like macosx is getting further away from where I want to be :/ I feel like I'm having to install more and more addons to make it feel right with each version. Perhaps it's just me.

I keep trying to do a pro/cons for windows 10 v el capitan... but it doesn't help that I'm fundamentally biased towards apple so it ends up depressing me One thing I've never been able to overcome, explorer has always felt more natural to me than finder ;( explorer is nothing special but it's just simple and works.

There must've been a windows 10 v macosx comparison thread on here sometime ? I'd quite like to read one to see how people overcome the negatives

Thanks - I will have another look at hyperdock.

Sounds like you feel much the same way as I do about OSX. I have no desire to use Windows but I find each version of OSX seems to get rid of little things that make it great whilst adding some bloat. I don't hate the new versions, their are some great features and improvements, but I could happily stay with Snow Leopard if it was compatible with new software. I actually still use Snow Leopard as my main OSX.

 

[Simche]

there's been exchange support in Mail since 10.6.

I've tried that but it's just not the same. It doesn't sync all the folders and incoming messages dissapears upon quiting Mail-app. On iOS though, it works like a charm! I don't seem to know why...

 

[dannyyankou]

Time Machine backups to iCloud

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Time Machine backups to iCloud

That and cheaper iCloud storage tiers! Amen!

 

[Alrescha]

Time Machine backups to iCloud

This has got to be only a matter of time...

A.

 

[Costee]

Show All Windows:

Minor wish.... I wish we could have the old function (like Snow Leopard) for show all windows back. i.e Click & hold app icon on the dock to activate 'show all windows' for that app.

Anyone know how I can achieve this?

Perform the Mission Control gesture while hovering the cursor over the app's Dock icon. Unfortunately it won't show full screen windows but it will show every normal/minimized window.