OSX annoyances

[devwild]

You'll have to forgive me, I just got my new dual 2.0 G5 today, and after having worked on several OSX boxes in the past, I'm surprised how many annoyances I am running into in just a few hours that I have never encountered before. Some are unavoidable like the fact that you can't tab to anything besides text boxes, even in firefox (which I hoped would know better), and that I had to look up how to eject my cdrom (I'm using a Logitech Elite, not the apple keyboard... I had to program a key to eject my cd-rom ?!).

Oh, and I'm seriously ready to B-slap the mac firefox folks for not including middle click support like the other versions. (no, mapping it to command click is not an option. That 1. screws X support, 2. still doesn't allow for closing tabs with middle click.) Consistency people, it ain't that hard.

Most of these things are somewhat minor, but some of them are annoying to the point that I'm already starting to consider e-baying the thing and using the money to upgrade my pc again, because this simply is not going to suit my use, no matter how pretty and "advanced" it is. If it wasn't for the spotty linux PPC64 support, I'd consider just reloading it like so many PPC linux geeks I know.

Anyways, I'm kind of using this as a forum to ask what other people have done to work around annoying things about OSX. My first question is...

Mouse acceleration across two 1280x1024 displays sucks, I mean enough that the closest to reasonable setting is already making my wrist hurt. This reminds me of my fighting mouse speed in XFree86. Are there any tweaks out there to get nicer speed settings? I can't imagine trying to use OSX across two 30" displays, my wrist would break in a day

And another one, is there a tool to remap common key commands to behave more like on other OSen (and no, I'm not just talking Windows here). I'd like Home and End to behave appropriately, command-left/right makes me feel like I'm using a laptop.

Thanks for any input, and any tollerance of other questions I may roll out. I'm a sysadmin and an experienced *nix user (and more than experienced windows user/admin, don't shoot). So I'm willing to dig deep and script hard to solve my problems, I just need some direction to go.

dev*

 

[devwild]

OK, so I seem to have already found a workaround on my mouse acceleration problem. I accidentally stumbled across the Logitech "speed multiplier" (right click on your mouse in the logitech pref pane). Turning the OSX mouse speed down significantly, then appling the 4x multiplier results in faster speed with less accelleration ratio.

I think what was killing me is the steps in acceleration are too sudden and poorly spaced in the standard OSX accelleration curve. Searches of the forums show there's definitely a split in user opinions on this. Enough of a split that it seems like a good feature to add to 10.4

I don't agree that the super slow starting speed is more accurate. As a Windows Photoshop user for about 9 years, I can tell you, turning off accelleration altogether can be not only plenty accurate with a good mouse, but more effective in touch up, reducing odd mistakes. I tend to toggle no/low acceleration depending on my task in windows. I'm surprised the king-of-desktop-publishing OS hasn't thought of making acceleration adjustable. (personal opinion)

dev*

 

[IJ Reilly]

Head over to versiontracker and pick up MouseZoom, a preference pane for, well, that should be obvious. I must have started using it in 10.0, have never updated it to a newer version, and it still works in 10.3. That should be one less annoyance fer ya!

 

[tech4all]

You'll have to forgive me, I just got my new dual 2.0 G5 today, and after having worked on several OSX boxes in the past, I'm surprised how many annoyances I am running into in just a few hours that I have never encountered before. Some are unavoidable like the fact that you can't tab to anything besides text boxes, even in firefox (which I hoped would know better), and that I had to look up how to eject my cdrom (I'm using a Logitech Elite, not the apple keyboard... I had to program a key to eject my cd-rom ?!).

Oh, and I'm seriously ready to B-slap the mac firefox folks for not including middle click support like the other versions. (no, mapping it to command click is not an option. That 1. screws X support, 2. still doesn't allow for closing tabs with middle click.) Consistency people, it ain't that hard.

Most of these things are somewhat minor, but some of them are annoying to the point that I'm already starting to consider e-baying the thing and using the money to upgrade my pc again, because this simply is not going to suit my use, no matter how pretty and "advanced" it is. If it wasn't for the spotty linux PPC64 support, I'd consider just reloading it like so many PPC linux geeks I know.

Anyways, I'm kind of using this as a forum to ask what other people have done to work around annoying things about OSX. My first question is...

Mouse acceleration across two 1280x1024 displays sucks, I mean enough that the closest to reasonable setting is already making my wrist hurt. This reminds me of my fighting mouse speed in XFree86. Are there any tweaks out there to get nicer speed settings? I can't imagine trying to use OSX across two 30" displays, my wrist would break in a day

And another one, is there a tool to remap common key commands to behave more like on other OSen (and no, I'm not just talking Windows here). I'd like Home and End to behave appropriately, command-left/right makes me feel like I'm using a laptop.

Thanks for any input, and any tollerance of other questions I may roll out. I'm a sysadmin and an experienced *nix user (and more than experienced windows user/admin, don't shoot). So I'm willing to dig deep and script hard to solve my problems, I just need some direction to go.

dev*

You had to program the eject key?!

IMO, the mouse speed is ok for me (1680x1050). I could easly go from edge to edge with little effort. It is a bit slower than a Windows PC, yes, but it is very much managable.

 

[KingSleaze]

You'll have to forgive me, I just got my new dual 2.0 G5 today, and after having worked on several OSX boxes in the past, I'm surprised how many annoyances I am running into in just a few hours that I have never encountered before. Some are unavoidable like the fact that you can't tab to anything besides text boxes, even in firefox (which I hoped would know better), and that I had to look up how to eject my cdrom (I'm using a Logitech Elite, not the apple keyboard... I had to program a key to eject my cd-rom ?!).

Anyways, I'm kind of using this as a forum to ask what other people have done to work around annoying things about OSX. My first question is...

And another one, is there a tool to remap common key commands to behave more like on other OSen (and no, I'm not just talking Windows here). I'd like Home and End to behave appropriately, command-left/right makes me feel like I'm using a laptop.

Okay, so you decided not to use the keyboard that came with it, sounds like a personal choice to me. If the keyboard that you decide to use doesn't include the function that came with the system, it MUST be a better one, right?

System preferences (under the apple menu)>keyboard and mouse>keyboard shortcuts should allow you to remap some of the common key commands to your liking.

 

[zv470]

Hi, is there a way to tab between buttons? eg: when OSX asks for a confirmation "Yes" "No"?

Also another minor annoyance is that when you select file/files in a folder the bottom status bar doesn't tell you how big the file is. Is that something I can turn on?

And lastly, there is a weird bug when your selecting files. Go into a folder and change to list view. Pick a file somewhere in the middle of the list. Hold down SHIFT, then the down key, If you click down too many times and press up key to deselect the wrongly selected file... it will start selecting the file above the first file selected. Why does it expand selection like that?

 

[sammyjojo]

For those looking for better tab access and whatnot lik to controls in webpages, buttons in dialogs, I have your solution System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Turn on full keyboard access (at bottom). I didn't like how you couldn't do this stuff either and somebody gave me this answer.

 

[JFreak]

IMO, the mouse speed is ok for me (1680x1050). I could easly go from edge to edge with little effort. It is a bit slower than a Windows PC, yes, but it is very much managable.

slower means more accurate. the mouse acceleration is the worst thing ever invented, if you have to do graphical work with the mouse. that is just unbearable. put the acceleration off and adjust the mouse movement speed as slow as you can; however, this might on some cases mean that the mouse has to be adjusted faster. anyway, keep the mouse as slow as you can, and you will have waaaaaay more accurate mouse movement than with acceleration.

 

[devwild]

Yes, the keyboard is my personal choice, and yes, it is better I'm using the Logitech Elite. It's designed for both Windows and Mac machines, and the shortcut keys work great (btw, the programability of the logitech on mac over the iTouch drivers kicks bootay). It doesn't have the mac Eject button on it, so yeah, I programed the favorites button to eject instead. Silly Macs that hide hardware eject buttons

Anyways, like I said, mouse preference is pretty split, the simple solution is just better fine control.

BTW, I did try mouse zoom. It pretty much sucked worse because it emphasize the acceleration problem. I can see how it would be great for some people though.

And thank you for the full keyboard access tip, I have used that before, I dunno why I forgot.

Also, I don't see a way in keyboard shortcuts to remap something as simple as the home button. To my understanding it's just to create complex bindings for functions. Am I missing something? While cool, not what I was looking for

Thanks,
dev*

 

[zv470]

For those looking for better tab access and whatnot lik to controls in webpages, buttons in dialogs, I have your solution System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Turn on full keyboard access (at bottom). I didn't like how you couldn't do this stuff either and somebody gave me this answer.

Oh My God, thanks, I wonder why this isn't enabled by default.

 

[tech4all]

slower means more accurate. the mouse acceleration is the worst thing ever invented, if you have to do graphical work with the mouse. that is just unbearable. put the acceleration off and adjust the mouse movement speed as slow as you can; however, this might on some cases mean that the mouse has to be adjusted faster. anyway, keep the mouse as slow as you can, and you will have waaaaaay more accurate mouse movement than with acceleration.

Yea I agree with that totally. Especially when your zoomed in doing work pixel by pixel in Illustrator or Photoshop.

 

[Diatribe]

Oh My God, thanks, I wonder why this isn't enabled by default.

Lol. Yeah I wonder that too. But what baffles me even more is why I didn't stumble over this. Oh well one annoyance less. Thanks guys.

 

[ingenious]

And lastly, there is a weird bug when your selecting files. Go into a folder and change to list view. Pick a file somewhere in the middle of the list. Hold down SHIFT, then the down key, If you click down too many times and press up key to deselect the wrongly selected file... it will start selecting the file above the first file selected. Why does it expand selection like that?

This isn't a bug. Remember, as you very well know, all OSs are different and have different ways of doing things. This is just OS X's way of selecting files.

 

[zv470]

This isn't a bug. Remember, as you very well know, all OSs are different and have different ways of doing things. This is just OS X's way of selecting files.

Hmm, well... what would be nice though... and keeping it "different"... If you've selected too far... you could press down the COMMAND key while holding down SHIFT... to shrink down the selection by pressing the up/down keys?

 

[Krizoitz]

Silly Macs that hide hardware eject buttons

This is a good thing. With a hardware eject button you eject the CD without the OS having the opportunity to make sure its not still in use. This can cause data loss and confuzzle the OS. Its a cleaner implementation.

 

[Sabbath]

Lol. Yeah I wonder that too. But what baffles me even more is why I didn't stumble over this. Oh well one annoyance less. Thanks guys.

Hahah I never knew before either and I switched a year ago oops


edit: And isn't eject hold F12 on non apple keyboards, I have never used one so I wouldn't know but that is what I thought.

 

[devwild]

This is a good thing. With a hardware eject button you eject the CD without the OS having the opportunity to make sure its not still in use. This can cause data loss and confuzzle the OS. Its a cleaner implementation.

Actually, this is not entirely true, this is why the OS has the capability to lock the drive closed. Implementation of this is random however, and has died off due to flakeyness with some applications. Redhat 7.1 on my old Dell i3700 laptop however handled this pretty well. With good implementation this gives you the same safety, plus allows use of the drive in other situations.

Having both hardware and software options for hardware manipulation is a good thing. It allows for more flexibility and better interopability. For example, having to make driver changes, or use commands or additional widgets to eject the CD in other PPC OSes, or not being able to easilly eject the CD Rom when a keyboard is not present (Say, I have a G5 running as a headless server in a machine room, and I just want to walk in and swap a DVD-R for scheduled data backups... I have to have a keyboard plugged in, which is undesirable in machine rooms, or use remote access to eject the drive)

That's just one perspective though, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. Apple (and its biggest fans) has always had its own perspective of things.

That said I'm leaving work early today to go home and play more with my new G5

later!
dev*

 

[Santiago]

Oh My God, thanks, I wonder why this isn't enabled by default.

Because the Mac OS interface paradigm is that the mouse is for on-screen manipulation and the keyboard is for entering text or history-free commands. (By history-free, I mean that the command is a single atomic sequence, like your typical Command-Whatever menu shortcuts. You should not have to manipulate on-screen GUI objects with the keyboard to input a command, only to input data.) In most on-screen dialogs, Return atomically selects the default (highlighted) option, both Esc and Command-Period select the Cancel button, and other buttons can often be selected by typing Command-First Letter of their Text Label.

 

[noel4r]

For those looking for better tab access and whatnot lik to controls in webpages, buttons in dialogs, I have your solution System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Turn on full keyboard access (at bottom). I didn't like how you couldn't do this stuff either and somebody gave me this answer.

you could do that?? jeez, i've been using the mouse to select yes or no for a couple of years now. i should really read a book about OS X. i'll try this when i get home.

 

[jsw]

This isn't a bug. Remember, as you very well know, all OSs are different and have different ways of doing things. This is just OS X's way of selecting files.

I'm a big fan of OS X in most cases, but I have to agree with zv470 that the way Shift-arrow works with selection - expanding the list - is just dumb. This isn't because I'm a Windows freak. I'm not. But how often are people aided by this way of expanding the selection? Rarely, I'd think.

And, other than that, the only thing I prefer about Windows - and am constantly annoyed by on my Mac - is that, on Windows, I can resize the window from anywhere. Is this patented or something? Why can't OS X allow resize from any edge or corner? Seems much more usable to me than having to go to the bottom right corner.

 

[devwild]

And, other than that, the only thing I prefer about Windows - and am constantly annoyed by on my Mac - is that, on Windows, I can resize the window from anywhere. Is this patented or something? Why can't OS X allow resize from any edge or corner? Seems much more usable to me than having to go to the bottom right corner.

Certainly not pattented, and pretty much every major X11 window manager does it the same as Windows, some themes even support it if there is no visible border, there's just a one or two pixel buffer space you can grab on to. To be honest, I usually use the bottom right, even in Windows, but it does seem like another one of those simple things.

Mac OS UI choices are still largely based on whitepapers originally written when they were designing Lisa and the first revs of MacOS, the only way to change the decisions made by Apple in UI is to clearly state grievences with them, and eventually it will catch on.

Are there any public sites keeping track of little UI things and how many Mac users support various changes? It would be great to keep a clear list in such a way that Apple might take notice. I'd bet "Give us a multi button mouse/touchpad already" would be real near the top of the list, especially with the Powerbook's recent surge in popularity (at least among my friends ). Forums and such are ok, but they don't give the best sampling, something well organized would better serve the purpose.

I think a lot of issues users have are just a need for more options, perhaps an "advanced" tab for more of the sytem prefs, or simple things like seperate mouse speed and acceleration sliders.

dev*

 

[msharp]

Certainly not pattented, and pretty much every major X11 window manager does it the same as Windows, some themes even support it if there is no visible border, there's just a one or two pixel buffer space you can grab on to. To be honest, I usually use the bottom right, even in Windows, but it does seem like another one of those simple things.

Mac OS UI choices are still largely based on whitepapers originally written when they were designing Lisa and the first revs of MacOS, the only way to change the decisions made by Apple in UI is to clearly state grievences with them, and eventually it will catch on.

Are there any public sites keeping track of little UI things and how many Mac users support various changes? It would be great to keep a clear list in such a way that Apple might take notice. I'd bet "Give us a multi button mouse/touchpad already" would be real near the top of the list, especially with the Powerbook's recent surge in popularity (at least among my friends ). Forums and such are ok, but they don't give the best sampling, something well organized would better serve the purpose.

I think a lot of issues users have are just a need for more options, perhaps an "advanced" tab for more of the sytem prefs, or simple things like seperate mouse speed and acceleration sliders.

dev*

But still there's nobody answered the question of Remaping the keyboard functional keys to make the Home and End keys work as they should???

I'm suffered from this problem too, and thanks for helping~!

 

[vasaz]

But still there's nobody answered the question of Remaping the keyboard functional keys to make the Home and End keys work as they should???

I'm suffered from this problem too, and thanks for helping~!

what do you mean by 'work as they should'? if you mean go to end/start of a line, the up/down arrow keys have the same purpose (option-up/down if there are many lines). it might just be my preference, but for me it's easier to use/reach the arrow keys than home/end in the first place..

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The Mac Paradigm

I've had a Mac for 5 days now, and while a lot of things were weird at first (like mouse acceleration), I've gotten used to most of them already.

One thing I really like is the Mac's menu/icon paradigm. In Windows you have icons all over the desktop, icons in the start menu, icons in the quickstart bar, icons in the taskbar, and menus for every window. On the Mac, you have one menu (up top) and one place for icons (the Dock). The simplicity is refreshing.

One question, though, since this is the thread on OS X annoyances - how can I stop icons from dynamically appearing on my desktop each time I insert a CD or mount a network directory? I'd like desktop icons just turned off, if possible, but I can't figure out how.

 

[aptmunich]

Having both hardware and software options for hardware manipulation is a good thing. It allows for more flexibility and better interopability. For example, having to make driver changes, or use commands or additional widgets to eject the CD in other PPC OSes, or not being able to easilly eject the CD Rom when a keyboard is not present (Say, I have a G5 running as a headless server in a machine room, and I just want to walk in and swap a DVD-R for scheduled data backups... I have to have a keyboard plugged in, which is undesirable in machine rooms, or use remote access to eject the drive)

later!
dev*

You do know you can eject a drive by dragging it's desktop icon to the trashcan right? Or i believe by rightclicking and selecting eject there.

While that won't help you in a server room without a monitor, it might be useful if you just don't have a mac keyboard...

Having said that, i always eject with the button anyway...