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Mac Lab Report

20 Suggestions for Improving the Mac Experience

- 2004.07.14

Here are a few little things I'd like to see fixed about my Mac experience. It's mostly just little stuff, but it's real.

I think .mac ought to be expanded at the same price to at least double the storage space. I really like .mac, but I want it to remain a legitimate option - and with so many free services that are larger, the customer base will probably shrink if Apple doesn't respond.

Why isn't it always the same keyboard command to bring docked windows to the front for all Apple applications? In Mail, it's cmd-opt-N, but in iCal there's no keyboard command for it, and so on.

Why can't the iCal icon in the dock always display the current date instead of the default July whatever all the time? It only updates when the program is running. Let's do this as an example of integration between the OS and the iApps.

Speaking of iCal, why can't the categories in iCal and a Palm be set to match? Okay, the Palm calendar doesn't recognize categories. Hold on, though - the Palm Desktop app lets you assign two different categories. It's just the Palm itself that doesn't display the categories. Why can't this be reconciled? Users across the country are fighting with duplicate calendar entries and forcing themselves to use a single category just to avoid this annoyance. Somebody fix this!

Why does my Classic environment refuse to wake up? Many times I'll wake the computer and wind up having to force quit Classic.

Why does my Xserve lock up when I disconnect my PowerBook without disconnecting from the server? I thought OS X Server was supposed to be more robust than that.

Why isn't there a decent ebook reader built into the iPod ? I've used a couple of the alternatives, and they're okay as makeshift adaptations, but I like to read and listen to music. Why is that not allowed? (It's the old video iPod/one button mouse thing; if Steve likes it, we're all supposed to like it.)

I've used one button mice, two button mice, and five button mice with two scroll wheels. I still fail to see the difference between a one button mouse with a control-click and a two button mouse. You can't type when holding either.

Asking for my wife, is the dearth of horizontal scroll wheels on mice because monitors are so large now you don't need to scroll sideways? She has one and loves it - but she also has a small monitor.

In iCal, why can't I change the width of the days in the calendar view so Saturday and Sunday are narrower than rest of the week?

In Safari, why does clicking the tab for groups of links in the bookmarks bar not respond to the first click?

Why doesn't Safari's bookmark collection pop out from the side so you can still see the page you're browsing and do things like drag the URL to the appropriate folder without clicking on something?

And while we're on the subject, does anyone know why Safari keeps telling me "Your bookmarks can't be changed right now" so I have to add bookmarks twice every time?

Why won't Entourage import Outlook Exchange personal folders and address books? Is Microsoft afraid of losing users to itself?

Mail does not show all the junk mail - totals don't match listings in folder. What's up with that? For my Comcast email, I have to log in via a browser to see if their email screening is working correctly.

Why do you have to disconnect an iPod from your computer to see how much charge the battery has?

Why isn't there a big fat "synchronize now" button for when you choose not to auto-sync your iPod? When they say "manual," they really mean it! One file at a time.

Why does iTunes randomly forget the location of music files and make me go back and manually point to them (about 3/1000 do this per week)? (Hey, I figured this one out. I repaired permissions, and the problem went away.)

We often criticize Windoze for making users go to the Start menu to Shut Down the computer. Why does the little green "Make window fit the available space" button in OS X title bars have the same symbol (+) regardless of whether you're making the window bigger or smaller?

When you minimize iTunes, it would be nice if there were an iPod or CD eject button so you wouldn't have to maximize the window to do these things.

That's it for today.

And here's my usual offer: s Send me some gripes, and I'll collect them. We've gone through this a few times, so the usual deal applies: If you send it, I can print it, along with your name, but not with your email address. If you don't want it printed, say so clearly.

Have a happy day!

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

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