I am currently testing OS X beta as a huge Mac fan and someone who
is very interested in the art of interface science.
This message concerns issues of the dock, and how it could better
replace the Apple Menu and Control Strip.
I am just getting used to using the dock and really love the basic
concept and utility, but with some minor tweaks it could be greatly
improved and quiet all the complaints about the lack of the
Control Strip and Apple Menu.
First the short part, moving and hide/show of the Dock. The
magnification option, auto show/hide and the easy resize are very
intuitive and wonderful features. There are some things that could be
improved. The auto hide and show should have a user adjustable amount
of hysteresis included (perhaps the control of it could be
implemented similarly to the former control of hyst. for
spring-loaded folders). It pops up by accident too often, and when
the mouse slips away off of the the top, the dock recedes too
quickly. Building in adjustable hysteresis would help greatly. Also,
if you really want to add configurability, allow the dock to be
dragged to the left or right side of the screen. With hyst.
implemented correctly, it might even work to have it at the top of
the screen. A shareware utility for OS 9 called A-dock already
uses this dragging and hysteresis if you would like to see an
example.
Please don't have any qualms about using ideas existing in
shareware. The designers are readily contactable. I'm sure Apple has
done it before, and I'm also sure these guys would be thrilled to see
their metaphors inline with the Mac OS.
Secondly, there is the issue that causes much fear and loathing;
the missing Apple Menu and Control Strip. I believe that this issue
could be solved by implementing popup hierarchical content menus when
clicking and holding on icons. This could be used in and outside of
the dock.
Outside of the dock it would be a wonderful way to navigate the
desktop, you can very efficiently and intuitively work with this
method. This metaphor applied to files is powerful; if applied to the
dock, it could be magical. Now, the features of the apple menu could
be reimplemented in the desktop icon in the dock and activated by
clicking and holding.
Clicking and holding on the Desktop app icon would release a
drop-up menu organized with the modifiable folder and hierarchical
options of the old apple menu.
This pop up folder contents feature would be beautiful to
implement systemwide for all folders and folders in the dock. Using
this feature for folders in the dock would be amazing. That feature,
along with its cousin menu from the desktop icon, would give users a
truly superior replacement for the Apple Menu. Much of this code
existed in the Classic OS (for hierarchical menus). With the NeXT
style directory of icons as folders, it should be made that much
easier and was implemented in this manner by a shareware utility
called FinderPop.
If you want to go all out to please Finder Pop fans, you can
implement hold click contextual menus with options like moving to
favorites, moving to trash labels, and setting file type.
This exact same feature could be used for a control strip type
menu housed in the dock's system settings icon. A menu would popup
containing the icons and perhaps names of the various control items,
and each item would have a menu pop up from it that would not open
the settings app, but implement changes the exact same way the
control strip did.
Once again, please seriously consider implementing these minor,
but powerful, changes to the Mac OS X interface. You will make many
users very happy, make many old users more comfortable with the new
OS, and make the whole system more intuitive and beautiful. I love it
now, but these changes would be a great help for everyone
concerned.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
Recent My Turn articles
Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18.
When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 07.30.
Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28.
The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
Mac of the Day: Mac LC III, Feb. 1993 - The first LC without compromise: 25 MHz 68030 CPU, 32-bit memory, up to 36 MB of RAM.
List of the Day: G4 'Books an email list for G4 iBooks and PowerBooks.
September 8 in LEM history: 99: Big sound from the little iMac - Ethernet alternative to USB drives - 00: Building a back-to-school bundle - 03: 17" 1.25 GHz iMac G4 - My Mac Plus revisited - 06: Inside your notebook's battery - Andy Hertzfeld, software wizard - OS X is a pleasure to use - MacBook random shutdown - Core2 7% faster
Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05.
Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise.
Best iPod touch Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $284; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $399; new, $453.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $999; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,450 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $1,849; rebates on new.
Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $279; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz $390; 17" 800 MHz SD, $439; 1.25 GHz, $449; 20", $569.
Best Mac mini Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 1.25 GHz G4 SD, $549; 1.42 Combo, $409; new 1.83 Core2 Combo, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 after rebate.
Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04.
Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 867 MHz Combo, no APX, $490; 1 GHz, $550; SuperDrive, $625; 1.5 GHz w/o APX, $660; w/APX, $675.
Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 1 GHz, $779; 1.33 GHz, $799; 1.5 GHz, $859; 1.67 GHz, $910.
11 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 09.03.
The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Flock, and Camino tested in Leopard.
Best eMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $150; 1.42 GHz, $349.
Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Mac OS X 10.5, single user, $99; 5 users, $140; 10.5 Server, 10 users, $395; unlimited, $850.
Best MacBook Air Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Refurb 1.6 HD, $1,499; new, $1,690 after rebate; refurb 1.8, $1,699; new, $1,919 a/r; refurb 1.6 SSD, $2,099; new, $2,294 a/r; refurb 1.8, $2,299; new, $2,400 a/r.
Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03.
Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For
price quotes and advertising information, please contact
at BackBeat Media
(646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.
Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer
5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We
recommend Firefox
for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more
secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox
than any other browser.
