- 2005.03.10
With regard to my recent ramble, Four
Classic Mac OS Features Still Missing in OS X, about various
OS 9 functions missing from OS X: Boy, I got a lot of mail on this one.
The messages came fast and furious. They fell basically into three
camps:
- You can already do that.
- You just need a piece of shareware.
- Here's something you left out.
- OS X is better, so I don't miss anything.
So here's a summary. As usual for me, I'll use your stuff and give
you credit, but I'll leave out your email to reduce unintentional
spam.
Let me just say it is a privilege to write for an audience that
takes the time to write back with so many helpful suggestions, all very
politely written and appreciative - not a bit of flame bait in the
batch.
It's a good day here at Low End Mac when we see the spirit of Mac
users helping each other still exists.
1. You Can Already Do That
Joseph Wardell notes that my lament for tabbed folders is premature,
because if you move the Dock to the left or right margin and drag a
Finder window to the bottom, it will act pretty much exactly like the
old tabbed folder. The zoom button opens and closes the drawer (so does
clicking the title bar).
This is true, but if you switch resolutions a lot (like I do), going
from a lower resolution to a higher one leaves you with all your tabbed
drawers open. On the other hand, you can overlap the folder headers if
necessary.
It's too bad you can't color them. John Bryan agrees and says color
coding would help - folders placed in the dock are indistinguishable
unless you mouse over them.
Mark Hessburg went so far as to make an animated movie of how to
make tabbed folders in OS X. If he gives me permission, I'll post
a link to his movie here.
Michael Cohen says you can already boot with extensions disabled
using Safe
Mode (which I have indeed used once myself, just hold down the
Shift key during startup). I don't think there's an equivalent function
to the on-the-fly extensions manager option you got in OS 9,
though.
2. You Just Need a Piece of Shareware
Burner Dragon says that you can add system-style sounds with
utilities called APE and Xounds from
Unsanity. I haven't tried them yet.
Z. D. Smith recommends a piece of software called Sticky Windows
that makes tab folder behavior occur on the left, right, and bottom of
the screen. Ben Galanti mentions that one plus Xounds. Like me, Ben
hasn't tried these things yet. I got similar recommendations from
Welles Goodrich and Os Maile.
George Krueger recommends Xounds as well and says DragThing
may work for the popup folder functionality. Even though it's not
precisely the same, he says, you can "get it to work pretty much the
same." Mackie from Macintalk Magazine says to try it for the sound
functionality, too.
3. Here's Something You Left Out
James Hammett says about booting in Safe Mode: "If you hold down
shift when you log in (I seem to remember), it will not launch your
startup/log in items."
Peter Paul Sint writes:
If one uses Finder > View as Icons > Small Icons > Label
Position Right (this way you can see the largest number of items in a
folder simultaneously. I use also list or column views but this is the
view to sort items in a way conforming to my own logic.)
Clean Up or Clean Up Selection work often (most of the time) in an
unpredictable way (with or without Snap to Grid).
In OS 9, everything went to the nearest position. An algorithm
determined the optimal repositioning for every item before moving
anything. Only occasionally items were moved far away.
In Mac OS X, it seems, items not in place are fitted sequentially to
free places on the screen - or even outside the screen. Even very small
displacements lead to an essential reshuffling.
Grid places/positions are changed in the process (even if everything
was already on a grid).
If one sorts by Name, Date, Kind - my display/arrangement logic is
destroyed,
I waited for every new incarnation of OS X to improve on that.
In vain.
It seems everybody has given up to use this view.
I am not sure if this happens also in large icons view.
Bret Sher misses the ability to drag copy a startup disk to make a
bootable backup; being able to "open an item deep within a folder
hierarchy using 'a click and a half' to begin drill-down," windows with
draggable borders, not having a Dock pop up when you don't want it to
(you can't turn if off), and the dialogs that don't have more
explanation than choices (as in Windows.)
Steven Hunter misses the Control Strip and has users (not himself)
who miss - wait for it, wait for it - the Chooser. Everyone hated the
Chooser, it seems to me. I remember way back in the day, I didn't
understand it either, but I eventually got it.
John O. misses Windowshade and says he knows there's a third party
replacement [Windowshade X]
somewhere.
Brian Silverman misses cleaning up a folder's contents by
option-clicking on the triangle. I just got used to doing that in
OS 9 when OS X came along....
Jessi Hance misses Shutdown Items, the old window widgets, and
Kaleidoscope.
Tim Priest and others mentioned one I'd noted before and forgot to
write about: "Put Away." In OS 9 you can drag a file out of a
folder, use it, then use the Put Away command to re-file it back in the
original folder. That was handy if you got the hang of using it
consistently. Tim says we will be gaining this and other functions due
to upgrades coming with Tiger, so hang in there.
Russell Sussan says he misses the customizable OS 9 menu. He
thinks the menus are more responsive than items placed in the Dock.
Phillip Erschler says that he misses the ability to print Finder
windows. I used to do that all the time as a test print when setting up
printers. You can still print a file directory list, but you have to
use the Terminal and do it via Unix-style commands. Not convenient.
Burner Dragon says he misses being able to double click on a System
7 sound file and have it would play immediately in the OS. He says you
can't do that in OS X without a 3rd party app.
David Watson says he misses being able to double-click a font
suitcase and instantly see an example of a font displayed. Now you have
to launch an app to do the same thing.
4. OS X Is Better, So I Don't Miss Anything
John Davis says he liked the system sounds but doesn't consider it
worth the performance hit to put them back in; otherwise, leave well
enough alone.
Finally, MR explains his annoyances with OS X in general. He
wrote an extensive article, which he attached, and I would suggest he
might try to get published with Dan here at LEM or elsewhere. It
isn't aimless anti-Mac rambling - it systematically lists
interface issues he has with OS X's designer's decisions.
If you do that, I hope you like getting mail. What you'd get would
make what I got pale by comparison.
Thanks everyone!
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
