My 10 pet mac usability peeves
Here's my subjective list of 10 mac annoyances I would like to live without. In no particular order:
1. No cut and paste for files. I realize cut&paste is a flawed concept on its own, as you can easily loose a cut file if you cut/copy another file over it. Well, I need the cut and paste anyway.
2. Application window green (+) ball behavior is all over the shop. First. It's inconsistent. In some apps ie. itunes - it minimizes the window to a miniplayer, in others - it expands the window (as you'd expect). Second. In case of some applications, the green ball doesn't fully expand the window and leaves arbitrary spaces left on my monitor.
3. Lack of ability to switch off applications with a single click. To fully close the app, you need to press command + Q. Where is logic in that? Most users feel happy using their mouse, so there has to be a way for them to close the entire app with just one click. No such way exists. If that wasn't all, red ball behavior is also inconsistent. Close iphoto with a red ball and the app is gone, do it with other apps, and they'll keep flashing in your dock till you manually Q them.
4. Apple Mail text editing option opens in a floating pane. I just need the integrated 5 color swatch pane built inside the top of my mail app window, not some floating pane and color wheel to choose from million possible colors.
5. Changing folder icons. Not only unintuitive, but pain in the neck. It should be as easy as: right click, get info, change icon.
6. Hiccups while working with external monitor. Hey, and not just any monitor, but the 24'' Led Cinema Display, designed in California too :) First. When I setup all windows where I want them, then disconnect the monitor to take my laptop to a meeting, then come back and connect it anew, I need to set all the windows back again. It should remember the previous placement of my windows and always put them on that particular monitor I previously requested. Second. Application menu bar is often times on the other monitor than the app itself, causing mouse marathons back and forth.
7. Finder. I mean, it's better than it used to be. Still one thing bugs me: in a list view, folders are mixed with files. Windows has it better, folders come first, then loose files.
8. No user feedback (alt text) on many action items. Take the mentioned already 3 colorful balls, on top left of your app window, no feedback text as you hover them with the mouse. The list could go on a on, this is just an example.
9. No menu option for renaming files or folders. Fair enough. Takes getting used to, but this is yet another thing a PC switcher has to learn. This is a minor point. Still, in usability - minor is major.
10. Expose flaws. I've written about it already. When you have 10 windows opened, but for some quirky reason, need to have only a single window quickly shown on the desktop, there's no quick way of doing it.
All my whinging aside, I still think macs are far more superior when it comes to user experience, or so says my inner fanboy character :)
4 comments
Jan 10, 2010
Michal Czarnecki said...
Agnieszka - just left click on mailed photo, grab it and put to iphoto icon (dock)
Jan 13, 2010
Michael Sliwinski said...
Re Dual monitors - I mean, c'mon, when you take your laptop out and unplug it from the monitor, things may change, so it's not that easy. I actually think Mac OSX handles two-monitor setup really great. It remembers each individual monitor settings (of each monitor I connect to) and just works. Try to plug in an external monitor or projector to a Windows PC - nightmare!My problem with the DOCK - when you use the yellow button to hide the window to the dock, and later use Command+Tab to switch to that window, some windows will reappear and some not... You have to go to the dock and manually click on the icon to make the window go up again with a flashy animation...
Same here, there are glitches, but compared to Windows PC, working on a Mac is pure pleasure. I'm a recent switcher (1 year+ and counting) and I'm not going back. Not in million years.
Jan 14, 2010
Maciek Saganowski said...
hehe, I'm with you Michael. Never tried dual monitor setup on a PC, but I'm scared to try :) so possibly you're right, it's not as bad on a mac after all :)
