iGeek has some interesting essays on Panther’s user interface and features, including a review of the highly-regarded Expose. Other articles include “Panes and Eye Cues“and
Multi-Users and Panther.
iGeek on Mac OS X User Interface
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
the first article seem s to be written by some one who does not like Apple’s departure from OS 9.
how the control strip and the apple menu of old were any good, I will never understand, but what ever.
the guy uses Entourage as an example…..
hmm, to me mail.app is cleaner and less cluttered meaning I can see what I have in front of me and not get lost in icons and window panes.
but hey, he thinks that half a wrist click is bad UI design and that having an intelligent drawer that pops out on the side that will guarantee the user will see it is bad UI design…what ever.
Okay, anybody seen a Linux-version of Expose yet?
I love it!
The only article that I don’t agree (in general) is the Multi-User and Phanter. He’s trying a very weird setup… sort of “schizophrenic multi user”. Weird.
The UI stuff… no real problem with what he said, specialy the part about apps growing beyond it’s initial size with no visual clue.
Gein
…I want it for KDE! 🙂
(Oh, and to the Anonymous troll spamming the comments section – you’re achieving the exact opposite of what you set out to do…)
This ought to be relatively easy to implement on X as long as the windows don’t need to morph into their ‘exposed’ positions, which i suspect they do to get a proper effect. So, two questions: do windows morph or do they pop instantly into position when you hit the ‘expose’ key? Also, did Apple patent this somehow so that open source people will get into legal trouble for using it?
Personally I like Mail.app for its simplicity. Apple sets out to make things simple … if you need more, then buy more. As for Mail being the most used OS application, this guy is wrong. Its the finder that is most used. Also it is iGeek that the review comes from so I do not think it stray to many novices away.
Yes, the windows morph. You can see a QuickTime demo at http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/exposetheater.html to get an idea of how it works.
The article on the multiuser setup was awful. Multiuser setup =! virtual desktops. Expose was Apple’s solution for virtual desktop users. The multiuser feature on OS X was not meant to be used by one person doing multiple things, it was meant to be used by multiple people. And the author does not recognize that there are many many instances of multiple people wanting to use one computer, especially in a home setting. And that people don’t want to have to quit a half dozen apps every time someone wants to use a new one.
Yes, there is one, and since more than 10 years,
look at the botom of your screen.
it is called multiple virtual desktops.
Not as nice as Expose, but it serves the same purpose (manage efficiently n>>1 windows) , and is as useful.
Thanks for the link, adam. Unfortunately, the movie only showed windows sliding out of the way to show the desktop, and none of the cool shrink-and-slide-to-show-all. This could just be because I’m in Linux; it’s pretty cool that I can watch this quicktime at all.
Yeah, Expose is cute..so what? People are making it sound like it’s the Second Coming…
The windows morph and are still dynamically refreshed: try to use exposé when playing a movie
Thanks Quartz!
Yet another self-proclaimed GUI expert… They read some rules on some silly website, and think they should apply it without thought to everything..
The fast-user switching feature was certainly designed to switch between multiple people.
However, as someone who really loves using the virtual desktop concept for managing applications, it would be really cool if you could open up multiple sessions for the same user in the fast user switching, and not require passwords when switching between sessions for the same user.
This would allow people run several virtual desktops to keep types of applications separate and use expose inside each of them for localized window management. I dont’ want to use expose to try and manage 40 different windows. I want to have 4 virtual desktops, each with 10 windows, and expose to manage that smaller subset.
We all have different requirements. Mine are to effectively work on personal information management (write books, quicken, etc), do work, manage multiple email accounts discretely, programming projects, and web development projects, all simultaneously without cluttering up a single desktop with all of the various projects.
– Kelson
The guy in the multi user setup totally missed the point of that feature. He complains and complains because he wants to have 5 different individual separate accounts and then he wants them to behave as ONE account? lol. And then the inconsistencies,, he doesnt want to use expose to choose a window, but then prefers the more cumbersome approach of switching between accounts to choose a window? and then he complains that he wants his multiple accounts with applications to be open simultaneously, but not to consume memory and create overhead in the machine??/
Yeah, Expose is cute..so what? People are making it sound like it’s the Second Coming…
said like a person who has not used it and can not use it.
true, it is not the second coming, but it is a very innovative and potentially powerful way of managing multiple programs with multiple windows on the same desktop.
sure it has its limitations, it is not as scalable as virtual desktops…..hmm thats about it, but when people use a computer, Virtual Desktops are not used unless the person either WANTS to use them as in goes out of their way to use them, or they use 2 because they like having their work apps separate from their play apps (same type of mentality of why you should use dinner plates with food dividers)
expose says to people, “hey, give a mouse click so you don’t have to go out of your way to switch desktops”
some will like it, some will hate it, and some will not care about it.
Fast user switching to mimic virtual desktops. hihi.
“Now for the bad news; the OS does not make it easy to setup or move things between accounts, and still has quite a few issues that get in the way of making it highly productive. Inlcuding just some of the following:
1. Setup was a bit painful.
2. The dinosaur permissions were in my way, a lot. I had to make everyone admin, and set everything to read/write to get around them. Not great security. In fact, really a bad idea security wise. Usability improved; but Apple often tries to fix persmissions with each new OS patch or release, which puts me at odds with Apple’s dreaded installer.”
Yeah! Eat this, Apple!
(me, soo in love with that cat)
While I agree that I happen to like OS9 over OSX, this review about the Mail App is questionable..
I mean the opening of the mail pane not opening in the same direction. I mean, I agree with consistancy, which is what made the Mac great. But if your window is all the way to the right and it opens left because there is no room to the right, to me that is cool.
The one thing I liked about the Mac was that all my key combos were the same through the applications, I could do a lot with just my keyboard.
As for expose, well yea Linux people have had that for a loooooooooong time. To a Mac user it’s new and it’s cool
Anyone knows where i can find the new wallpapers?
Thanks!
This is a bit off topic, but here it goes…
Expose… isn’t it just a beatiful, automated, shortcut enabled of what you can do in windows with: right-click taskbar… and using the options available? show desktop, tiling windows and canceling? (translated from portuguese… don’t know what is the right name in english).
I know the solution in apple is way cooler and probably more usable (haven’t tryed it yet…) but the goal is the same…right?
Gein
yes, it is certainly more usable since it can be mapped to a single click of the mouse, however, it does more than “show desktop”
it shows the desktop, but it also shows you all the windows if you like, or all the windows of the application you are currently using. so basically, it is a “show desktop” on steroids.
Linux has had this for a LOOOOOOOOONG time?
really?
surely you don’t mean the clunky virtual desktop solution.
that only partially gives you ONE feature of Expose and that is it.
Expose allows you to view all open windows making it easier to work with lots of open windows(what virtual desktops are good for)
it lets you “show desktop” like you can in windows with a right click context menu and then selecting “show desktop”
AND it lets you view all open windows in the program you are currently using.
now, if they can just allow mapping to the cmd-tab switching utility to a mouse button, we would have a suer powerful mouse, and a need for 6 buttons 🙂
debman wrote:
“it shows the desktop, but it also shows you all the windows if you like,(..)”
so does windows… that what I meant with that tiling option… I doesn’t do that tiling per app though.
and honestly speaking, it isn’t really functional… everything looks very… messy. (talking about windows here)
So, I guess, just by running expose through my MacOS X emulator (my mind) it looks like it could become a great achievement in desktop usubality.
Gein
which window manager has this feature? Metacity certainly doesn’t! Just that somebody said Linux has this feature? More info if anybody has it.
windows did that eh? I have never seen that *using XP here*
hmm, weird. learn something new every day I guess.
be sure though that MS will copy expose and cal it something like Unveil or something. look for it in Longhorn.
but then again, if MS falls into the “have to have that new feature in the next release to” trap, they will be about as usable as “Duke Nukem forever” and if you know what that game is, you will understand what I mean.
debman wrote:
“windows did that eh? I have never seen that *using XP here*
hmm, weird. learn something new every day I guess.”
I’m using XP too, so I have no idea what it will be like in longhorn, but you can try it right there… right click on taskbar.. Tile windows verticaly or horizantaly… show desktop.. or cancel… it’s very limited, so not very useful, but one could say the principal is the same only the implimentation sucks…
and yeah… duke nukem forever will be cool
(although I don’t know what’s worse… keep delaying it or just releasing it after a delay even when it’s crap like Daikatana)
Gein
the forums were locked so messages sat in a cue waiting for the admin to check them.
we have a foul smelling troll wondering around causing a lot of trouble.
Interesting show desktop/cascade/tile windows is known from windows 95. I prefer virtual desktops however. In XFce one can switch berween them using mouse wheel. And also one can using mouse move window from one iconized vd to another. I am not against expose -> enhanced windows version but to me virtual desktops are more usable.
…is a pretty smart guy, really, but when he transitioned from “Mackido” to “iGeek,” he transitioned from slightly-over-the-top Mac partisan to slightly-disillusioned OS 9 burnout.
There are certainly things that OS 9 got “right” from a UI standpoint that aren’t done quite as well in OS X. But most of the “Mac-isms” that actually contribute to the lower frustration level compared to Windows are very, very simple and subtle ones: things like the way the mouse pointer is tracked when submenus pop out, or the infinite target area on buttons/menu items against the edge of the screen. OS X does get these things right. And there are so many other benefits to OS X over OS 9 that there’s really no point in looking back. This isn’t to say that one shouldn’t note the inexplicable oddities–I consider the “drawer” in OS X to be a pretty dubious UI concept, too, and it’s one of the few things I really don’t like about Nisus Writer Express–but there’s a tendency on the part of “old MacOS experts” to seriously magnify the UI shortcomings to make their point. (All the criticisms of the Dock that started long before it was released were certainly in this camp. There’s a couple things I don’t like about the Dock–the most notable being that I think Apple should provide a way to pin it to a corner, not the center of a screen edge–but in actual use it’s a pretty convenient program switcher/launcher no matter how many UI rules it’s supposedly violating.)
You guys are missing a bit of the point if you have tried to use the tile windows function. It causes more problems than it solves in terms of useability.
First of all it takes 3 clicks to perform the same function as expose in windows.
1. right click on the taskbar
2. Click Tile windows vertically or horizontally
3. Maximize or resize the window you want to use
The bad thing is that all of your windows are now resized and tiled which adds additional steps and time to resize your windows to a workable dimension. A few of the windows overlapped title bars of other windows and the viewable window size was soo small that I couldn’t see what content a window contained.
In panther you have the option of usign a function key, a hotspot or a mouse button to activate expose. You receive the functionality and all of your windows are not made unuseable by the process as they are in windows.
I read these comments on Expose and the concept is similiar to Window tiling but better and it is defintely NOT virtual desktops.
For example play a video using VLC, play a DVD using the DVD player and run iTunes with the visualizer on. You will see all of these playing at the same time in their reduced view. Its not just windows being turned into icons.
Unless you get a chance to actually use it your not gonna know how slick and useable it is and it definitely has never been done before but people will tell you that its old. The concept is old, Apple’s execution is not.
“As a single user OS {OS X} is still far more painful than Mac OS 9 (or before) ever was. ” right
I like mail.app. I like the dock.
Virtual desktops? Most people wouldn’t use this.
I think the dock will get an upgrade in the next version of OS X. Muliple docks. Still I like it the way it is.
“It turns out that good User Interface doesn’t really matter as much as some people want it to.”
I like that.
For WindowsXP you can download a alt-tab replacement from microsoft (search on their site for powertoys) which give you little images of the windows (instead of the icons)
I think a lot of the people commenting here are completely missing the point of Expose. Keep these points in mind:
1. The “tiling” feature in Windows just lays all your windows out so that you can pick the one you want and then spend the rest of your day resizing it and manipulating all the other windows to clean it back up.
Expose slickly zooms all the windows out, you pick the one you want, and then it instantly zooms in on it, automatically sending the rest of the windows to the background.
2. Expose does that with one click of the mouse, or one hotkey on the keyboard, or one movement to a screen corner.
3. I might be wrong, but I don’t think Windows has an effective way to instantly bounce back to your app after using “show desktop”. For instance, Expose lets you “show desktop”, select a file on the desktop, and then upon releasing the hotkey or assigned mouse button, it lets you drop the item on the app you were just in (like in the case of attaching a file to an email).
4. You really have to see it in action to appreciate it. Believe me, there is NOTHING in Windows that comes even close to the slickness and usability of this new Mac OS feature.
Along with all the other advantages of expose over tile window, is the very useful matter of being able to do it in the middle of a drag ‘n’ drop operation.
Used it during one day. It’s nothing but a useless gadget (IMNSHO). But their (MS’s) implementation of virtual desktops is interesting, while far from perfectly working, and needing improvement. The pager dividing all your screen between the four desktops is a very good idea, and original, but unfortunately, it is slow and the drawing of the desktops quite whimsical. And it is clearly not comparable with Exposé
I’m no UI expet, but do know what I like.
I do like Expose – it is very handy for me, at least. I’m not comparing it to Windows or anything like that, just as a new feature for Macs.
In Classic Mac OS, the Apple Menu and the Applications menus were very good. You could put anything in the Apple Menu and, after some point, go several folder levels deep to get to something. But, of course, OS X is not based on Classic. The two third party add ons for OS X that I think are the most helpful for me are Max Menus from Proteron and FruitMenu from Unsanity. With Max Menus, you can get to anything. However, I have to wait for them to catch up to Panther now. Proteron also makes LiteSwitch for application switching, but Apple seems to have pretty much copied that.
I like the new Finder in Panther and Apple keeps adding more functionality to it. However, it is still basically tied to NeXT and, as a result, these Third Party add ons almost become necessary, despite the fact that I like the Dock too.
I want to try out PathFinder and see how it handles these things.
As a new switcher, I tried both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9. Mac OS X was allot easier and more intuitive than Mac OS 9 IMO. I just was able to get my work done faster on OS X, I just felt more at ease. I seriously wonder what people like about OS 9’s finder, sure, it pops up windows fast, but damn, it’s extremely slow to navigate the bloody thing. Panthers Finder is allot better. Jaguars Finder kind of sucked, i’ll give you that.
Sure, OS 9 people have to change their habits, but it’s bullshit too say that OS 9 is better than OS X when referring to the GUI.
Does the iGeek site have any positive outlook on anything? All of their articals basicly start like this “Here is my problem with ________” “Everyone does not like _______” I have news for you, everything you basicly said is stupid, I like. It’s why I got away from the clutterd, dirty and unstable Windows environment.
Dont think ill be making any more trips to this site.
echo 127.0.0.1 igeek.com >/private/etc/hosts
My point was not that Entourage is better overall. (It is too cluttered and confusing), but this one attribute of UI (pane implementations) was better. Just trying to give some people food for thought.
As for Aqua vs OS9, each does some things better. But when you change from one working thing, to something else, you should be making it better or you shouldn’t change. Many Aqua changes were large steps backwards. (Some were forward). I can complain about the negatives, and still be happy with the positives. But people should think about costs/consequences.
Some people switching prefer OSX, mostly that’s because it is more like Windows or other UI’s they may be used to. That doesn’t make it better UI, just more like what they know.
And the stuff with VirtualDesktops was just meant to point out that while it does multi-users better, it doesn’t do what I (and many users like me) would prefer. Hopefully Apple will address it, but I think we should question priorities when you focus on geeky features instead of productivity features.
Thanks…
It’s very easy to duplicate the new feature of Panther’s Finder and the fact is it has been possible since the release of Internet Explorer 4 or even much longer in the past without the need to download any shell extensions.
When I press a yellow star on my File manager or Web browser it bring up a sidebar with most of the functionality of the new “innovative” Finder file browser. And guess what they are the locations of all the places I store my files. If I drag an item to them it usually gets copy-ed or moved (ofcourse depending on my configuration) and if dragged with the right button clicked it allows me to chose action.
Yes you guessed right I am talking about the “Favorites” and for fast access with a Finder like style you just need to enable that button, then you can place it wherever you want in both your web browser as well as your file browser.
Then your question is then where do I store my bookmarked web pages? I put them in menus inside the “links” toolbar, then I just drag the page url to the menu I want to store it in and it stays there. If you press the old favorites menu then you see there where all of my files are located.
But no that’s not enough, you can improve it further, add a menu into “links” with the names Folders (for where you keep your files) and drives (pretty apperant) just add shortcuts there and you are ready. If you add shorcuts not inside the menus but rather directly into the “links” folder then they will open up new window when clicked.
Ofcourse you can even improve your eXPerience by using 3th-party shell extensions but be aware there are some purely designed extensions there that decrease performance.
About expose then yes it’s the coolsest way we have seen this feature yet, but it’s not a new feature, it’s just improvements to old rusty ideas, not new invention. Like many told before then windows has had for years a much slower to access feature but still that’s about 75% of exposé’s features and you can add shortcuts to them wherever you want,hotkeys or even replace a key of your keyboard with those actions.
But ofcourse the shallow minded Mac fan boys always think Apple never steals ideas and when Microsoft makes much bigger improvements to old features ( much bigger improvements than apple’s exposé ) Then Microsoft is stealing from Apple, but when Apple does the same thing, or even less all Mac fan boys go on with the innovative bs of Apple it makes me sick.
Oh Microsoft lamers, they are creating 360° camera for big web meatings, those bastards they are stealing this idea from Apple ( they somehow got the idea Apple had ofcourse invented the web camera ) just like every MP3 player maker is just copy-ing iPod. And ofcourse Longhorn’s new Dock is just a copy of OSX’s dock that by the way was a copy of Windows taskbar with quick launch mixed up with the original version of windows 1x. ( yes it had huge icons in a dock )
No bashing from me this time, just pure facts.
I could go on all day doing some “exposé” of all Mac fanboys big lies but I think they have had enough.
for those who want expose, i have been running panther for 2 days now, and expose is SOOOOOO much better than you can imagine.
….just wanted to rub it in.
On my Windows desktop that I’ve been running the last 3 years, I have single click access to any open window, visible or not, all via the Taskbar. And all my window positions are remembered perfectly so I can setup my windows and apps for optimal workflow.
Even better, with two monitors, I can have two apps open at the same time, something that is more difficult to do with Mac and it’s one-app mind.
If Apple didn’t have a flawed UI design including that mega-retarded dock design, they wouldn’t even need “expose”.
Windows has by far a better system for running applications and managing windows vs. Mac. Everything is simple and on the screen. There are no dumb little black triangles to ponder about.
Sure “expose” is over the top eye candy, like other parts of OS X, but all the candy is there because there is no real substance. OS X is an human factors nightmare.
the nick, it is so you.
“OS X is an human factors nightmare.”
your joking right? X feels so much better than XP, and more secure than any windows version. Have you even used OS X to say such a thing?
I don’t think tehre is anything wrong in improving another US feature unless you want to go back to MS DOS.
Ok Macintosh users tend to defend their OS choice more than windows users but no more than Linux users. So what?
To get back to the Microsoft vs Apple bashing, as far as I am aware Apple never considered Icelandic a non-relevant language. unicode supported the specific letters from the very scratch.
Can you say the same about Microsoft?
“Even better, with two monitors, I can have two apps open at the same time, something that is more difficult to do with Mac and it’s one-app mind.”
This really doesn’t mean anything because even MacOS 6 supported dual displays with no fuss and this was over 10 years ago. You can also have more than one app open in MacOSX. Do you know anything about computers?
“Windows has by far a better system for running applications and managing windows vs. Mac. Everything is simple and on the screen. There are no dumb little black triangles to ponder about.”
There is no pondering unless your dumb, the triangle means the app is open. Besides this is your opinion. I’m glad Windows works fine for you.
“Sure “expose” is over the top eye candy, like other parts of OS X, but all the candy is there because there is no real substance. OS X is an human factors nightmare.”
What is even more interesting is tha it seems to piss you off that many people seem to find Expose useful and cool! Longhorn is gonna be heavy on the eye candy too but I guess you will think its cool then.
Goldstein, is it a surprise to you that half to all of your posts are deleted or modded down, you have almost nothing intelligent to contribute and you have never even used a Mac so why comment on things you know nothing about? Why comment on things you know nothing about?
I was not doing any bashing, I was only telling that improving features is never bad thing for the consumers, no matter if it’s Apple or Microsoft. Some Mac users tend to thing litteraly every idea there is is invented by Apple. I was just pointing out these new panther things are mostly just improvements of other people’s ideas and not invention.
The past does not tell us everything about todays products, once 3dfx was the best 3D graphics card maker, then there was nVIDIA and now ATi is better than nVIDIA. IBM and Apple were enemies but are now “allies”. OS/2 was superior to windows, Nintendo used to be the best gaming console maker. Still people always point out to somethings that happened more than 20 years ago if they are searching for proof of one developer is better than another.
You talk about my language, in 1999 they made a lame Icelandic translation of Windows 98, the goverment demanded translation in change for stopping the use of pirated microsoft products in schools and by the goverment. It’s one of the most stupid and horrible things in history, our language just does not fit for computers. But then ofcourse all the people ignored this product and just kept installing English version. Hopefully no one will ever get that idea again.
I know you were not talking about translation but rather the unicode thing but the fact is it has not been problem for anyone I know in the +80’s there were patches that worked for everything most people needed icelandic specific letters, only the video games were promblem, oh no I can’t write my name correctly on the high score it has to be Thorsteinn rather than Þorsteinn. It did not effect people in any horrible way. and yes in a way icelandic is a non-relevant language. That’s the past btw and will never happen again so why always point at it.
Never ceases to amaze me.. It becomes more and more apparent to me that Windows users have poor reading comprehension skills, and an overall lack of understanding of anything.
My God, what is it with some of you windows users that a cool little feature like expose causes you to write a big, long-winded, petty and sulking post about some cool new Apple features?
What the fuck?
If you don’t use a Mac, don’t fucking worry about it, have a beer, kick back, and maybe go post on a story about WINDOWS YOU FUCKING MORONS!!!!!
LMFAO at how upset people like IceCaveMan get every time there’s an article about Apple!
Right, for those of you saying Exposé is just a cool implementation of Tile Windows, you obviously haven’t a) looked at the demo that’s been linked to or b) been able to understand what it shows (which isn’t really very complicated so I think we can assume a).
The Tile function in windows just resizes your available windows so they all fit on screem. That’s it. So, any reasonable use renders this feature rather impractical, leaving you to either resize the window(s) you want to use or maximise a single window.
Exposé does not permantly resize a window, rather it shows miniature versions of each window spread out on screen allowing you to select the one you want to use. Ones you’ve picked your window it is brought to the front. ALL windows retain their size and position. It’s just a very nice way of accessing a window that has been covered and offers quite a few advantages over previous methods in either OS X OR Windows. It’s actually quite a large change from what it’s being compared to.
As to the prehistoric poster I suggest you look at what is being talked about before you get in a paddy
And as for Goldstein, well, you obviously haven’t had much if any experience with alternatives to the Microsoft universe and have only shown that you don’t know very much AT ALL. So, if you don’t want to sound like a rather silly little kiddy (which you obviously are – 10 maybe?) who has only just discovered computers then don’t make claims out of pure ignorance. Try learning things from others, it can be quite enlightening.
As for me, I don’t know why I keep coming back here or bother to post, as the “opinions” of most posters here seem to be of the rather childish and ignorant type. But I suppose any half-intelligent non-masochistic person wouldn’t bother to post a response here in the first place.
So, get a life!