Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 changes

[rajputwarrior 280]

hey lion guys, random question. does the 2d dock on the bottom trick still work?

[.Neo 1,834]

Yep. It's optionally turned off now. I don't think Resume panned out quite like they wanted it to (i.e. when an app isn't doing anything, quit it), so it was just a better idea to turn them back on by default.

Yeah what applications support resume and which don't is confusing as hell. Maybe I'll turn the running application indicators off once Mac OS X Lion matured a bit.

[rajputwarrior 280]

Yeah what applications support resume and which don't is confusing as hell. Maybe I'll turn the running application indicators off once Mac OS X Lion matured a bit.

so the app has to be written to support resume? damn tech demo made it seems like everything would work for it (which made me wonder how that was possible)

[Southern Patriot 937]

Neither Excel or FileZilla use native OS X UI features so it seams highly likely thats the cause. MS and FileZilla need to update their apps.

Filezilla doesn't use native controls on ANY OS as far as I've ever seen. It looks like something from the Win95 era on just about every platform.

[.Neo 1,834]

so the app has to be written to support resume? damn tech demo made it seems like everything would work for it (which made me wonder how that was possible)

Yup, I believe applications require added support for Resume. You could tell because in the previous DP Safari for example wouldn't restore to where you left it, now it does.

[Elliott 235]

so the app has to be written to support resume? damn tech demo made it seems like everything would work for it (which made me wonder how that was possible)

Cocoa will actually do most of the work (for instance, an NSTextView will save its own selection and cursor position and an NSTableView will remember which row was selected). It's just that most apps haven't been recompiled or had their window properties set correctly for Lion, or they're setting themselves to a specific state on startup instead of letting Cocoa do its job.

That doesn't mean all apps will magically resume, but many will.

[rajputwarrior 280]

Yup, I believe applications require added support for Resume. You could tell because in the previous DP Safari for example wouldn't restore to where you left it, now it does.

Cocoa will actually do most of the work (for instance, an NSTextView will save its own selection and cursor position and an NSTableView will remember which row was selected). It's just that most apps haven't been recompiled or had their window properties set correctly for Lion, or they're setting themselves to a specific state on startup instead of letting Cocoa do its job.

That doesn't mean all apps will magically resume, but many will.

oh gotcha. thanks guys. so for most apps it just comes down to a recompile?

[Quillz 1,011]

Resume and Auto-Save have their own APIs, right? It's something that most applications written for Lion should be able to incorporate rather easily, right?

[iuerg87yerg879e0rg9erugjer 39]

Resume and Auto-Save have their own APIs, right? It's something that most applications written for Lion should be able to incorporate rather easily, right?

yea, the resume and autosave APIs are part of NSApplication Delegate i think..

[furby 0]

I saw this image a while ago,

http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mac-os-x-lion-terminal.jpg

And Ive been trying to find a way to do this with Lions Terminal, no luck so far :(

Anyone have any ideas?

It's just the Silver Aerogel "theme" in the terminal settings. Goes more or less transparent if it's active or not

Nice to see there is the option to download bootcamp drivers rather than always having to find this disc. Guess that makes sense if they're doing download only for Lion though.

Also like the new faded screensaver password screen.

[.Neo 1,834]

It's just the Silver Aerogel "theme" in the terminal settings

By default yes, however, you can add blur yourself to every theme, or create a custom one, by going to the color settings and set blur strength in the color panel.

[CPressland 176]

How does Lion treat Spaces and Multiple Displays. I want to hook an additional display up to my MacBook Pro but want Static Content on it. I don't want it changing whenever I flip spaces or Full Screen Apps.

[Elliott 235]

How does Lion treat Spaces and Multiple Displays. I want to hook an additional display up to my MacBook Pro but want Static Content on it. I don't want it changing whenever I flip spaces or Full Screen Apps.

Lion and Snow Leopard treat spaces and multiple displays in the same way. In other words, switching spaces will swap out the content on both screens.

[CPressland 176]

Lion and Snow Leopard treat spaces and multiple displays in the same way. In other words, switching spaces will swap out the content on both screens.

Bummer.................. But surely that can't work properly if both screens are different resolution?!

[.Neo 1,834]

Lion and Snow Leopard treat spaces and multiple displays in the same way. In other words, switching spaces will swap out the content on both screens.

How does that work with full screen applications though since those create a space as well?

[CPressland 176]

How does that work with full screen applications though since those create a space as well?

My thoughts exactly? I don't wan't iCal open fullscreen on my secondary display, swap to my Mail space and lose iCal on the secondary! That'd be stupid!

[Elliott 235]

How does that work with full screen applications though since those create a space as well?

My thoughts exactly? I don't wan't iCal open fullscreen on my secondary display, swap to my Mail space and lose iCal on the secondary! That'd be stupid!

Consider your worst fears realized: full screen apps only occupy your main screen. Your alternate screen? Yea, that gets filled with linen. Boom.

Not even making this up.

[.Neo 1,834]

Consider your worst fears realized: full screen apps only occupy your main screen. Your alternate screen? Yea, that gets filled with linen. Boom.

Not even making this up.

You gotta be ****ing kiddin' us?

Wow. :|

[Elliott 235]

You gotta be ****ing kiddin' us?

Wow. :|

Wish I was. Can't have two full-screen apps side by side. Full-screen mode was obviously meant for Apple's new baby, the MacBook Air. Here's what it's like in (very downscaled) screenshot form:

[instant.human 45]

That's BAD... Damn! :laugh:

But well, maybe it's just a Bug... :unsure:

[Rudy 457]

Fullscreen is really nice but as others have pointed out it has some major flaws for some configurations

[Elliott 235]

That's BAD... Damn! :laugh:

But well, maybe it's just a Bug... :unsure:

I hope so considering Windows 8 really embraces full-screen environments, even for multiple screens.

Apple's done a great job putting this whole framework in for full-screen apps and then misses the mark by that much.

[iKenndac 98]

Fullscreen is designed for individual windows (notice that the fullscreen buttons are on windows, not menu bars/the Dock), so it doesn't really make sense to make a single window fullscreen then suddenly have more than one screen's worth of content.

That said, the APIs allow for multiple "helper" windows to fullscreen windows, which I guess could be put on the other display(s) when a window is fullscreen.

[Rudy 457]

Fullscreen is designed for individual windows (notice that the fullscreen buttons are on windows, not menu bars/the Dock), so it doesn't really make sense to make a single window fullscreen then suddenly have more than one screen's worth of content.

That said, the APIs allow for multiple "helper" windows to fullscreen windows, which I guess could be put on the other display(s) when a window is fullscreen.

While you're right I believe dual or more screen setup should be an exception and the other desktops should stay untouched (and even allow fullscreen apps on the other screens)

[iKenndac 98]

While you're right I believe dual or more screen setup should be an exception and the other desktops should stay untouched (and even allow fullscreen apps on the other screens)

Yeah, perhaps - that gets very complicated very fast though. I guess they're going for simplicity, at least for now.