Mac OS X Snow Leopard Discussion

[Phantom Helix]

Can someone on SL try going into expose while zoomed in? (ctrl + scroll in/out)

In Tiger and Leopard, the screen would stay in place, rendering Expose essentially useless. With Expose becoming more integral in the dock, I hope they fixed a bug that was annoying before and will be even more annoying now.

is this what you mean?

Edited July 2, 2009 by Phantom Helix

[Simon Veteran]

:x

Yeah, that's it. Wish they would fix that bug, it's bloody annoying.

[PyX]

:x

Yeah, that's it. Wish they would fix that bug, it's bloody annoying.

Meh. I see two solutions :

1. The OS zooms out completely and Expos? is summoned. When you click on a window, it zooms back. (not intuitive, but higher quality snapshots of the different windows)

2. The OS does NOT zoom out at all. Expos? is summoned, but the different windows appear only in the part of the screen where you're zoomed in (more intuitive, but a big loss of quality in snapshots of the different windows, unless resolution independance comes into the game.

By "not being intuitive" in the first case, I mean the user will ask itself these 2 questions :

1. Errr, why was I zoomed in and then I can see the whole screen? (then he'll understand it's Expos?)

2. If I click on something, will it zoom back? (after the first try he will end up understanding...)

While in the second case, the user would ask itself just one question :

1. Do I really have all the windows in the part of the screen I'm seeing, or maybe some of them are hidden in the portion that I don't see?

I agree with you that the behaviour is somewhat wrong. Maybe we should all report the bug + the solutions to Apple on their Feedback webpage so that they can finally fix this?

This is not that much of a big issue, it's not even a bug, but since the goal of the OS is to refine it, I believe it's perfect to just report it.

[Quillz]

Has anyone else noticed that the new Expose nerfs spring-loaded folders?

In Leopard, you could drag a file over the Finder's icon, and a window would pop up after a second or two, letting you drill down into other folders and move the file. But in Snow Leopard, you already to have a Finder window opening, defeating the purpose. You can hold it over the Finder's icon for as long as you want and nothing pops up.

I hope it's fixed in the RTM, because that seems like buggy behavior to me.

[Phantom Helix]

i think a better solution would be to incorporate the the new stacks grid feature with spring-loaded folders so when you hover over the finder icon you get the grid instead of the actual finder window, especially now that you can drill folders from the grid, well i havent thought that out completely but was cool brain-fart anyway lol

[mattrobs]

:x

Yeah, that's it. Wish they would fix that bug, it's bloody annoying.

I guess it wasn't worth fixing, with resolution independence coming in the near/distant future.

[Binary]

Has anyone else noticed that the new Expose nerfs spring-loaded folders?

In Leopard, you could drag a file over the Finder's icon, and a window would pop up after a second or two, letting you drill down into other folders and move the file. But in Snow Leopard, you already to have a Finder window opening, defeating the purpose. You can hold it over the Finder's icon for as long as you want and nothing pops up.

I hope it's fixed in the RTM, because that seems like buggy behavior to me.

I just noticed this. The only option right now is to either leave a finder window open in the background/hidden, or set a hot corner to show the desktop and spring-load on a HD icon.

[Xero]

Not sure if anyone here uses external monitors but its handled much nicer now. If you use Expose, it will bring even the external monitors windows onto your main screen, smoothly. You can also finally play movies fullscreen and still control your desktop on your other monitor. In Leopard it would disable fullscreen as soon as you clicked anything on the other screen. Also a neat little animation I noticed, if you click the hide toolbar button in Finder, it has a snazzy little animation instead of just switching window styles.

Lastly, I was a little annoyed with the way they designed the buttons in QuickTime X so I redesigned them, and fixed the corner of the titlebar. I included them below for anyone else who may want them. All you need to do is replace the graphics inside the QuickTime app. Contents>Resources. Be sure to backup first.

QuickX_NewButtons.zip

[Phantom Helix]

I like your mod, to bad that can't be easily done system wide

[Elliott]

Has anyone else noticed that the new Expose nerfs spring-loaded folders?

In Leopard, you could drag a file over the Finder's icon, and a window would pop up after a second or two, letting you drill down into other folders and move the file. But in Snow Leopard, you already to have a Finder window opening, defeating the purpose. You can hold it over the Finder's icon for as long as you want and nothing pops up.

I hope it's fixed in the RTM, because that seems like buggy behavior to me.

You could? I'm in Leopard right now, holding a file over the Finder icon. I think I could sit here all day and nothing's going to happen.

[giga Veteran]

You could? I'm in Leopard right now, holding a file over the Finder icon. I think I could sit here all day and nothing's going to happen.

Spring loading enabled in Finder prefs?

defaults write com.apple.dock enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items -boolean YES?

[cabron]

Not sure if anyone here uses external monitors but its handled much nicer now. If you use Expose, it will bring even the external monitors windows onto your main screen, smoothly. You can also finally play movies fullscreen and still control your desktop on your other monitor. In Leopard it would disable fullscreen as soon as you clicked anything on the other screen. Also a neat little animation I noticed, if you click the hide toolbar button in Finder, it has a snazzy little animation instead of just switching window styles.

Lastly, I was a little annoyed with the way they designed the buttons in QuickTime X so I redesigned them, and fixed the corner of the titlebar. I included them below for anyone else who may want them. All you need to do is replace the graphics inside the QuickTime app. Contents>Resources. Be sure to backup first.

QuickX_NewButtons.zip

its this compatible with Quicktime 7 and Leopard? :rolleyes:

[Simon Veteran]

Meh. I see two solutions :

1. The OS zooms out completely and Expos? is summoned. When you click on a window, it zooms back. (not intuitive, but higher quality snapshots of the different windows)

2. The OS does NOT zoom out at all. Expos? is summoned, but the different windows appear only in the part of the screen where you're zoomed in (more intuitive, but a big loss of quality in snapshots of the different windows, unless resolution independance comes into the game.

By "not being intuitive" in the first case, I mean the user will ask itself these 2 questions :

1. Errr, why was I zoomed in and then I can see the whole screen? (then he'll understand it's Expos?)

2. If I click on something, will it zoom back? (after the first try he will end up understanding...)

While in the second case, the user would ask itself just one question :

1. Do I really have all the windows in the part of the screen I'm seeing, or maybe some of them are hidden in the portion that I don't see?

I agree with you that the behaviour is somewhat wrong. Maybe we should all report the bug + the solutions to Apple on their Feedback webpage so that they can finally fix this?

This is not that much of a big issue, it's not even a bug, but since the goal of the OS is to refine it, I believe it's perfect to just report it.

Or just keep it zoomed and let you move the mouse around the screen the way you always cou:p :p

That's how it should work, something in Expose disables zooming in a way that it shouldn't be. I'd report it as a bug, but I have no idea h:p :p

[Elliott]

Spring loading enabled in Finder prefs?

defaults write com.apple.dock enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items -boolean YES?

Ah, figures it's a hidden pref. Thanks. :p

[PyX]

Or just keep it zoomed and let you move the mouse around the screen the way you always could :p

That's how it should work, something in Expose disables zooming in a way that it shouldn't be. I'd report it as a bug, but I have no idea how :p

Ahhhh I see what you're talking about now. Yeah, this is really a bug, you're 100% right. I thought you meant that Expos? became useless because there are hidden windows and you have to move around to click on them, but NO you cannot click on them !:pp

But to be more efficient, they should still unzoom or just put all the windows in the actual zoomed section of the screen.

[crazzyyfool]

Ah, figures it's a hidden pref. Thanks. :p

Spring Loading is not a hidden preference. Its available in Finder > Preferences.

[.Neo]

Spring Loading is not a hidden preference. Its available in Finder > Preferences.

That one doesn't make spring-loading work for the Dock's Finder icon.

In Leopard, you could drag a file over the Finder's icon, and a window would pop up after a second or two, letting you drill down into other folders and move the file. But in Snow Leopard, you already to have a Finder window opening, defeating the purpose. You can hold it over the Finder's icon for as long as you want and nothing pops up.

I don't really get what you're saying here. What you're describing isn't default behaviour in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, so why are you expecting it to be in 10.6 Snow Leopard?

In Leopard spring-loading only works for the (right) folder section of the Dock, not the (left) application section the Finder icon sits in. Unless you enable it by using Terminal that is as described above. Or did Snow Leopard also axe it for the (right) folder section?

Edited July 7, 2009 by .Neo

[PyX]

I don't really get what you're saying here. What you're describing isn't default behaviour in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, so why are you expecting it to be in 10.6 Snow Leopard?

You're right, but I think we can all agree that is should be the default behavior. It's as if the Finder icon was there just to make a left click on it, it's almost useless.

We should be able to drag any file over there, and a Finder window would appear, letting you drill down in the structure of your hard drive, and when you drop the file, it should move it in this folder.

This is one of the things that make complete sense in Windows (any version). When you have an "explorer.exe" window in the taskbar, you can drag any file there and it'll act exactly like I said up there. Now, it's not about copying Windows, it's just about being logical.

Edit : By the way, to all of those who wish to report things and bugs, please see this link : http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

It's worth it right now, otherwise we may way until 10.7, this is not cool at all.

[.Neo]

You're right, but I think we can all agree that is should be the default behavior. It's as if the Finder icon was there just to make a left click on it, it's almost useless.

Not per se. Dropping a file on an application alias does the same thing on Mac OS X as it does on Windows: open the file with the application in question. The Finder Dock alias points to Finder.app, not a folder.

This is one of the things that make complete sense in Windows (any version). When you have an "explorer.exe" window in the taskbar, you can drag any file there and it'll act exactly like I said up there. Now, it's not about copying Windows, it's just about being logical.

You forgot that those windows are already open and running (pre Windows 7). They're minimized windows, not shortcuts. Comparing them with the Dock's Finder.app alias doesn't make much sense as they're two separate things. In fact, try minimizing a Finder window > pick up a folder > hover it above the minimized Finder window. It will act the exact same way as a minimized Explorer window in the Windows taskbar. So the functionality you're describing here is already present in Mac OS X.

However, the functionality you want does not exist in both Mac OS X and Windows by default. Picking up a folder and holding it above an Explorer.exe shortcut won't do anything, which is the exact same thing as a Finder.app alias. You're even worse off with Windows because it doesn't have the spring-loading effect at all when it comes to folders and folder shortcuts.

To make a long story short: You want the spring-loading effect for applications as well. Which, IMO, doesn't make much sense at all.

Edited July 8, 2009 by .Neo

[Ricardo Gil]

To make a long story short: You want the spring-loading effect for applications as well. Which, IMO, doesn't make much sense at all.

It does make a lot of sense with the finder app.

I wish it spring loaded a new finder window after hovering its icon. It's something that would certainly improve OSX IMO.

[.Neo]

In that case you have make some sort of exception and turn the Finder.app alias into something else. Which, IMO, doesn't really improve things but rather complicate.

[Phantom Helix]

Having the App associated with a Dock Icon or Alias popup when you drag a supported file type over it, by no means complicates things, it improves the Human Interface and can make tasks faster.

Yes it would add more code the OS, but is does have to be bloated, im sure if you look hard enough there is an OS X app out there that can provide this funtionality, yet it would be better and cleaner if it was part of the OS

[.Neo]

If you want it you can pick up the Terminal command and enable it. However, it will enable spring-loading for every Dock item.

People have been complaining for ages that Mac OS X isn't consistent enough, now Apple is finally addressing that. Adding more exceptions to the interface, such as a single application that suddenly spring-loads while others don't, isn't helping IMO. Next to that the feature already works with every folder or drive on the Desktop and Dock, including the Trash. So why should Apple add it to yet another Dock item, when you already have a wide variety of choice in the matter?

Edited July 8, 2009 by .Neo

[Ricardo Gil]

If you want it you can pick up the Terminal command and enable it. However, it will enable spring-loading for every Dock item.

People have been complaining for ages that Mac OS X isn't consistent enough, now Apple is finally addressing that. Adding more exceptions to the interface, such as a single application that suddenly spring-loads while others don't, isn't helping IMO. Next to that the feature already works with every folder or drive on the Desktop and Dock, including the Trash. So why should Apple add it to yet another Dock item, when you already have a wide variety of choice in the matter?

Because it's convenient. Say I have this folder on my desktop, I drag it over the Finder icon, a window opens. It's so simple and useful.

You may say that it's inconsistent, but the finder icon is somehow special and deserves special behavior imo.

[.Neo]

You can hover that folder over de Trash or any other folder in your Dock and a Finder window will open with full access to every directory on your Mac. Just as simple and just as useful. Or you just hover it over one of the drives on your Desktop (if enabled).