outbreak

Image via Wikipedia I’ve been using a Mac since I started my job at Zemanta. I wanted to have a Mac because I want to be able to use Windows and Mac OS and change from one to the other seamlessly. When I saw Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS on Smashing Magazine and read the first point I figured that I don’t agree with the list. Strongly.

1. Consistency

   There’s probably a lot of stuff that acts completely consistently but I think we can find this in all operating systems. What I really hate is that moving through text with the keyboard is really utterly inconsistent on a Mac. My Macbook keyboard is missing buttons that are very valuable to me when coding – Page down, Page up, Home, End. There are hints of these with Fn + arrow keys but in every application these act differently. And this all changes when using the wireless keyboard. The same goes for jumping over words / phrases…

2. Intuitivity

   I didn’t get the install. Why would I have to drag something to Applications if I already decided to install it? It’s like a waiter coming back and rechecking your order. And it’s not really that intuitive – it took me a few installs (to get one where it was neatly explained with a “drag the app to the Applications to install”) to get it.

3. Effective and appropriate metaphors

   I could agree with this but then again I have the desktop set to two screens and when on the top screen and an application is positioned so that it should appear on the bottom screen it doesn’t. Which isn’t really consistent. After a few tries I figured out that you can actually move stuff around if you persist long enough. Made me think though.

4. Informative error reporting on-demand

   If this was true it would tell me that my wireless connection went down and I wouldn’t have to recheck it all the time. And it goes down often even though the other side is a Time Capsule which should be totally compiant.

5. Hiding the technical details

   Great for novice users. But once in a while you want to get to know something more about your computer. And then you have to download 1GB of developer tools to get a simple compiler. I know, I’m not the target audience, I should really have a Linux instalation, right?

6. Fitts’ Law

   I’m quite sure that I do a lot more mouse miles on a Mac than on a PC. There’s a simple reason — when you have two screens you have to decide where your menu bar will be. And if you’re using an application on the other screen you’re bound to have to make a trip every time you don’t know a keyboard shortcut. And you don’t if you’re a rookie user like me. I think this was a neat idea in the age of small single screens but times have changed – need to move on Apple…

7. User input feedback

   Having no OK and using auto-save and auto-apply where possible is great. If it really would be used this way consistently. Unfortunately some situations aren’t really the auto-save type and this makes you think – will the next click already apply or will it just change it and I can undo everything I made with a simple click on the Cancel button?

8. User support and navigation

   This really is a great feature but it’s not a plus anymore. Vista has the same feature implemented and if we only look at it from a view of a user the only difference is that Vista’s is a bit slower. On the other hand it finds more stuff.

9. Workflow

   This has more to do with the way you use an OS then the features of Mac OS. The only difference is that Mac OS actively discourages maximizing apps and has more features that help you find lost windows. The difference is getting smaller though.

10. Even kernel panic looks nice!

    Haven’t ever seen a kernel panic yet. That doesn’t mean my Mac has never crashed, it only means I never saw a the panic screen. It crashed with a black screen, auto restart or just freezing.

I agree that there are many features that stand out on the Mac OS X but it also has a lot of stuff that is not as good as it could be. A nice example is the Finder that looks the same when opened as an application or when used as the browse window in another application. The only problem is that in the second case all the control-click options are gone and if you try to open a file and remember you have to update your repository first you have to go to another window and update it there.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 12:01 and is filed under apple, companies, design, interface, microsoft, osx, software, vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.