Overview: New Features In OS X Leopard
Safari
Web Clip
Web Clip offers something Dashboard lovers have been craving: an easy way to create Widgets. Although this won’t allow you to make a Widget about anything, it does allow you to take advantage of current web based programs without the hassle of a browser.
The popular use has been to summarize the important news or headlines on a web site, but being able to select any portion of a web page is what separates its functions from a glorified RSS Widget to what it was meant to be: a simple Widget creator.
Web Clip functions as advertised—no more, no less—but you’ll appreciate being able to save portions of the Web to your Dashboard.
Faster Browsing
This is the one feature I am ecstatic about in Safari. Loading Web Pages and even rendering them is blazing even on what many would consider a soon to be outdated Mac. Everything is snappy and there is hardly any delay; everything is just so fluid, from scrolling to rendering.
Many web sites that brought my Mac to its knees, and other browsers as well, load like butter, and the speed gains are noticeable, so much so I am surprised Apple isn’t advertising that you’re saving some absurd number of days just by using Safari 3 over Firefox, Opera or Camino.
Resizable Text Boxes
Although not a heavily promoted feature and one that will often be overlooked, Safari 3 brings resizable text boxes. If you’ve found yourself typing a comment and scroll bars appear, you can simply resize the box to any size you want, although elements might obstruct your view, but it does help to use it.
Search Text
Although Apple is advertising its Search Text function in Safari and other applications, this feature was available in Safari 2, just not as useful or functional. It’s simple: just type a word you are seeking in an article or blog post you may be editing and it’ll be found with Spotlight-like fluidity. The search engages as soon as you type a letter and finishes when you complete your phrase. The most relevant result will appear highlighted, but less relevant results will show up as well.
RSS
Apple has taken a new approach to Mail by making a center where Notes, To Dos, and even RSS Feeds exist alongside your email, integrating your workflow more into one application instead of 3 or 4.
RSS items read like email items and are searchable. I’d prefer Mail’s RSS reader but for me, everything is way to cluttered, and I’ll stick to Safari. That’s not to say it’s a worthless addition, just be wary if you’ve been using Mail strictly for mail, as it’s becoming the new iTunes in functionality.
To Dos & Notes
To Dos are aggregated from iCal into Mail and are easier to read. The format is uniform with reading Mail which makes it easier; more data can be displayed in less space. Unfortunately, Mail does not follow the same rules as iCal for displaying To Dos. My options are set to delete a To Do a day after I have completed it, but sadly they pile up in Mail’s interface and are even checked off. Whether this is a bug or meant to act as an archive and go hand in hand with iCal is unknown.
Notes, on the other hand, are merely the iPhone version of Stickies fused into Mail with one exception: you can actually Sync your notes. Notes syncing works flawlessly in IMAP and POP3 accounts alike and can be Synced to your iPhone as well, but it ends up in a folder under Mail.
Stationery
Stationery is either a fun new add-on or an easy way to make a good impression. The templates are very nice and customizable, allowing you to add other Media to mold it the way you want.
You can pick your favorite templates to choose from but if you want to cheap out on a birthday or holiday card, Mail’s stationery is a great alternative.
New Interface
Mail can either be cluttered or very organized, depending on what you want to do with it. However, Mail is quickly becoming the new iTunes in that it’s quickly taking on more roles and tasks.
iCal
New Interface
iCal’s new interface has been slimmed down, cutting out unnecessary windows and replacing them with popups. Although it might be an inconvenience for some, I prefer it in this case. iCal’s previous methods of displaying data about upcoming events and To Dos wasted too much space.
This new interface is very minimalist, displaying information that needs to be seen right there and then. Anything else is something you aren’t constantly looking at. You’ll appreciate this new look but it will take some getting used to.
CalDAV
ICal now supports CalDav in version 3.0, and if you’re not familiar with it you’ll probably fall in love with it right away. CalDav is calendar publishing over WebDav; you can sync a Calendar to any computer or device that supports it. This functions similarly to .Mac’s Calendar and publishing, but the support added in Leopard does not require .Mac so you could set up your own sever to handle the syncing. Leopard Server also brings CalDav support in that it can host calendars for syncing.
iChat
New Interface
IChat has brought some new looks such as tabbed chats and streamlined info boxes, but one thing that remains to be changed is the chat window itself. If you have one IM account this won’t be a problem, but if you have two or more you get a window for every chat list. Why this can’t be one, singular interface has evidently escaped Apple developers since the application’s creation and is a disappointment when you consider that Leopard focuses more on compacting windows and information together.
Tabs & Enhancements
IChat’s new tabbed window is welcome in this new release. If you’ve been struggling to maintain multiple chats and want to avoid them eating up your Desktop, you’ll appreciate Tabs in that it keeps you focused on your current chat but also displays the text your buddies are typing, so you’ll be able to keep tabs on everything!
Spaces
Productivity
If I could only keep one feature from Leopard and eschew any others, it’d be Spaces. Like I said earlier, Leopard is focusing more on consolidating information and windows into other applications. The combination of Spaces increases productivity, not because it’s just a virtual desktop but in the perfect way Apple implemented it.
In Tiger you could have virtual desktops through the use of 3rd party applications, but it was unpopular due to the lack of consolidation that Leopard demonstrates.
Ease Of Use
If you find Spaces hard to use reconsider the purchase of your Mac or copy of Leopard. Spaces is one of the easiest, simplest, and one of the best features in this new OS upgrade. You can switch between Spaces through a keyboard shortcut or by clicking the Spaces app in your Dock.
Besides that, you can automatically assign applications to their own Space. By clicking that application you’ll be taken to its corresponding space.
.Mac
Back To My Mac
Back to my Mac answers one problem with Apple’s original goals for the online service: how the hell do I sync everything on my Mac to another Mac!?! Luckily, Apple has introduced a very simple remote desktop add-on that allows access to any Macs synced to your .Mac account. Each Mac is mounted within the Finder and files can be copied to and from each Mac.
Screen Sharing
Screen Sharing is the other half of the solution, and many users who provide tech support to family members locally or long distance will be relieved. What’s better is that it’s set up automatically, no hassles required. However, if you’re working with two screens it does get tricky when the Mac you are sharing screens with has 2 or more displays. They end up stretching out and shrinking into a long thin bar, like widescreen but thinner, way thinner.
Faster .Mac
If you’ve been disappointed at the lack of speed for .Mac on Panther or Tiger, you’ll be pleased to hear it’s significantly faster under Leopard. Whether you’re syncing items, accessing your iDisk, deleting items, or even trying to access the System Preference pane, it’s still magnitudes faster than previous versions running on the same Mac.
Dock & Stacks
Dock
Leopard’s new Dock is a radical departure from previous versions of OS X and imitates a 3D surface. Because of this, the Dock is much more prominent on the bottom, which can be a welcome distraction or a nuisance for those who hate it and access it rarely.
It’s purely for eye candy but is very slick looking. It’s still very responsive when browsing through many applications at full magnification or resizing. You’ll notice that Apple’s recent redesign of every icon has paid off and looks much, much better in the Dock. However cool the Dock may be, there will be those who despise it in favor of older versions. This can be remedied by positioning the Dock on either side of the screen or typing this in Terminal:
followed by killall Dock
Stacks
Stacks in Leopard are an example of taking something good and making it worse for the sake of change, well part of it anyway. You’ll hear me echo this a thousand times, but Leopard likes to condense information and this hasn’t stopped at the Dock.
Stacks are an easier way to visually see files and folders within a folder, but are limited to what you can see. Stacks had existed before Leopard’s arrival in a diluted form. You can drag and drop a Folder onto the Dock and access its contents like Stacks by clicking and holding it.
Now, since Stacks can’t be sorted, the best alternative would be to drag a Smart folder into the Dock, right? Yeah well, Stacks doesn’t work on a Smart folder. Absurd, you might say, but it’s actually a good idea. Smart folders scan your drive for files that meet the predefined criteria when opened. Stacks are technically open all the time; constantly scanning your drive to see what’s changed is a horrible idea, but it still sucks that you can’t control what Stacks display.
Finder
Coverflow
Coverflow in Finder has been met with some debate upon its debut at WWDC 2007. It’s either been very useful or unnecessary, and I tend to lean towards the latter as I don’t have any colorful documents that resemble picture books and works of art.
To me, it’d be easier to search for something in Spotlight and preview it within Quicklook. I suppose Coverflow has its uses and is by no means slow; it functions the same way iTunes does, scrolling is smooth as butter.
Faster But Not Better
Although improved, Finder isn’t as big as a revamp as it was intended to be, but it is snappier. Finder relies on the aged and soon to be dead Carbon Framework and has yet to be fully ported to Cocoa.
Time Machine
Backing Up
A recent guide I had created for backing up your data via Time Machine recommends a spacious hard drive with at least a Firewire 400 connection and to opt for higher speed disks if available. But that is moot, since Time Machine takes its sweet time and utilization of faster buses or hard drives is obliterated. When you think about it, it’s not all that bad unless you demand fast backups and are on the road a lot.
Time Machine, from what I can tell, does quite a bit of processing to do what it does, and going any faster would seriously bog down your Mac, drying up essential resources. If this were to happen, every time a Sync occurs your computer would be useless considering backups happen every hour.
But to note, your initial backup is lengthy and more processor intensive than any others. If you’re using Firewire, USB, or an Ethernet connection it makes no difference.
Restoring
Restoring is the easiest feature of Time Machine. The current Finder window is completely usable within the interface so if you’re using Coverflow you’ll see Coverflow, and if you’re in column view you’ll see column view.
But something that might irritate users is Time Machine’s reliance on your GPU to display the dazzling effects, or sometimes lack of. When running Time Machine on a Mac sporting an ATi Radeon 9200 I got only a static background and sifting through windows was somewhat laggy but still responsive.
Using Time Machine on a Mac sporting an ATi Radeon 9700 was met with much better results. The interface is snappy and is constantly in motion; stars zoom by and all Finder windows manifest from a glowing black hole, which I tend to find ironic. Somehow Apple has defied all law of physics to bring my data back from a prison in which not even light can escape. Whoever designed OS X’s Trash Can needs a raise and promotion.
System Preferences
Parental Controls
If you have a child or younger sibling, you’ve probably been wary of them using your Mac or you’ve been really good at clearing your Safari history. Either way, creating a limited account for a younger person required effort, as not everything can be blocked, and accommodating their sense of adventure is a daunting task.
Luckily, Parental Controls solves this problem but not enough that you can be a lazy parent. Time limits are a new feature that will help administer computer time. You can create a schedule that meets your needs but also offers flexibility for that user.
In addition, content filtering is available and you can limit who that person chats or emails with plus filter out inappropriate web content. Also, you can view logs of what that person does and can view what apps he’s opened, where they’ve gone on the Web, and what restricted items they’ve attempted to access.
Desktop & Screensaver
Leopard has added some new Desktops to reflect the default space theme, and a few others, but nothing exciting. You do get the previous default desktop that was included within the Beta distributed at WWDC ‘07, but a few new screensavers add more pizazz.
My favorite is the Word of the Day screensaver which includes a few words accompanied by detailed meanings. Shell and Arabesque put you into a trance once activated, but any other effects stop right there.
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Comments
Tanner, the best use I’ve found for Stacks so far is as an application launcher. I setup a folder called “Apps” and drop shortcuts of any apps I use regularly into it.
It’s not as good as Overflow, which can categorize your apps, but it’s adequate. I have seen some folks who set up a Stack for each category of app (eg PRoductivity, Leisure, Utilities, Audio & Video, etc) but to me that just clutters the Dock.
BTW I found Safari 3 beta on Tiger super fast… for about the first couple of weeks. So jury’s out still on Safari 3 in Leopard.
The best use of Spaces? It has to be as a quick way to hide stuff you shouldn’t be doing! eg when you told you’re wife you were too busy with assignments.
But really, you’re surfing the net to read the paper or check the cricket or footy scores, and she walks in, you click on the app you were using to do you’re assignment, eg InDesign, and bam you’re back hard at work, no sign of bludging off.
In the olden days, some games - for amusement value - used to come with a “Boss” key that you pressed when the boss came in and it’d pop up a graph onscreen. Spaces gives you the “Boss” key back.
So all the bludgers of the world thank you, Apple.
It has to be as a quick way to hide stuff you shouldn’t be doing!
Alt-tab does pretty much the same thing for me. I can’t honestly see a way to fit Spaces into my workflow. I find alt-tab is faster for app switching in my case. Of course, I never use Expose either. I guess some of us use some workflow shortcuts and others use others. Whatever floats your boat.