Overall

1. I think the most important overarching user feature in 10.7 is state retention. I wrote about it a few years ago in State of the User.
2. I’m generally fine with the scrollbars not appearing until scrolling. What’s annoying is the inconsistent display in third-party applications, a problem that should disappear after a round of updates.
3. I switched scrolling behavior several months before installing 10.7 using BetterTouchTool, which is still very useful as a way to assign more gestures, either app-specific or system-wide.
4. I like the redesigned login screen, but will see it maybe four or five times per year at home. Hooray for stability.

Finder

1. Minor additions I appreciate:
   1. The list view folder inline expand/collapse animation.
   2. All My Files is a nice way of replacing the previous default Smart Folders.
   3. I’m really happy that list view column customization via a header row contextual menu is finally available.
2. Groupings in Finder are interesting. They will be more useful when viewing /Applications once more developers embed category metadata in their app bundles. At present, I have dozens of apps in Other.

Mission Control

1. I really like being able to take a peek at an adjacent desktop without fully switching using the Magic Trackpad. I can position iTunes or Twitter at the side of a desktop and check a song name or update without much effort. I wish Dashboard would update when any part of it is displayed rather rather than having to fully switch for widgets to update, behavior that would be particularly useful for Stocks and Weather.
2. I’m really surprised the Misson Control “Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use” is on by default. There is no communication to the user as to what is happening or why; you just see your desktops mysteriously rearranged after some action based on whatever algorithm MC uses. I don’t know of any good “move UI around based on heuristics” examples. Microsoft removed the adaptive menus from Office for Windows for a reason.
3. I’d like to be able to drag and hold a window against the menu bar to trigger Mission Control so I can drag it to another desktop.
4. Desktops are labeled as such in Mission Control itself, but referred to as “spaces” in the preferences.

Miscellaneous

1. The window of an outgoing message shooting off the top of the screen when sending in Mail is a nice way to convey the action through animation.
2. When is iChat going to be rewritten to include iMessage and FaceTime functionality? OS X currently has too many real-time communications apps with overlapping functionality.
3. I eagerly await Contactizer’s full CalDAV support. iCal and Address Book look silly.
4. Mail/Contacts/Calendars could be a third tab (Accounts) when viewing a user in Users & Groups.

The editor looks well done. I’m sure Talib Kweli will be buying GarageBand for his iPad once it’s available.

Contact details and related files

The files shown below the contact details are those sent to or received from, or authored by the contact. The contact details section increases in height to the point of only showing two rows of files if necessary.

Contacts list popover

The iPad guidelines say popovers cannot be styled so consider this aspirational.

Contacts sidebar and details split view (landscape)

Editing Contact Details

The details card slides down out of the corners and expands.

Viewing Files

The Info button at top right displays a popover listing file metadata.

Icon Sources

Some from app-bits, some from glyphish. My thanks to both.

The Assistant would only appear when two password input fields are detected. What to do when a site doesn’t require confirmation? Maybe check the Keychain for existing accounts at the domain and show the key icon only if none is found?

A second barcode (which creates a bit of confusion) would not have to be added if the scratch-off alphanumeric code could be recognized as such using OCR. With foreknowledge of the typeface and the processing power of modern Macs, this seems technically feasible.

In case the camera is in use by another application, the Scan via iSight button is disabled and the application name is displayed.

There would have to be some conditional rules to hide the mention of optical scanning and the attendant button on Macs without a compatible camera.

Assuming this had been implemented somehow, I found the current method available in Mac applications described by Dave Mark, who learned of it from Mike Ash. The process is as follows:

1. Enter a formula in a text field such as 10/2.
2. Select the formula.
3. Press Shift-Command-8.

Easy enough, but totally invisible unless you know it’s there (not necessarily a bad thing) and yet another keyboard shortcut to remember. The fact that Script Editor pops open is also mildly surprising and irritating.

Proposed Improvements

Keeping the existing method (though not requiring Script Editor to perform the calculations) is fine for free-form text, but a design specific to number boxes would be very helpful in many applications. It reduces input repetition (a starting value is always available), application switching, and would be a great help to me as I have trouble doing math in my head. As Dan Saffer stated in his Designing Smart and Clever Applications presentation: “Do what humans have trouble doing but computers can do easily.”

1. Giving focus to a number input field displays a calculator pop-out.
   
   
2. As the user inputs a formula using the keyboard or pop-out, it is written into the field. This provides a hint to the user that they can type in formulas directly.
   
   
3. The formula is executed when the user clicks the Equals button, presses the Equals or Return or Enter key, or moves focus away from the field. The pop-out calculator disappears whenever focus moves away from the field. In the image below, Enter was pressed, moving focus back to the object in the document window.
   
   

For example, a band may rehearse regularly, but not on a fixed, repeating schedule that can be cleanly accommodated by a calendaring app’s recurring event interface. You want to be able to easily create an event involving the same people (your bandmates), usually at the same place (your rehearsal studio), with a varying date and duration.

Templates to the rescue.

Event Templates Pane

• Once dropped to the calendar area, the template title text is given keyboard input focus to allow renaming from the default.
• A Custom sorting option allowing the user to arrange the templates however they like might be useful. The set of templates you use may change over time as you work on different projects.
• Double-clicking a template opens the editor.
• Modifications to events created from templates do not propagate back to the template.
• Deleting a template has no effect on events created from the template.
• A menu command allows a stand-alone event to be used as the basis for a new template.

Event Template Editor

• Modifications to templates do not propagate to events created from them.
• As they exist outside of specific dates, only a default duration is set on a template.
• All other properties can be set as with normal events.

Problems

Templates would not work cleanly in Contactizer‘s All events list view. What happens when you drop a template event to the list? A title field and date/time picker could appear at the drop point. It’s still likely to be less input than creating the event from scratch.

1. 1. First, a pointless welcome message that refers to the Assistant by a name different from the window title.
   2. It appears that prime marks rather than quotation marks enclose “Forward”. This typographical mistake appears throughout the Assistant.

   
   
   

2. Poorly wrapped instructional text.
   
   
3. “None” is not a sensible default for an incoming server type.
   
   
4. The server portion of the e-mail address the user input in the Identity step should be placed in the Server field.
   
   
5. 1. An automatic periodic check of 10 or 15 minutes would be a sensible default.
   2. Junk filtering on incoming messages would be a sensible default.
   3. Hiding the custom command and folder namespace settings in a progressive disclosure would cut down on the clutter.

   
   
   

6. 1. More poorly wrapped instructional text.
   2. The Assistant should take a stab at the outgoing server address based on the incoming server address.
   3. Use the incoming server username as the outgoing by default (I typed mine in).

   
   
   

7. 1. If an account name is already taken (thereby disabling the Forward button), tell me.
   2. Poorly wrapped instructional text.

   
   
   

8. Lastly, a pointless pat on the head.
   
   

1. In Day view, tap and hold the event.
   
   
2. With your other hand, tap the forward (or back) triangle button in the date bar.
   
   
3. Alternatively, while still holding the event, swipe from right to left to go to the next day (or vice versa for the previous).
   
   
4. The event is moved to the next (or previous) day at the same time. The event box would always remain beneath the tapped spot, nudging overlapping event boxes aside if necessary.
   
   

Problems with the Method

1. Not easily discoverable
2. Requires two hands or Evgeny Kissin-level finger dexterity
3. Only works cleanly in Day view, though variations for List and Month could work

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