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10 Classic Features to ‘Bring Back’ to OS X
theappleblog.com — When OS X was first released, there were a number of Classic features that were left in the dust. Apple has slowly added some of those features back but there are still a number of features from Mac OS 9, 8 and even 7 that deserve to be resurrected for OS X.
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- JPigford, on 10/12/2007, -16/+12Classic did have some cool features...but man the UI was just horrendous.
- SpencerFry, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29I disagree. The UI wasn't all that bad. OS X's UI is significantly better, but it wasn't like Classic's problem was its UI.
- yyan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33How about bring back the smiling computer screen during boot.
:] - NSResponder, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16The control strip makes me shudder.
-jcr - inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -10/+22> but it wasn't like Classic's problem was its UI.
Yes actually, I think it was the problem. Apple coasted for a long time on the Classic UI because it was so revolutionary for its day. But by the late 90s, it was showing its age. There's this kind of mythical sheen that Mac users tend to put on the Classic UI because of its stature way back in the early days, but honestly, by the time Apple jumped to OS X, the classic UI was so outdated and clunky that it was almost an embarrassment. By 2000, I was right on the verge of jumping to Windows after using NT at work and seeing how far ahead Microsoft had gotten. I'm glad when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he didn't play down to this nostalgia crap that everyone was big on and just pulled the plug on it all. It was dead. Time to move on. - mariusaz, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4F classic. That's the whole reason I didn't buy a Mac until OS X came out.
- xdre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4> Yes actually, I think it was the problem. Apple coasted for a long time on the
> Classic UI because it was so revolutionary for its day. But by the late 90s, it
> was showing its age. There's this kind of mythical sheen that Mac users
> tend to put on the Classic UI because of its stature way back in the early
> days, but honestly, by the time Apple jumped to OS X, the classic UI was
> so outdated and clunky that it was almost an embarrassment.
I believe you're referring to eye-candy and the lack of PMT, not so much the UI itself.
Having said that, I *do* hope nobody actually wants to bring back the gawdawful Chooser. - inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1> I believe you're referring to eye-candy and the lack of
> PMT, not so much the UI itself.
No, I'm referring to the UI. PMT is a great thing, but CMT (cooperative) had its good sides too at the time. (For example, back then, my PC-using friends used to burn CD/coasters constantly but my Mac never did because the CD burning software could hog all the processor ticks it needed to get the job done.)
The UI was really showing its age in the late 90s. As things progressed and you find yourself managing not hundreds of personal files but thousands, the classic Mac UI was not suitable for that. I found NT's column-view style of file management to be shockingly better than the Mac at the time (so glad OS X brought that kind of approach to the Mac.) Also, its one-to-one relationship between folders and windows was an annoyance. A lot of things about the classic Mac UI was great in the late 80s and early 90s, but by 2000, it was no longer up to the task.
- Legato, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3#10s the only one i would actually use, but to each his own... it all depends on how you do stuff i guess
- GregR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Most of these items can be done now (with available software) or within the Finder or provided apps.
- braydonf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14TABBED FOLDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Seidoger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Couldn't live without them!!
Assigning apps to the F keys was also what Classic was all about! - StarManta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Seidoger:
Quicksilver. - tehnico, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Drag the folder onto the file side of the dock, beside the trash. Same effect. Do the same with the application folder for a handy app launcher.
In fact if you click and release the folder will open in a new window. If you click and hold, or right click (ctrl+click) a fly up of the folder contents will appear in a sub-menu format.
But nowadays that's the hard way. Like StarManta said, use QS. - Seidoger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh but you bet i use QuickSilver! I couldnt live without QS now
I was just saying that it was nice in OS9 hehehe.
- Seidoger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Couldn't live without them!!
- NSResponder, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2Luddites are lame. Windowshade doubly so.
-jcr - mvent2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Happy Mac and Clarus the Dogcow. Everything else is second priority.
- goingstuckey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Moof!
- PhantomBantam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Agreed. Sad mac I can do without (I don't like having heart-attacks).
- thxkbye, on 10/12/2007, -25/+3Who gives a *****. Get this ***** off the front page.
This is ***** getting real old.- MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Who gives a *****. Get this ***** off the front page.
This is ***** getting real old."
Almost as old as whining about Apple stories making the front page
- MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Who gives a *****. Get this ***** off the front page.
- foozlepop, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4The Mac OS 7/8/9 functionality that I miss the most is the chooser. Yes, the UI was clumsy by OS X standards, but collecting all the network resources (servers, printers) into a single window made a lot of sense -- no more cmd-K ... smb:// ... afp://, or worse, Applications/Utilities/Print Center, double click. Now that I think of it, being able to customize the apple menu with aliases was totally cool also. I suspect there is some shareware program/ osx hints recipe for hacking the OS X apple menu, but how inconvenient!
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6One of the problems with a customizable Apple menu is that it behaves radically differently than any other menu and therefore causes some UI confusion. Apple's approach in OS X is very logical. The Apple menu accesses system-wide stuff and is always there. For each application, the first menu accesses program-wide stuff and then becomes more and more specific as you move to the right. So, left to right, it's broader and more general down to narrower and more specific. It makes no sense to use that system-wide menu as a repository for whatever things you want to have there. The Dock serves that purpose anyway, and does far better, IMO, than the Apple menu ever did.
- brodsky13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1inkswamp: I don't entirely agree with your assessment. The tail end of an app's menu bar is not necessarily the most "specific". The "Help" menu is non-contextual, and setting aside modal sessions, it is available at all times and from all places within the app. Moreover, getting help usually launches a general purpose help file in the Help Viewer app, not a specific section that addresses a specific question (instead, that's what those little purple buttons are for). Or, consider the "Window" menu. It's common to almost all OS X apps and lists every open window in the app -- again, functionality that is more general than specific. I believe the order of menu items is influenced largely by frequency of use. You should rarely seek out help -- especially over time. Or take the Window menu, for example. You should rarely need to see a list of open windows to find what you're looking for. Apple-` works (unless you're using M$ Excel), as does Expose, as does efficiently laying out your windows on the screen. Conversely, you will almost always quit an app you've opened. Hence the Quit menu item is the leftmost menu item (excluding the apple menu). Now, I know that keyboard shortcuts undermine menu access frequencies... and menu items also need to cluster semantically, irrespective of how often they're used. Nevertheless, I'm willing to bet that if you look at the average access frequencies of the menu items in each menu of the menu bar you will see a nice rank ordering from left to right.
- MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3*****
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16> 1. WindowShade
Missed it until Exposé, now I wouldn't go back.
> 2. Trash Features: Put Away, Total Size Equals
Yep. Mac OS X's trash can is lame. I wish Apple would not only bring back the old touches, but would also steal some of the features the Windows recycle bin has.
> 3. Map any application or file to any F-key
Too esoteric. Few people need that and there are third-party freebie apps that will do it if you need it.
> 4. Ejecting one partition of a disk
Again, too esoteric. I've been using Macs for 15+ years and never relied on that feature.
> 5. Internet Helper preferences
> 6. Tabbed folders
> 7. Appearance themes
Haven't missed them. In general, OS X's interface makes these unnecessary (for me at least.)
> 8. Print Finder window
Still there if you know where to look.
> 9. Put URL of downloaded files in Get Info’s Comments field
That was kind of cool, but I can't recall the last time I relied on that.
> 10. Flash menubar on alert when sound is muted
Which was freakin' annoying if you actually wanted the alerts to just leave you alone both in sound and visuals. Apple retained this feature (it flashes the whole screen now) but put the on/off control in the Universal Access for people who need it.- otomo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0> 4. Ejecting one partition of a disk
Again, too esoteric. I've been using Macs for 15+ years and never relied on that feature.
No it isn't, and it is in Leopard BTW so your esoteric is obviously something someone requested.
And the reason? I have an external drive that has multiple partitions, I don't need the install dvd partition most of the time. So instead of blasting out terminal and umount /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD I can right click on it and eject just that one partition. It is more in line with the unix way anyway. Confused the hell out of me the first time I ejected every partition on the external drive. It doesn't make logical sense, and should be fixed. As for the rest, leave classic where it was.
As for the trash thing, keep it empty and who cares how much space you have. It is almost 2007, BACKUP.
And the url part is trivial to add with spotlight, submit a bug request for the feature instead of writing on a blog. If it gets rejected at least you will know you tried. - Midnightbrewer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"> 5. Internet Helper preferences
> 6. Tabbed folders
> 7. Appearance themes
Haven't missed them. In general, OS X's interface makes these unnecessary (for me at least.)"
I'd go with tabbed folders and the Internet Helper preferences. Tabbed folders are a personal thing, of course. Having to launch an application to change a system preference, however, is just bad design.
"> 8. Print Finder window
Still there if you know where to look."
Okay, where?
"> 9. Put URL of downloaded files in Get Info’s Comments field
That was kind of cool, but I can't recall the last time I relied on that."
Rely, no, but I can see where something like that would be useful for a lot of people, such as in research, education, etc. Knowing where you got something is good for citations as well as for finding more later. Having it automated just means the computer is doing what it's supposed to do; taking care of a tedious job that it can do faster and better than you.
"> 10. Flash menubar on alert when sound is muted
Which was freakin' annoying if you actually wanted the alerts to just leave you alone both in sound and visuals. Apple retained this feature (it flashes the whole screen now) but put the on/off control in the Universal Access for people who need it."
If you RTFA, you'll see that the Universal Access feature works all the time, whether the sound is muted or not. This isn't the same behavior as before, and requires more work to duplicate the result. - inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2> Okay, where?
Drag a folder on the Printer Setup Utility application and it will pop up a print dialog to print the window contents the same way Classic used to. They just removed it from the Finder's menus (and yes, I agree this way is a bit of a pain, but the feature *is* still there.)
> If you RTFA, you'll see that the Universal Access feature works all the
> time, whether the sound is muted or not. This isn't the same behavior
> as before, and requires more work to duplicate the result.
I *did* read the article, but my comment was more about how that old feature was actually a bit annoying. If you want all the alerts gone in OS X, you can do it. In Classic, you could not. You were stuck with that flash when the sound was muted. I like that OS X doesn't assume you want that on by default. - hargreae, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Drag a folder on the Printer Setup Utility application and it will pop up a print dialog to print the window contents the same way Classic used to."
It does not print the window contents nearly close to the same way Classic used to. It doesn't even print the window's name.
- otomo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0> 4. Ejecting one partition of a disk
- gaijintendo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4#9 http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/downloadsource.html
I am sure you can tweak some of the others. Nice retrospective, but this isn't going to change the world.- ishtiaque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2... zOMG... Thank you! I can't tell you how much this annoyed me. Smacks to me for not noticing, but that's incredibly useful.
Now the $1 million question... how do you copy the damn URL?
- ishtiaque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2... zOMG... Thank you! I can't tell you how much this annoyed me. Smacks to me for not noticing, but that's incredibly useful.
- aquahell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Command-N = New Folder. Totally threw me off when the changed the command to Command-Shift-N, and I still fall into that trap once in a while.
- iAlex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Awesome article. Between the MacPaint must come back!!! Mac OS must have a drawing program as default!
- Deegz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The tabbed folders can be replicated by placing a folder in the dock an then right clicking it!
Kind of useful if you wish to build dock collections for specific purposes ie one folder for internet apps, one for games etc... Just fill them with alias for the originals.- ishtiaque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no it can't. RTFA: it doesn't give you the same info/view as a proper folder view; also you can't pop it up by dragging an item to the dock.
- Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Mac user: "Right-click..? What's that??"
- payndz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My pet gripe about OS X compared to OS 8/9 - within applications, why the hell can't the Finder remember what I've just done, like switching out of column view into list view so that I can sort the files by date, which requires two mouse clicks, and default to that until I tell it otherwise? No, every time the Finder pops up I have to click list view, then the date column. *Every frickin' time.*
Am I missing something?- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Open a Finder window, set it to how you want it (i.e. position, view, size, etc.) Then close it. Open a Finder window again. If the window has the new settings, you're good. It should remember it. If not, redo all those steps and close it again. Be patient. Sometimes, it takes a few tries before it takes. Not sure why it works that way, but it does.
- pixelsoup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't know if this helps, but command-1, command-2, command-3 cycles through the different views (command-2 is list view) when a window is acive. You couldn't do that in OS9.
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Open a Finder window, set it to how you want it (i.e. position, view, size, etc.) Then close it. Open a Finder window again. If the window has the new settings, you're good. It should remember it. If not, redo all those steps and close it again. Be patient. Sometimes, it takes a few tries before it takes. Not sure why it works that way, but it does.
- Mono1ith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dragging a floppy or whatnot to the trash to eject it didn't bother me at the time, but is in fact pretty abritrary when you think about it. I didn't appreciate this until . . . 10.2 I think it was, when apple started putting the little eject icons next to volumes.
Good riddance to Classic.- nufoto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Apple-E will eject a volume in OS9.....Tabbed folders would be nice and a file sharing control panel or some thing similar built in not 3rd party. and perhaps a chooser type app...Ok and themes!!
- zkakisochra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In 10.4.8 I am able to eject individual partitions of an external drive.
- iamexcite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bring back the sad mac and the the bomb!
I remember a bomb icon sitting in a textless dialog box with a textless button which did nothing (Mac LC, System 7). Definitely able to convey "Oh #&*$!!!" better than a blue screen any day of the week. - macintux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0cool!
- chazcron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Call me crazy, but I miss having a sound for everything, including clicks and drags. I work in an office with several Macs and it was cool to hear all the little whirrings and pops. I always get a chuckle when rebooting an old mac into OS9 for whatever reason and hearing the ole noises.
- zmigliozzi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1tabbed folders in finder is my only complaint.
- davidlow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The time has come to stop comparing WindowShade to minimizing apps. WindowShade is less useful because of Exposé, not because of minimizing.
- Trams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow... what a great article. Although I now much prefer OS X to the Classic OS' of the past, I agree that there were some cool features that were left behind.
I remember when I first made the jump to OS X I was disappointed not to see some of the features I used frequently in 9. In fact, I remember not liking OS X at first because of this. Now, I love OS X, going back to 9 and below would be like going back to the stone-age.
I totally agree with this article. I would love to see these and some other 'Classic' features brought back and given a little facelift in OS X. - thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i donno man, i don't miss any of these things, esp the 2 below:
window shade = useless
blinking bars = obsolete (growl notifications) - anmol2k4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1another 10 things to do in apple mac osx
- anmol2k4, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1i hate to say this but apple fanboys are killing digg.
and yes i will disable apple.
you ppl are leaving us no choice.
with your 10 apps you should know but you dont know but you should do but you are not doing the way you should use not the way you are using ten easter eggs you must find out before you die ten key combination you must know ten things why apple is good and Linux and windows are not ten reason why you need to give premium for same power x86 computer etc etc etc............
what is the market share of apple ?
5% 7%
and rest of us find no use of such stories but still you keep posting rubbish again and again, but when such things come under the banner of Linux/ubuntu/compiz.xgl.aiglx.beryl then it is totally unbearable for you mac fan-boys. - ratzfatz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ inkswamp
I tried to drop a folder onto the printer utility - it won't work. I had to make a desktop printer symbol and to drop the folder on top of that. It prints an ugly list, including all these .files, no comments, no labels and what else I have done to make my printed window look useful. A nasty workaround is with command-shift-4 and pressing space, selecting the highlightes window, double click the screenshot, apply settings in the Preview application in order to have that file printed on 1 page. How nice and shiny is that?
I also miss the control-click in the resize box in the title bar of any window to have the window resizes just to about the size the content needs to show up completely. - astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess the RonCo ads did not make it:
"The MAC makes a perfect Christmas gift for anyone on your list. Pick
up the Mac at these fine stores (listing of RiteAid Pharmacy, TrueValue Hardware,
Happy Harry's)
** MAC Users in Convertible drive slow past Blonde **
"Hey, good-looking! We'll be back to ..umm...uuuhh...email... you later?" - malliemcg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+111. Cut and paste files within finder.
That one is driving me nuts! I hate having to copy files to external drive then delete the originals. Sure I could use mv from the command line, but sometimes I just want to be able to use the mouse - standing up moving stuff around for example.- hargreae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When moving files to an external drive, hold down the command key while using drag-and-drop. This will copy the file to the external drive AND remove it from the original drive immediately.
- honesttussey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Little Utility to find your trash size and empty it in OS X
http://tussey.dreamhosters.com/hazard/garbageman.html - abdim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why don't they fix the OS to stop freezing. Seriously, is it only me or do Macs seem to lock up a lot?
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You're talking about OS X? If OS X is freezing up on you, then you have a hardware issue. The OS is pretty solid. In 4+ years of using it, I've had only a handful of freezes--maybe 5 at most.
- cheeseballoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Oh man, this article made me a bit nastolgic, but these are some really well thought out ideas.
- mipadi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wouldn't mind seeing a less processor-intensive UI. Aqua certainly is beautiful, but Classic was a decent balance between attractiveness and efficiency. Sure, by the end of the 90s it showed its age a bit, but a less intense UI would be nice.
I know that won't happen, but I can dream.
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