First of all: I really love my mac and I love OSX! I really used my former Mac with Snow Leopard installed on it like no other computer or device, because there was a really great simplicity and neat UI Design.
BUT
What the heck did they do with Lion? The first time I looked at it I thought, that it might be quite nice. The first time I used it, I thought, that it’s cool, but not that great step to the future. Now I used it for more than a month and i think: „what the heck?“
Okay. very long intro – here some few various facts:
1. Finder Icons
Okay. I understand the following principles: „Make it more simple.“ / „Focus on the content.“ That is shit. In this case it is very important for the user, that you have some kind of a recognition value. I want to use the Finder-Interface as fast and efficient as possible. For an efficient sidebar on the one hand responsible is the continuous order of the icons+text. On the other hand it is/was the color combined with the form of the icon. Now its gone. But yeah, it’s more simpler. Here it is: simple != efficient.
2. (small thing) Window Buttons
And again. Efficiency. For example: Under OSX the menubar, where you can access nearly all features of a application is on the top of the screen. This makes it efficient. You don’t have to point there, you just take your mouse cursor and throw him to the top of the screen. It hits the menubar.
The new „window-control-buttons“ are harder to hit than before. They are smaller. But why? They are very important for users who don’t use their entire OS with the keyboard. But yeah, sure – it looks better. It is an operating system, not a portfolio for an photographer.
3. New „Spaces“
First of all, there are full screen apps now. Every full screen app has like its own space. So there is my surf space (or called desktop now), my graphic apps space and my coding space. Plus all those fullscreen apps. How do I navigate to another space? With Snow Leopard I had my shortcuts like alt+1, alt+2, alt+3 – Now, depending on how much fullscreen apps you have running, you have something like up to 5, 6 or even more spaces. I don’t want to press alt+6, its like breaking my fingers – and I can’t even find the settings how to set up the shortcuts within Lion.
But Apple has the solution right from the scratch. Making the spaces sorting automatically. I really don’t want that. Okay. How about making a very simple and obvious solution? Sort your spaces manually within Mission Control. Not possible!
4. (smaller thing) Start where you left
Lions new „feature“ for Apps to start them like you quit them is quite a mess. I’ll just make one, simple example here:
Im opening 100 pictures from a CD with the Preview.app. I’m done looking at them, I close Preview.app with CMD+Q. There is another folder with another 100 pictures on the CD and I’m opening them with the Preview.app. What happens? Preview.app opens – The first thing I’m seeing is the 100 pictures of the folder I looked at 5 minutes ago. What the …? I want to see the pictures I just opened.
5. Dock Unread Count Indicator
See the unread count on Sparrow? Now? Me neither. Really Apple, what happened right here? Not all people on the world leave the Dock settings on their Mac untouched. But yeah, bring something „good“ of the iPad „back to the mac“.
For now. That’s it. Don’t take it too serious. All in all it is my personal opinion mixed up with some knowledge I acquired the last few years. But it’s some kind of frustrating, that Apple isn’t really loving the Details any more on the desktop operating system. They’re trying to make it all more like a big metaphor, with fancy textures on the iCal bar or an Address Book with fancy, glossy buttons and textures and inverse scrolling. But they ain’t love the details any more.
