Apple Lion OSX - New interface guidlines.

[archislave]

After five years of complaining about the old style 1980's Archicad Mac interface it seems Graphisoft will finally be required to update the interface to Modern OSX standards. They will have to offer a full screen mode with locking toolbars etc. This is my guess. I hope they will do some innovative stuff.

They should look at the new Autocad Mac GUI. Can't believe I said that ...

[Anonymous]

There are many wishes posted about an overhaul of the GUI in AC. While I think it would be good there are so many areas in deep s**t that I think it would be misguided to put limited GS resources to that task.
Also GS rely on compiling base software for each software - from what I gather such an approach lives little scope for platform specific features...

[archislave]

The difference this time is that Apple with create a label like "OSX Lion Ready" or something like that. Just like having the Intel build of Archicad ready for the switch back in 2006 this will be a similar effort I think.

I guess they can always run the risk of not updating it with the new required full screen mode, continuous save etc but it will not be blessed as an official Lion app. This new Lion is going to be a huge advance of OSX to a more modern way inheriting many cool and clean iOS attributes.

[Karl Ottenstein]

archislave wrote:
This new Lion is going to be a huge advance of OSX to a more modern way inheriting many cool and clean iOS attributes.

And finally (!) inheriting the Microsoft Windows functionality of being able to stretch the size of a window by any of the corners, not just the lower right. Such a "duh" thing, you wonder if MS had a patent on it or something that Apple was so stubborn to cripple such a simple thing for so many years...

[Ben Cohen]

Karl wrote:
And finally (!) inheriting the Microsoft Windows functionality of being able to stretch the size of a window by any of the corners, not just the lower right. Such a "duh" thing, you wonder if MS had a patent on it or something that Apple was so stubborn to cripple such a simple thing for so many years...

I didn't realize this Karl. This is the single most annoying part of the Mac OS. Thanks for the info

[archislave]

Apple has been encouraging it for years and provides this in it's own apps. It is going one step further in a way for Lion in that the full screen views are totally full screen focused experienced.

Let's see! OSX has been out for 10 years but none of the programmers especially of OS9 (and before) apps like Archicad have not take the time to really change anything except making sure it will run on the hardware.

In fact, Archicad is the most problematic app that I have on the Mac. I like windows Archicad much better. It is their laziness that has prevented the updating though.

I think most of the mentality is just left over from the 80's and 90's Mac experience. Now it appears apple if ready to enforce the new modes or they won't get listed in the Mac App Store for Lion or get a 'made for Lion' logo.

HELLO GRAPHISOFT! HAVE YOU STARTED THIS YET? LION IS COMING IN MAY!

[Ralph Wessel]

archislave wrote:
Now it appears apple if ready to enforce the new modes or they won't get listed in the Mac App Store for Lion or get a 'made for Lion' logo.

The Mac App Store is only for certain types of applications. All the regular methods for obtaining applications, e.g. purchase from another online store, download, purchase from retail outlets, and through resellers (like ArchiCAD), will all remain and continue to work as before.

I expect that most - perhaps all - professional applications will continue to be sold as they currently are, without even attempting to work through the App Store. I don't think Lion has any particular ramifications for Graphisoft at all.

[archislave]

No, I doubt they will make an effort, but the Ideal of fullscreen apps and continuous save is a nice idea. It is sad that the Mac Archicad GUI is so inferior to even windows and they have never made an attempt to rid the clutter and scattered nature of the toolbars and palettes.

The only way to deal with it is to have saved environment schemes. I have a scheme for a 20" lcd and then one for the macbook alone. It takes several menus and clicks to reset it.

[Anonymous]

archislave wrote:
It is sad that the Mac Archicad GUI is so inferior to even windows and they have never made an attempt to rid the clutter and scattered nature of the toolbars and palettes.

While I agree that an interface overhaul could be great for both platforms if it's done right (unlike the abominable ribbon that all the Autodesk products have now), I don't agree that the current ArchiCAD Windows interface is superior to the Mac.

I use both and see pros and cons in each, but generally prefer the Mac since I regularly use palettes that don't dock in Windows which makes a bit of a mess of things. The Windows docking (as implemented in ArchiCAD) for the palettes that do dock is also rather frustrating. I find I can't get them organized quite the way I want and have to put up with annoying compromises that waste screen space.

NavisWorks does a much better job of allowing a finely tuned organization of the palettes and, as far as I have seen, all the palettes will dock. If ArchiCAD on Windows had the same palette docking as Navis I would concede a significant advantage there.

On the Mac side it would be a big improvement if the palettes were just rationalized to more standard widths so that they would be easier to arrange and align without having to tweak out the odd one to two pixel gaps. Even better would be if the Mac palettes could be merged into single assemblies rather than just snapped together as they are now.

One thing I do give GS credit for is that the behavior of the main windows relative to the palettes is better than in the other products I've use. I find it very annoying when I maximize a window in InDesign or Photoshop and it goes to the extents of the screen leaving all the palettes obscuring the edges. In ArchiCAD it finds the space available within the open palettes.

[Ralph Wessel]

Matthew wrote:
...an interface overhaul could be great for both platforms if it's done right (unlike the abominable ribbon that all the Autodesk products have now)

The ribbon concept is an abomination - one that I hope we never see in ArchiCAD. It's like Kid Pix without the fun. I can barely tolerate products like MS Office that have embraced it - the loss in productivity is frightening.