New Leopard UI for Mac AC

[Rob]

I absolutely love Leopard's toolbar thing and the way you can customize it.
I want to have that in AC12!!!!

On the other hand (having switched to Mac just recently from Win) I just wonder Mac guys how can you work with AC UI as it is?! It is just all over the fucking place! It is ridiculous having those bits and pieces - the separate status bar is plainly silly or those small individual toolbars floating on separate palettes - that's fucking crazy.

Toolbars and Info box should be integrated into Leopard's toolbar for god sake!!!
a good example would be iWorks'08 - love it, I do not want to touch msoffice any more....

[Thomas Holm]

Not having installed Leopard yet (I tend to wait for the .1 releases), i sort of wonder what you exactly refer to by "Leopard's toolbar"? Screenshot, maybe?

Being a long-time Mac and Archicad user, maybe too lazy and buried in old habits, I tend to like the AC Mac UI. I like being able to move everything around where I want it, and I like not wasting screen pixels in the half-empty docking areas or half-filled window top tool bars too common in Windows. (I've used both - I had them in Microstation on the Mac too)

There are really only two things I miss in AC/Mac's UI:
I want two commands:
1. Dock All Palettes Etc. To Current Screen Edges, (self-explaining I guess) and
2. Arrange All Windows (Including Palettes Etc.) Within Current Main Screen.

I want these because I use Archicad on a laptop, sometimes with a big external screen connected and used as main screen, sometimes without. And in the latter case, if I have saved a project using the big screen without thinking, sometimes one or the other of the palettes gets lost outside of the screen area. Or some project window is saved too big and is only half-visible on the small screen. And the only way to get them back is to reload the original workspace, which has other implications as well.

[Rob]

the half-empty docking areas or half-filled window top tool bars too common in Windows.

I agree, but you have to admit that the status bar is really idiotic on Mac, I just can't believe that GS got away with it...
I am very 'click-on' person and I really enjoy clicking on icons as oppose to keyboard shortcuts therefore I need to have a clear organisation of my workspace and clearly with the AC toolbars just floating around it is not possible. Do not get me wrong I like the floating toolbox, navigator etc but toolbar commands should be organised better.

I can't add any of the attachments because safari has some problems with it... but the toolbar is that strip at the very top of any window with buttons on it and when you right-click on it you hit customise toolbar... option and you can choose from the range of possible icons (buttons)

[Eduardo Rolon]

On the attachment problem just press submit don't hit preview it will give an error but it will post it.

BTW my prize for the almost perfect UI for an application goes to Adobe's CS3 apps. They collapse automatically to an icon, they open on command, stretch etc.

[Rob]

attached snapshot of iWorks toolbar with comments as pdf. apparently jpg attachments do not work at the moment.

anyway, there is some grey space as mentioned above (saving each pixel) however this is the latest Apple's guideline for an application UI. And I fully agree as it is much, much better (clearer).

I am a bit disappointed that those win fellas are better off in terms of AC UI at the moment. As I said I love new Leopard's interface which is much more superior to anything on windows but after my first full-on working experience with current AC UI on Mac - well, I reckon it is time to move on and consider 'some of that grey space' as a positive thingy.

and in addition that would be a good opportunity for GS designers to provide us with new and nicer set of icons...yupiii

[Anonymous]

Rob wrote:
I am a bit disappointed that those win fellas are better off in terms of AC UI at the moment.

I use both regularly (since 1996) and don't agree that Windows is better. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I generally prefer the floating palettes and windows of the Mac. It does seem that a single dock for the toolbars would be an improvement on the Mac, and I like the way the vertical palettes share the space on Windows compared to the clip together stuff on the Mac. The Mac is WAY better for GDL editing though.

It would be nice to see a make over on both sides though. Leopard's got some great stuff (though I haven't seen CS3 yet). I don't know Vista yet. Never in a big hurry to upgrade - usually wait for SP1.

BTW: anyone changing screen resolutions on their Macs should get MondoMouse - you can move and resize any window, covered by palettes or even in the background. Very cool.

[Thomas Holm]

I agree with Matthew. The pages interface looks good, but for a more complex program like Archicad it wastes too much pixels.

I've got Mondo Mouse. Nice, but I'm not completely happy, It interferes too much with my keyboard habits, and I don't like relearning

[Rob]

The pages interface looks good, but for a more complex program like Archicad it wastes too much pixels.

this does not make any sense mate... like a more complex application should waste less pixels???? the comfortable usability does not have nothing to do with the pixel use (and pardon me all of that pixel use is a nonsense). the paramount should be the UI clarity whatever 'grey space' it takes and how much blasphemy it will make in your church of floating madness. Apparently Apple has realised that and thus the push for new toolbar in X.5.

We should get updated as OSX does and just move on...

[Thomas Holm]

Rob wrote:

the paramount should be the UI clarity whatever 'grey space' it takes and how much blasphemy it will make in your church of floating madness

OK OK ... I'm shouting 'Hallelujah' in my church of