* Chris Devers <cdev...@pobox.com> [2009-12-23 20:25]: > The problem, of course, is that Spaces fucks this up royally, > as it seems to take a drunken, blindfolded dartboard approach > to window management that is best used with grim resignation > and willingness to accept such mere considerations as window > focus as little unexpected gifts of manna from the Apple OS > gods. > > But it's really not that bad if you just pretend Spaces never > happened.
I have the distinct impression that the MacOS UI design is past its due date. While not always to my preference, I can appreciate the thoughtful coherency of the original design (top menu bar, no click-through, application-centric windowing model, etc.). But all of these decisions fall apart at the resolutions that are now becoming common. The top of the screen is no longer just one wrist flick away from the pointer; having the menu bar on only one screen if several are attached severely degrades the utility of the extra screens; the application-centric metaphor is kinda tied to the top-of-screen menu bar; it doesn't gracefully extend to virtual desktops... The whole thing just no longer works. It was well-designed for a medium resolution, single monitor, no virtual desktops UI, which was what the Mac had for 20 years. But that is now in the past. Apple started from scratch for the iPhone, and given the above there clearly was good reason. I wonder if they can bring themselves to now start over with MacOS X too... Regards, -- Aristotle Pagaltzis // <http://plasmasturm.org/>
