The next version of Mac OS X will deliver an updated version of iChat capable of logging into Yahoo IM accounts, providing an improved experience when using multiple accounts, and adding web page sharing in iChat Theater.
The fragmented world of IM
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Inside Mac OS X 10.7: Apple to strip most Aqua glossv
Apple's next desktop operating system release will tone down much of the Aqua user interface and change how screen captures handle windows' drop down sheets.
The most obvious Aqua gloss stripped from Mac OS X Lion involves scroll bars, which are replaced with iOS-like, grey segments that disappear when not in use. The Finder and Mail also drop the use of bubbly, colorful toolbar and source-list icons, indicating a general preference for simpler, monochromatic icons similar to those used in iPad apps.
Also missing are the Aqua pill buttons in the upper right corner of windows in the Finder and certain other apps, which currently display or hide the window's toolbar. These have been replaced by the Full Screen control used in apps that support that mode.
Across the interface, while Aqua highlighting still exists, much of the "blue gel" has been dialed down. For example, the standard Font panel uses a plain slider control rather than a blue bubble.
A variety of rounded buttons are now replaced with more squared off rectangles, and popup menus now lack a blue button selection indicator, as the Cell Background control in the Table panel from TextEdit indicates.
The standard print sheet also demonstrates the more square and conservative use of Aqua highlights used throughout the interface (with the help button now lacking a purple fill).
The screen shots below also show another new feature of Lion: screen shots of a drop down sheet now include the window they are connected to, rather than just capturing the sheet itself.
The most obvious Aqua gloss stripped from Mac OS X Lion involves scroll bars, which are replaced with iOS-like, grey segments that disappear when not in use. The Finder and Mail also drop the use of bubbly, colorful toolbar and source-list icons, indicating a general preference for simpler, monochromatic icons similar to those used in iPad apps.
Also missing are the Aqua pill buttons in the upper right corner of windows in the Finder and certain other apps, which currently display or hide the window's toolbar. These have been replaced by the Full Screen control used in apps that support that mode.
Across the interface, while Aqua highlighting still exists, much of the "blue gel" has been dialed down. For example, the standard Font panel uses a plain slider control rather than a blue bubble.
A variety of rounded buttons are now replaced with more squared off rectangles, and popup menus now lack a blue button selection indicator, as the Cell Background control in the Table panel from TextEdit indicates.
The standard print sheet also demonstrates the more square and conservative use of Aqua highlights used throughout the interface (with the help button now lacking a purple fill).
The screen shots below also show another new feature of Lion: screen shots of a drop down sheet now include the window they are connected to, rather than just capturing the sheet itself.
Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: TextEdit adds vertical layout, graphical toolbar
Mac OS X's bare bones text editor gets some attention in the coming release of Lion, adding support for vertical layouts for East Asian languages, as well as a graphical menu bar with font selection and text highlighting.
TextEdit demonstrates Apple's new automatic file saving and versions technologies in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which replaces the app's simple autosave feature (previously set to save a backup copy every 30 seconds).
Along with the new document saving model, the humble TextEdit leaps all the way from its current version 1.6 to Lion's 1.7 by replacing its text-heavy, non-standard toolbar with a similarly non-standard (and non-configurable) one that at least presents paragraph style, line spacing, and list options graphically.
The new toolbar also adds font face, weight and size controls, color well controls for both text color and text highlighting, and bold/italic/underline buttons.
For users typing in a language that supports vertical text layout, such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, a new option enables vertical text layout. While Roman characters are simply printed sideways in vertical layouts, certain East Asian scripts print their ideograms in a stack vertically, which is supported in Mac OS X's underlying Core Text API and exposed for use in Lion's new TextEdit.
Note that when the app is put into vertical text layout, Roman characters are printed sideways while the Japanese glyphs are stacked vertically on top of each other (below).
TextEdit demonstrates Apple's new automatic file saving and versions technologies in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which replaces the app's simple autosave feature (previously set to save a backup copy every 30 seconds).
Along with the new document saving model, the humble TextEdit leaps all the way from its current version 1.6 to Lion's 1.7 by replacing its text-heavy, non-standard toolbar with a similarly non-standard (and non-configurable) one that at least presents paragraph style, line spacing, and list options graphically.
The new toolbar also adds font face, weight and size controls, color well controls for both text color and text highlighting, and bold/italic/underline buttons.
For users typing in a language that supports vertical text layout, such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, a new option enables vertical text layout. While Roman characters are simply printed sideways in vertical layouts, certain East Asian scripts print their ideograms in a stack vertically, which is supported in Mac OS X's underlying Core Text API and exposed for use in Lion's new TextEdit.
Note that when the app is put into vertical text layout, Roman characters are printed sideways while the Japanese glyphs are stacked vertically on top of each other (below).
Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: New dictionaries, multiple word views, multitouch lookups
Mac OS X Lion adds polish to the bundled Dictionary app, with new dictionaries and an improved multi-pane interface. The system also improves overall dictionary functions with enhanced Spotlight integration and multitouch support for inline text lookups.
New reference files
The Dictionary app in Mac OS X Lion updates its existing "New Oxford American English" dictionary to the third edition of 2010 (current versions use the second edition from 2005).
A new Oxford Dictionary of [British] English is now included, also the third edition of 2010, and a companion British English Thesaurus now joins the American English version.
The Japanese, Japanese-English, and Japanese Synonym dictionaries from Shogakukan are also updated, bearing a 2010 copyright compared to the existing 2006 version. Apple has also updated its own dictionary file, which includes the company's trademarks and product names.
Better app, system integration
The app itself now uses a two pane display, making it easy to reference a list of words, phrases, or Wikipedia entires in alphabetical order, rather than just one definition at a time.
Additionally, definition functions built into Spotlight now popup with a full definition preview, rather than just displaying the first few words.
Lastly, double clicking with three fingers on a selected word in any standard app now brings up the inline dictionary, which formerly required selecting "Look Up In Dictionary" from the contextual menu. A preference setting within Dictionary selects whether the contextual menu command will open the inline mini-dictionary panel or to launch the full Dictionary app.
New reference files
The Dictionary app in Mac OS X Lion updates its existing "New Oxford American English" dictionary to the third edition of 2010 (current versions use the second edition from 2005).
A new Oxford Dictionary of [British] English is now included, also the third edition of 2010, and a companion British English Thesaurus now joins the American English version.
The Japanese, Japanese-English, and Japanese Synonym dictionaries from Shogakukan are also updated, bearing a 2010 copyright compared to the existing 2006 version. Apple has also updated its own dictionary file, which includes the company's trademarks and product names.
Better app, system integration
The app itself now uses a two pane display, making it easy to reference a list of words, phrases, or Wikipedia entires in alphabetical order, rather than just one definition at a time.
Additionally, definition functions built into Spotlight now popup with a full definition preview, rather than just displaying the first few words.
Lastly, double clicking with three fingers on a selected word in any standard app now brings up the inline dictionary, which formerly required selecting "Look Up In Dictionary" from the contextual menu. A preference setting within Dictionary selects whether the contextual menu command will open the inline mini-dictionary panel or to launch the full Dictionary app.
Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: iTunes Screen Saver controls music playback
In Mac OS X Lion, Apple's iTunes Screen Saver shifts from a way to passively display album art into an interactive way to play music.
In Snow Leopard, the iTunes Screen Saver creates an animated display of flipping tiles based on the album art within your music collection.
In Lion, the system now allows users to hover over album art on the screen while the screen saver is active, with albums popping up to reveal a play button (depicted below).
Song playback can subsequently be controlled or changed between any of the album titles being displayed, offering a novel way to rediscover music in your collection.
To dismiss the screen saver, the keyboard must be tapped. Currently, any mouse movement will dismiss the active screen saver (or prompt the user to login, if security settings require that).
The new iTunes Screen Saver option demonstrates the expanded programatic control present in Lion screen savers, which leverage a Screen Saver Framework to create specialized Cocoa apps that run under conditions the user defines within the Screen Saver pane of System Preferences.
In previous Mac OS X releases, Apple added RSS Visualizer and Word of the Day screen savers that drew animated content from the dictionary or external RSS feeds. Similarly complex visualizations that dynamically import data can also be created using Apple's graphical development tool, Quartz Composer.
In Snow Leopard, the iTunes Screen Saver creates an animated display of flipping tiles based on the album art within your music collection.
In Lion, the system now allows users to hover over album art on the screen while the screen saver is active, with albums popping up to reveal a play button (depicted below).
Song playback can subsequently be controlled or changed between any of the album titles being displayed, offering a novel way to rediscover music in your collection.
To dismiss the screen saver, the keyboard must be tapped. Currently, any mouse movement will dismiss the active screen saver (or prompt the user to login, if security settings require that).
The new iTunes Screen Saver option demonstrates the expanded programatic control present in Lion screen savers, which leverage a Screen Saver Framework to create specialized Cocoa apps that run under conditions the user defines within the Screen Saver pane of System Preferences.
In previous Mac OS X releases, Apple added RSS Visualizer and Word of the Day screen savers that drew animated content from the dictionary or external RSS feeds. Similarly complex visualizations that dynamically import data can also be created using Apple's graphical development tool, Quartz Composer.
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