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human interface

Using and understanding some AppKit controls, examples from Ulbow

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How to get the best out of a Combo box, and all about Pop-up Buttons, Text Fields, Date Pickers and more.

January 6, 2020 Macs, Technology

Apple, meet WYSIWYG; it’s the way Macs used to work

It may seem minor, but what TextEdit has been doing for the last 6 months is a travesty of what made the Mac.

July 25, 2019 Macs, Technology

TextEdit 1.14: Not the Dark Mode you’d expect

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Not mentioned in the release notes, the new version of TextEdit is a bold attempt to provide a Dark Mode which is infuriating, confusing, and inconsistent. Avoid it.

December 6, 2018 Macs, Technology

How to stop Dark Mode becoming Chequer Mode

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Global Dark Mode poses problems with styled text which cannot be solved well without giving the user control over the mode used by that app.

June 20, 2018 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Is Dark Mode overdesigned?

It’s not just inversion of display colours, but has colour tinting from the Desktop, accents which change the colour of controls, and all icons need to be redesigned. Just to be cool?

June 17, 2018 Macs, Technology

Inside iCloud with Cirrus 1.0b5: Paths and containers

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Illustrated workthrough with Desktop & Documents Folders option turned on, showing file layouts in the GUI and file system. And a new version of Cirrus to do it with.

May 4, 2018 Macs, Technology

Going for iCloud Drive, or the whole way with Desktop & Documents Folders?

A detailed look at the presentation of folders and files in the Finder, GUI, Terminal, and FileManager in different iCloud options.

May 3, 2018 Macs, Technology

Last Week on my Mac: Consistency and iCloud

Consistency is an overriding design principle for the human interface. However you use iCloud storage, it adopts different behaviours from those of the Finder. Apple needs to evolve the iCloud interface to improve it, and to empower the user.

April 29, 2018 Macs, Technology

How to deter your customers

Two recent retail experiences remind me of my mis-spent youth, when I learned the hard way what it takes to sell to customers.

July 29, 2017 General, Life, Technology

Fetch a translator: Apple says it has ‘fixed’ the App Store app

Sierra 10.12.5 claims that the App Store app has been enhanced. That’s not what I have seen.

May 18, 2017 Macs, Technology

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