A Look At OS X Yosemite And iOS 8.1
by Brandon Chester on October 27, 2014 8:00 AM ESTNotification Center
Notification Center on OS X has been in a strange situation for a while now. While some features like Spotlight Search transitioned from OS X to iOS, Notification Center went the other way. It has never felt like it had much reason to exist, and it has lacked in features compared to its iOS counterpart. This was made even more evident when iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks rolled out. iOS received the new Today view with new widgets for apps like Calendar, Reminders, and Stocks, while on Mavericks the only change was the removal of the linen texture as Apple began to transition away from their old style of interface design.
With iOS 8 and Yosemite we receive parity between the abilities and design of the two versions. With the new Yosemite interface being modeled on that of iOS, Apple has been able to bring the new translucent design of Notification Center to OS X, along with the new support for Today view and widgets. Notification Center is one of the best examples of the use of translucency to convey what parts of the interface are on a higher vertical plane than others. While in previous versions of OS X Notification Center pushed the desktop to the left, in Yosemite it simply comes in overtop of the desktop and even the Dock.
Today view gives Notification Center a greater purpose than it previously had. The ability to add widgets allows it to become a hub for getting key information at a glance, or performing quick actions. It's actually even more functional than on iOS because Apple has provided widgets for apps like Calculator which do not have widgets on iOS. A weather widget with a full forecast is also available to make up for the fact that OS X has no standalone weather app.
Because I always keep the dock visible, I can see what applications I need to check based on the red badge. As a result, I still don't use the actual notifications tab of Notification Center very often. But I do use the Today view to check what events I have coming up, what the current weather conditions are, and to do quick calculations using the Calculator widget. Overall I would say that Apple has done a good job with making Notification Center feel useful, and although not every part of it fits into the way I use my computer, I can still find ways to make use of it.
Spotlight Search
Spotlight receives some great improvements in Yosemite. I said in my iOS 8 review that I had never really used Spotlight on iOS because it didn't feel like it offered convenience or features that made it worth using. Apple's improvements actually made me start using it. The same was true of Spotlight on OS X. I had never used it until Yosemite rolled out with the new capabilities that Apple had built in. Spotlight on OS X has an even greater number of improvements than the iOS version, and it starts with the UI. The field for entering your search has gone from a tiny input field in the top right corner of your display to a large window that appears right in the center. This may sound obtrusive initially, but it is done this way because once you begin typing the window expands to the one you see below.
Spotlight now adopts a dual pane design, and it makes it infinitely more powerful and useful than its previous form which was a list of results situated in the top right corner of the display. The left side gives results from Safari, files on your Mac, applications, etc. The right side acts as a preview for what you have selected. This is really useful when trying to find a document when you aren't quite sure of the name, but know what you wrote in it. Rather than having to open every single document that could possibly be the one you're looking for, you can have Spotlight find all the documents with those keywords and you can preview them right in the window without ever having to go into the app itself.
Spotlight can also do quick conversions now. This feature is especially handy, and it's notably absent in the iOS version of Spotlight which shows there's still work to do in creating parity between the features that Apple has on both of their operating systems.
Overall, Spotlight search on OS X has some solid improvements and it's a good feature. It can be hard to get in the habit of using it if you previously ignored it on older versions of OS X, but it's a useful tool to have and I encourage anyone who uses OS X to take a look at it. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
As a long term OSX power user and a long term Android power user I feel constantly dissapointed by OSX updates.I certainly understand Apple efforts to unify their experiences and make them consistent under the same ecosystem. That's good for their business.
Unfortunately I'm on a situation where OSX for me is more a handicap than something I'd like to pay for, and that's something which is reinforced on every single release.
I fear that after 13 years my current MacBook Pro from 2012 will be my last Apple product. I will not use a system which is focused to my grandma and obfuscates all the advanced features under complex bash commands in an effort to make them not available to the users. I will not buy a 2K laptop with soldered RAM and battery, let alone the stupid joke the new iMac is.
I'm sad, because OS X has been my main driver for some many years. But I'm not buying the Apple ecosystem, and apparently that's all that Apple wants to sell now.
tim851 - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
What advanced features are obfuscated in 10.10 that weren't in 10.8?And what kind of power user is afraid of bash?
SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
Multi monitor is painful, and basically all the controls other than raising/lowering brightess/volume and activating trackpad gestures are taken as "advance" features and completely obfuscatedI'm not afraid of bash in any way. But there are many things that should have a UI purely for convenience. Apple doesn't build that because they treat their consumers as if they were idiots.
"It simply works" ... "and if not, just go find the solution in stackoverflow because we're not providing that info to you"
blackcrayon - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
You're not going to disprove statements like "it simply works" by saying things like "multi monitor is painful". HOW exactly? As with Mavericks some people like it better if they turn off "Displays have separate spaces" in the Mission Control system preference. I personally like the new way better, so I'm wondering where the "pain" is.darwinosx - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
You are "bashing" a product you clearly know nothing about so I really doubt you are an experienced user as pretty much everything you said is wrong. Try Windows or Linux. Bye.techconc - Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - link
When people make vague arguments and are not able to provide specifics, they come off as a troll. I'd like to think this isn't the case, but based on the comments provided, SirPerro is apparently just trolling. That's sad.If there is a specific issue, state your case and others will help you solve your problem. At this point, I doubt there is any such problem to speak of.
JimK85 - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
Here are some annoyances in OSX versus windows or Linux:1. Minimal Right-Click Context Menu. More clicking around to do things like simply creating a new folder
2. Wonky max/min window controls. Why cant I just maximize a window with "one" click
3. Far more extensive customization of task bars, toolbars in windows and linux versus the pretty dock and menus in OSX that are mostly "static".
4. Natively having the ability to rename multiple files with ease in windows is pretty handy.
5. Many apps in OSX cant do half screen windows...Why? In the windows/linux world any windowed app can be resized (this was a mistake Microsoft made with windows 8 which they are fixing in Win 10. )
I could go on but this isnt intended to be a bash OSX post. I'm sure we could list things about OSX that cant be done in windows or linux. I just find features I prefer are limited in OSX.
EnzoFX - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
1. Minimal? Apps can enhance right-click just as they do with Windows. Furthermore, what about shortcuts? I find OS X's shortcuts way more intuitive. I rarely use right-click because I can do most things with one click or a shortcut.2. Wonky? You clearly don't understand the intent of the "maximize" button, nevertheless if it's not for you, I can get that. But I wouldn't call it a con right away.
3. Uhm there are just as many apps that enhance the dock and menubar. I'd argue better ones over Win.
4. Renaming multiple files? Are you kidding me? OS X does this too you know.
I'm just gonna stop, you clearly haven't used the OS enough.
JimK85 - Sunday, November 2, 2014 - link
Some of these things are not native in OSX. You have to do it with a batch file or get an add on.osxandwindows - Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - link
I had all of this things sense OS X 10.6