The Apple Menu: Apple was right

[philm]

When the first versions of OS X were introduced, there was no Apple Menu as we had become used to, just a lone Apple icon in the middle of the menu bar with no functionality.

There was a clamour of disbelief from users and Apple compromised with the icon in the usual position with a range of miscellaneous functions.

I reckon that they were right. The functions that the Apple Menu now has are an odd bunch indeed. Its features are anacronistic and could have been handled better via a Dock component. Apple was right: they should have left us with a symbolic-but-non-functional Apple icon after all.

Or am I missing something?

Phil

[posthumanus]

at least i can restart from there (without pressing the button) whenever system prefs siezes up due to some shonky screensaver download.

apparently copious button restarts can contribute to a logic board meltdown. yes/no? i just paid aus$760 to learn that snippet of information.

is there a reason why the finder & apple menus can't be one?

[pilauh]

you're right !!

[biscuit]

Well, no.

Firstly, if the Apple didn't do anything that would be confusing, everything else in the menu bar does something when clicked.

Second, it would've looked damned silly in the middle, especially on smaller screens where menus are likely to encroach upon it. As I type this, Chimera's Help menu is sitting squarely in the centre of the menu bar.

Thirdly, although disparate, the functions in the Apple Menu are useful and its not a bad place to put them. I think the functions need to be expanded and made a bit more customisable. Then it'd be more useful.

Forthly, you can't expect the Dock to do everything. A lot of people consider it to have too many functions already.

biscuit

[Nonsuch]

I like the current Apple menu very much; it makes sense in a way the old one never did. And it certainly makes more sense than a dead icon in the middle of the menubar.

[snerdini]

The current Apple menu makes perfect sense to me: they are options that you can access no matter what program is currently selected. If it became a part of the application menu, then the application's programmer would be responsible for putting in the correct menu items (which wouldn't always happen), and really, it doesn't make sense to have "Shutdown..." in the application's menu anyway. How many (non power-)users would confuse "Shutdown" with "Quit" and get frustrated when their computer asks if they really want to shutdown...

[file]

from a perspective from someone who just switched and is new...

makes perfect sense to me

and although i don't hate MS XP...after a month now i feel stupid to use windows for so long. Windows is incredibly restricting and very annoying

[Terri]

I keep my drive in the Apple menu, a folder of my jobs, a bunch of apps that I don't use a lot, but still want fast access to. I pretty much use my Apple menu just the way I have always used it.

I use my dock more as an App switcher more then anything. I do like the way I can keep my often used apps in it. I also keep a few folders in it, but very few. Mostly some folders of stuff that I drag and drop files on, kind of like what I used to do with tabbed folders. It's annoying that they don't open and close the way tabbed folders did. I use Windowshade so that my minimized windows don't go into the dock. I wish that it could be moved to my second monitor.

[macmike42]

Originally posted by Terri:
I wish that it could be moved to my second monitor.

You probably can! I don't have a second monitor on this machine any more, but this should still work (worked as of 10.1.3):

I used to have my second monitor on the right side of my main monitor, and if I chose to pin my dock to the right, it would appear on the second monitor, all the way to the right.

It would stand to reason that if you want the dock to be on the bottom of the second monitor, you could position the bottom of it (the monitor, via the display system prefpane) slightly below the main monitor, and the dock should appear on the second monitor.

Let me know if this works!

[mitchell_pgh]

I like it just the way it is...

[:XI:]

the (new) apple menu is fine how it is, i suppose it took over the job from the special menu.
oh, and has anyone else turned off the hard drive on the desktop? i have, i din't really use it much ;)

[snerdini]

Originally posted by :XI::
the (new) apple menu is fine how it is, i suppose it took over the job from the special menu.
oh, and has anyone else turned off the hard drive on the desktop? i have, i din't really use it much ;)

I did too. I did leave the network shares and external volumes (i.e. CDs) though. Love that setup :D

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by :XI::

oh, and has anyone else turned off the hard drive on the desktop? i have, i din't really use it much ;)

Since the day I first booted 10.0. Never miss it.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by :XI::
the (new) apple menu is fine how it is, i suppose it took over the job from the special menu.
oh, and has anyone else turned off the hard drive on the desktop? i have, i din't really use it much ;)
I did.

[Phanguye]

i have mine on the desktop... only becuase i have the text displaying how much space is left on it... i have never really clicked on it tho... i just think it looks cool i guess

[marnie]

i use Fruit Menu (another great shareware from unsanity (http://www.unsanity.com) mostly because i was rather annoyed with the layout of the new apple menu in X. Fruit menu lets you even get rid of the spaces which I personally find superfluous. Also allows me to add a System Prefs dropdown to the menu which I did miss (in the form of the old control panels) because I found it awkward to go to the dock for prefs.

[waffffffle]

I don't agree. I find the apple menu to be a great resource in OS 9 (although I haven't booted into 9 in months). I would use fruit menu but I'm too cheap/poor. I really think Apple needs to bring back the full funtionality of the Apple menu and let users decide exactly what goes into that menu. If a use decides that they do not want to use the Apple menu for anything extra that's fine, but they should at least be given the ability to put anything in there.

[marnie]

Originally posted by waffffffle:
I would use fruit menu but I'm too cheap/poor.

it's only $7, but if you really cand spend the cash the demo is fully functioning with a warning alert every now and then (not often enough to be truly annoying to the point of making you tear your hair out.

[Terri]

Originally posted by macmike42:
I used to have my second monitor on the right side of my main monitor, and if I chose to pin my dock to the right, it would appear on the second monitor, all the way to the right.

I want it on the left side of the right monitor. This is how I have the application switcher set under System 9.

[Nonsuch]

Actually I use Fruit Menu too, only to reorder a few things and add spaces where I want. I think the menu as set by Apple is very close to Just Right. I like being able to tinker with it, but I don't want to see a resurgence of the old, cluttered, "ah, just throw it in the Apple menu" Apple menu.

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by Terri:


I want it on the left side of the right monitor. This is how I have the application switcher set under System 9.

Terri, have you adopted any native OS X UI behavior, or will you not rest until you're running a pixel-perfect copy of the 9 UI? I'm genuinely curious.

[Terri]

Originally posted by Nonsuch:


Terri, have you adopted any native OS X UI behavior, or will you not rest until you're running a pixel-perfect copy of the 9 UI? I'm genuinely curious.

I adopt whatever works the best for me in my workflow. I like two button mice. I like being able to keep my often use apps in my dock. I like file permissions and love the UNIX that is under the GUI. Not crashing is real nice.

I Like System 10, but it is still missing too much for it to be on my main workstation or anybody else that I know who works in the same field as I do.

I have it two of my computers and love it there. One is an old beige G3 tower that I put an 80 gig drive in and it is my music server for my house. I digitized all my CDs and love 10.2 on that machine. In fact other then ASM I use 10.2 just the way Apple says we should and love it.

I also have it on my G3 Powerbook. It has Windowshade, Fruit menu, ASM, Tinkertool, SNAX, and a few other things. It works very well for what I use my Powerbook for,

My G4 dual monitor computer that I do print and web work on I find 10.2 lacking in many ways. It is just about always booted in 9.2 because that is what is most productive for me. I do get about two crashes a week which sucks so I do look forward to the day that it too can run System 10.

[Xtraz]

I also like the new Apple menu a lot, since the Dock really takes care of most of what I do with the OS 9 Apple menu anyway... except the fact that I need to right-click on a folder to have a pop-up menu of my applications alias'. I wish they made it an option to just single-regular-click without holding to open a folder as a menu.

Also, does anyone actually click on "Get Mac OS X Software... " item? I find it a waste of space.

[Deal]

Shshshsh,

....it's just fine.

[OreoCookie]

I like it the way it is.
I have put the app folder in the Apple menu back in the OS 9 days, but I got the Dock now and rarely touch it.