10.5.2 fixes Stacks!
HOORAY!
It seems that our daily e-mails to Apple just might have gotten to someone on the Leopard development team! According to a source familiar with the latest Leopard build seeded to developers, in addition to all those meaningless “little” fixes (like Data Detectors, the Mac OS X Dock, the Finder, grammar checking, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Quick Look, Rosetta, Safari, Time Machine, and AirPort), our source tells us that Apple has fixed Stacks by adding the missing “list view” option that should have been there all along!
But that’s not all.
According to the source, “you can display it as a stack or an icon so you know what you’re looking at. The animations seem smoother now, too. Grid view looks bit better as well.”
3rd party developers tried to make up for Stack’s shortcomings with offerings like DockAppsMenu, but it’s nice to see a native solution is in the works.
Sounds pretty sweet, although the source claims the new list view may have come at the expense of grid view; “if I have a stack with lots of items and I have it open using the grid, it freezes the computer up”.
Well, hey, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right? We’re guessing this update will officially drop at Macworld, if not the weekend before.
UPDATE: Yeah, it works on the side too.
I’m going to be one happy camper if this proves to be legitimate.
I want them to fix the transparency issue with the menus. They’re so transparent and blurry that when they’re over normal text (like in the mail app, or for anyone who programs for a living) it’s like reading a paper with smudged wet ink on it.
kinda like this: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~l381ss02/process/images/pics/inksink.jpg
Also, in stacks, they need a way to tell applications they can’t steal focus. iChat is always yanking me away from what im doing for its retarded popups i cant turn off whenever someone new who’s already on my buddy list messages me. I plan to get Chax when it’s stable, but for now i just have to suffer.
Stacks is also annoying, so I’m glad they fixed something, but there are at least a dozen things that could be more “rounded out” with this OS, starting with the above mentioned items 😉
You Dock on the screenshots look great! From where does it come?
I’ll have to see what it does before I get excited. Its not bad now, except you should be able to choose the icon for the outmost item.
nooooo! I love grid view!! I want the list view too but not at expense of the grid view.
Stacks could use some improvements, but they are still good the way they are now.
Yes Jeffrey! I’ve been bothered by OS X apps stealing focus I think since it first came out. One of the things that I loved about OS 9 was that if an app in the background wanted my attention a sound would bleep or some other subtle notification would happen.
In OS X it seems more often than not the rule is that apps quite frequently steal the focus. I end up typing half of what I’m typing into the wrong application. I dunno when that’s ever going to be fixed, as it’s not a Leopard issue. I’m still on Tiger, and it bugs me several times a day.
marc,
Don’t worry. We’re sure grid view is here to stay, and any bugs will be ironed out in future builds, and there’s always the chance it was something unique to his/her system.
-The Doc
Thanks for the info…so what about that dock? Is that a new option in 10.2 or just a third party haxie?
The Dock is a hack fromLeopardDocks called “True Dock”.
-The (True) Doc
Does it work when the Dock is on the side? Right now, you can only get grid view.
If this proves true, it would be awesome. I was so used to using folders in the dock this way in Tiger and was pretty amazed it wasn’t at least an option in Leopard.
Well, it’s a good start, but I’m still hoping they’ll allow the ability to lock the stack icon so it doesn’t change every time the top item changes. Next, a return to full colour folder icons, replacing those fuzzy blue dots, plus an option to adjust the transparency level, and I just might actually install Leopard.
Great, now how about fixing Spaces! Spaces so so broken sigh….
@Brau
If this news is true …
The option to ‘Display as Folder’ will lock the stack to the image of a folder (or whatever you use as the folder icon).
The option to ‘Display as Stack’ will be like the current version (an ever-changing stack).
Good news on stacks. 🙂
The stealing focus comment above is a little funny. Not because I don’t believe it, but because I ran into the opposite situation today. I right clicked an RSS feed in Mail to delete it (I’m switching to Google Reader) while Safari was open, and chose Delete. Rather than steal the focus, Mail’s dock icon started bouncing. I clicked it, and got a “Are you sure?”-type alert. Yes, I’m sure, that’s why I clicked it! Couldn’t you have just asked me instead of making me click an extra time?
So it needs work all around. There’s no reason an application you’re interacting with directly like that shouldn’t be able to ask a question immediately. (And maybe it can, and Mail just doesn’t.)
I like using Stacks as a Grid, I just wish I could make the icons smaller instead of HUGE!
I am glad the list is coming back, I miss it dearly..
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
I’m not sure there are enough bits in the world for me to be able to express how happy this makes me. Removing list view was a disaster for me.
Yes, good fix to the missing Stacks List — the feature that previous OS X had and Apple dropped off of Leopard.
(imaginary apple dev: “… uh, like we thought Leopard was so cool, we should, like, remove features from it to keep it simple…”)
And as suggested here, Apple, Please put the colors and icons Back onto the sytem folders. It is now almost impossible to tell the different folders apart!
(WWTT – What Were They Thinking?!)
Does it bother anyone else that the dock in the picture is modded to begin with?
Good to hear that Apple erm.. listens to its user base. I admit, I jumped on the Leopard train without thinking twice, and despite its improvements, it’s lacking the “spit and polish” I was used to in 10.4.10. Now, I’m not complaining: I really do think Leopard is a notch above even the latest iteration of Tiger, but the bugs in .0 and .1 need to get ironed out before more cautious (read: scaredy-cat) users make that leap of faith.
IMHO: Stacks need a tab in the one of the appearance prefpanes to govern more options, for those of us who consider ourselves power users (read: anal retentive). I mean, they appended Spaces onto the Expose pane; why not plop a little Stacks tab in with the Dock pane? Who even cares if there aren’t that many options to tweak? Broken down, the Dock pane only has six real variables, and I still tweak the hell out of it. (Of course, more variables would be even nicer. *muttermutterautoemptytrashafterintervalmutterthoseglowy
bobindicatorsmuttershelfreflectionsmutteralternatestyle
onbottommutterthiswasabadideamuttermutter*
One final side note: I really like the unified folders! I think the symbols sunk into the front make more sense than full color icons of disproportionate size hovering in front of them. Besides, there’s not a Finder view I’ve found yet where the folder label is not clearly linked with the icon itself, and last time I checked, everyone who complains about this is literate.
Thanks for the post, Macenstein. I’ve been coming ’round these parts more and more often it seems, and I’m always pleased by the content, the style of the writing, and the seemingly edible brown theme; you keep pulling off this “professional and fun” mumbojumbo, and I’ll have no choice but to come back. (Which after a comment this long, will probably not be appreciated. : P)
Happy Christmas!
Huzzah! It feels like Christmas at 1 Infinite Loop! Maybe a late present but it’s still welcome.
Please explain the Meatwad icon. I want ATHF icons.
Yuppiii… This is really great news.
(in the last screenshot) How did you get the safari icon to be on top of what I presume is a stack of you applications folder? I hate my first app’s icon (A better finder attributes application), and wish i could change the top icon.
Any ideas? (changing the sort by list does not solve my problem)
Thanks!
Thats his recently used apps stack. google for a guide if you want it.
the folder “list view” in stacks will be even better in leopard than in previous versions of os x because it’ll be a single click to open up. i know that sounds strange – but holding control or right clicking just to see whats in a folder in the dock is a tiny extra step that isn’t necessary.
i’m a fan of the fan view, so i would like to see it get populated with more icons to fit my 24″ display. and i would like to use it as it was meant to be, with multiple file locations and reordering:
http://kuragari.com/2007/12/03/the-way-it-was-supposed-to-be/
yeah i know it won’t happen. but i can dream.
To get the stack icon you want to stay on top when in the dock, do this: Create an empty folder within the folder you want in the dock, name this folder ‘ icon’ (without the quotes but make sure you have a space in front of the name as this will send it to the top of the folder when viewed in name order). Finally put the folder you wanted into the dock and make sure the ‘sort by name’ option is enabled. At least this will do until ‘normality’ is restored.
right
>>>>>>>>my STACKS DISSAPEARED alomost within days of loadeing leopard i must go to spotlight to find docs or downlodas
10.5.2 wiil fix this >>> we shall see
i have not had any comment About this unproven software since stacks dissapeared……wonder why?
I hate these all blue folder icons that look too much alike from a glance. The Applications, Developer, Library, System, Users, internet globe etc. They should keep te blue icon, but have a colored center pertaining to what it’s used for. I hate the slightly darker blue color. It’s really not smart to do. Another reason for this is for a physically disabled. A relative of mine is color blind and cannot see blue objects at all. They see them as gray.
OS X steals focus?? This is one of the main reasons I LOVE using OS X at home. It DOESNT steal focus!! Im continually having XP steal focus, at work, without me noticing and half a paragraph later… argh!! Mind you, I dont use iChat.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!
after installing X 10.5.2 Second Life from Linden Labs does not work anymore, and this while Apple pretents to be a major player in game support …
bug reports to Apple and Linden Labs are at this moment not delivering any results nor a beginning to solve this MAJOR issue …
hmm…does anyone know if the dashboard issues with parental controls/fast user switching will be addressed in 10.5.2? I sure as heck hope so, its been a huge issue for so long, 10.5.1 didn’t fix, 10.5.2 had better…
I wish the scroll bars were all unified…. and looked like the ones in itunes instead of aqua.. 10.5.2 whould fix it *crosses fingers*
I really do not like all of these blue folders especially when seen from within lists. They look too much alike. Their logo inside the folder needs to be in color to let you easily distinguish them from one another.
“Besides, there’s not a Finder view I’ve found yet where the folder label is not clearly linked with the icon itself, and last time I checked, everyone who complains about this is literate.”
Redundancy in communication is a feature.
NOOOOOOO! Don’t take away the grid view!!!! All the grunts from list view fans can’t payout like that. It cannot be true but if it is, we will see the grunting become a scream to get the grid view back!!!
Let’s hope they fix Preview as well,
It’s annoying having to open Photoshop everytime I want to make a little change to a photo.
Stacks would rock with a few tweaks.
1. search field right in the stack that only searches the folder they are linked to.
2. Option/Command/something + click moves stack view to that folder, forward & back buttons provided in bottom or top.
3. Fan with arrows to scroll through & behavior like the Dock where names are presented on mouse over with option to change icon size & add zoom feature.
There were a lot of ways that Stacks could have been done to make them far more functional. I hate having to open & close finder windows to browse folders so having a stack view that offered similar functions on a dumbed down scale would rock! This is why I love quick look, I hardly ever have to open an application to view anything as it all opens in quick look.
i’m really glad they made a list view, BUT DONT MAKE IT THE SAME THING AS THE RIGHT CLICK LAYOUT!!!!! NO! EW THAT LOOKS LIKE SOME WINDWOS 98 START-UP MENU THING! i like the idea of list view but make it nice like the Fan view and the Grid view. COME ON APPLE!
Well Im the one that submitted the link to the dockappsmenu so I think we all know how elated I am that they fixed those miserable little stacks. They even went further with the folder option giving us back what we always wanted. Thank you Apple gods, my mac once again rocks.
JR
Oops, hey still didn’t get it right…
How can I add a smart folder, or a saved search, to Stacks?
I still can’t believe they didn’t fix that small to someone minor GUI bug inside the login screen. I mean I understand it is a minor thing, but Apple claims to be well designed, and something like this sure does not look right. I posted about it in Apple support – Discussions forum, video has been removed by the file hosting service, but there is a screenshot I posted still hanging in there.
Isn’t there someone out there who can actually do something about this ?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5942881�
Still can’t open a folder in the Dock like in 10.4. I’m in Prepress and we need this function to get to our folders that often contain over 5000 items. List view doesn’t cut it, and using 2 clicks to show the popup then do ‘show in finder’ is an effing pain in the ass.
I’m happy with this update. Stacks is better now.
Hi my stacks application just disappeared how do i get them back?