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More OSX Cat Quirks

To add to my list of burps in the Panther-Tiger upgrade:

I seem unable to print any web page from Firefox... its infinite beach ball spin, and forced quit to escape. I can print fine in other applications. I rarely print web content, but its not too much to ask for.

Finder sidebar disappearing icons… I keep all of my project/working files on a portable FireWire hard drive, so I can move them from work machine to home machine and back (yes, they are regularly backed up as often they are transported in a backpack). Pre-Tiger, I marked often used folders (local copies of web directories for 4 different servers) on this external drive as sidebar icons by simply dragging them over there. I’ve been trying to figure out why they would disappear next time I mounted the hard drive.

Finally digging down in the bowels os Apple’s support forums, I found a message that said the sidebar is activated dynamically based on connected drives, so when I remove the hard drive, Poof! go my shortcuts. What is up with that? How is that even helpful or useful to remove my shortcut links to removable media? Heck, they’ve even trashed the Favorites thingie. So what, I have to go in and set up some sort of Spotlight search to make 4 shortcut links to my frequently accessed folders?

First of all, the built in Apple help has nothing even close to useful information- in fact, beyond beyond cleanly layed out on screen, it is the most helpless help system anywhere. I can count on one toe the number of times I have found an answer there– its ideal for new Mac users… but for anyone else, it should be replaced by a Google search button.

But beyond that how can Apple change the functionality of its pre-existing systems and not let it be easily known? Isn’t this something against in the Human Interface Guidelines??

These are relatively minor things, but are consuming my productivity time. This is why I really hate operating system changes.

I suggest a species change for 10.5– let’s call it Fido. Or Marmaduke. Or Cujo.

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An early 90s builder of web stuff and blogging Alan Levine barks at CogDogBlog.com on web storytelling (#ds106 #4life), photography, bending WordPress, and serendipity in the infinite internet river. He thinks it's weird to write about himself in the third person. And he is 100% into the Fediverse (or tells himself so) Tooting as @cogdog@cosocial.ca