Leopard review part 6: iCal
My epic Leopard review continues. At this rate I’ll have to give it its own blog category.
Today I’ll take a look at iCal, the calendar/task manager app that ships with Mac OS X.
I’ve bitched about Tiger iCal’s hideous user interface before - particularly its heinous lack of keyboard shortcuts for basic tasks. So does Leopard’s iCal mark an improvement over Tiger’s?
Well, yes and no. The iCal interface has had a makeover, and definitely looks and feels slicker than Tiger’s iCal. In addition, as with the new Mail, the interface feels more responsive, too.
Unfortunately, the interface, despite its makeover, still sucks like a fleet of Hoovers. In fact - and Apple have had to try really hard here - the new interface is even less usable than Tiger’s.
First off: Still no keyboard shortcut to switch between the Calendars pane, the day/week/month pane, and the To Do pane. This effectively makes it impossible to edit To Dos via the keyboard, unless you already happen to be in the To Do pane.
Unbelievably - considering Apple have had years to fix it - there’s still the bug whereby if you scroll down the To Do pane when it doesn’t have focus, then try to click a To Do, the stupid thing jumps back to the top of the list, selecting a completely different To Do.
At least you can now just about set the calendar of a new To Do via the keyboard (Command-K, type title, hit Return, Command-I, Tab, Tab, Tab, Tab, down arrow). This was impossible with the old iCal.
Bubble of doom
But here’s where Apple have made iCal even worse. In Tiger’s iCal, you had a side drawer that constantly showed you the current To Do’s “Note” field (as well as other info). In Leopard, they’ve done away with the drawer. Now you have to hit Command-I (or double-click a To Do) to pop up a stupid “bubble” thing, just to read its “Note” field (or indeed, to see if it has a note attached at all). So as you move down your list of To Dos, you have to press Down arrow, Command-I, Escape - Down arrow, Command-I, Escape - Down arrow, Command-I, Escape - to even see if each To Do has a note attached, let alone read the note.
My Palm manages to be more usable than this - on a 320×320-pixel screen.
If, like me, you’re a Getting Things Done
Related to the above horror, Apple have inexplicably removed the little icons within events that showed you whether the event has a note, or whether it’s a repeating event. Again, you now have to hit Command-I in order to see this precious info. Which, incidentally, also displays the event’s note (if any), but can you edit the note there? Oh no. You can select it, but can’t edit it. You have to click an Edit button if you want to do that. Yet you can edit a To Do note in place. No consistency. Very confusing.
Ah, but at least the iCal Dock icon now shows the correct date, even when iCal’s not running. Woo-hoo. 
Lots of fun stuff I’ll never use
To be fair, there are a lot of great new iCal features - such as CalDAV scheduling, Auto Pick, and room reservations - that are no doubt fantastic if you happen to work in a big team in an office. But for a home/individual user like me, they’re about as useful as a chocolate teapot. (One thing I do like is the little red bar in day/week view that shows you the current time. A nice touch.)
Overall, I’m very disappointed with iCal. Apple have had years to turn it into something decent, but with Leopard they’ve actually made iCal even less usable than before. I was really hoping Leopard’s iCal would be a big improvement, too. Shame.
Anyone know of any decent third-party to-do/notes apps that will sync with Missing Sync and the Palm?
May 6th, 2008 at 2:00 am
The new iCal makes me want the old one back!!!
May 6th, 2008 at 2:22 am
iCal is, without a doubt, the absolute WORST calendar program ever created for the Mac. What a shame & disgrace that it actually came out of Apple. The calendar views are horrible, the usability is among the worst ever seen in any program, and its lack of features is shockingly appalling. ICal gets a big F from us. There is not ONE positive thing that can be said about iCal.
The ONLY calendar program that we have ever used on the Mac — and we continue to use it to this day — is Now Up-To-Date from Now Software. Just the brilliant “week view” alone on Now Up-To-Date is worth the price of admission, not to mention the 500 other features and pieces of customizability, including live networking & syncing amongst multiple computer built into the program. It also syncs to the Palm.
HOWEVER — Now Software has failed at its continued attempts to create a modern-day calendar program that uses Apple’s Sync Services, so Now Up-To-Date can’t sync to the iPhone. Now that doesn’t bother us because we’re Treo users, but all of our friends have an iPhone so they can’t use Now Up-To-Date. At this point in time, it is increasingly unlikely that Now Software will be able to deliver a next-generation calendar product… they’ve been working on one called NightHawk for almost 4 years now, and can’t seem to get it out the door. They were supposed to have RELEASED it in January 2006, and well, now it’s mid-2008.
So I can’t say much about the future of Now Up-To-Date, but at least for now, it’s the ONLY calendar program that we will EVER use on the Mac.
SHAME ON YOU, APPLE!
May 6th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I too am not happy with the stupid “Balloon”; The side drawer was way better. The “notes” change went very wrong. I can not imagine anyone saw this as an improvement.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:01 am
actually, you can create a new note through the keyboard, even if you are in the day/week/month pane. Just click cmd-k, which creates a new to-do, hit the return key, arrow key your way to wherever you need to get to, then hit cmd-E to edit your chosen to-do. Hey, I didn’t say you would WANT to do it this way, but ‘impossible’ it ain’t. I’m with you though brother, this is a step back for ical use (the one good thing is you can attach files now with drag and drop).
And don’t get me started on the cmd-E key for events, or even cmd-I, as if there is a long description for the event, you are buggered if you want to see it all. WTF do we even need to click cmd-E to edit and event, what was wrong with the old way of double clicking and event to edit it (yes, I know you can get round that by alt clicking it, and hoping the cursor is in the right place, but still….)?
could be worse though - a) we could be french, and b) it could be a free microsoft app.
Cheers
mark
May 6th, 2008 at 4:39 am
It’s curious that you don’t like some of the “business” stuff. Do you use (I hate to say this) MSWord? I do, but there are things I like about it and it works with everybody I know that’s not a Mac user. Anyway, there are tons of stuff in it that I won’t use, but I’m not going to say I’m disappoint with it because it has it…I just ignore it.
I like iCal and am getting started using it. Double-click to get what use to be a side drawer? I can double-click without getting upset.
And I like the way the to-do items are listed.
BTW, I’ve been a Mac user since March 3, 1984.
Enjoyed your article, but I think you were a little too harsh. It would have come across better if you had discussed what was “before” and what is after, with less venom and a more positive flair.
Just my 2¢.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Thanks for all your comments. It seems that I’ve touched a bit of a nerve with this iCal review!
@Scott: I might check out Now Up-To-Date, even if development has stalled on it. Thanks for the info.
@Mark: Good tip. I assume you also want to press Delete after hitting Return, otherwise you end up with a new, empty To Do!
@Joe: Thanks for the feedback. I wasn’t really saying I don’t like the new business features; just that I’ll never use them. I really want to like iCal, and can’t wait to see what the iCal in the next version (Lynx?!) will be like!