Comments on: Leopard review part 6: iCal

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:10:14 +0000

@Kate K: I know where you’re coming from – while Mac OS is generally nice to use, it’s not always that “discoverable” for newbies (especially if you’re used to Windows).

If you mean create bullet lists inside a To Do then I’m not sure this is possible. Though you can just use eg ‘-’ to create a “bullet” list inside a To Do’s note field.

I’m still wondering why notes are in Mail – makes no sense to me!

By: Kate K

Kate K — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:43:09 +0000

I have been using Leopard for a few months, but struggled with iCal. It just didn’t/doesn’t make sense. How happy am I having found this post in your blog!
You amazing, experienced professional Mac types replete with the knowledge of a thousand short cuts, clicks and double clicks, tab or control keys…. see it as a “silly” application.
The terrifying thing about using a Mac is the assumption of a massive shared knowledge base and collective intuition.

In the beginning, Apple will teach you how to look at your computer. Then you can look at it doing different things. You can send an email or video chat (and everyone looks great!)

Then there is no more, except to watch ads that mock those who use PCs.

I can’t find a rhythm to work with Leopard, that sense of flow.

Back to topic, I was trying to make lists inside a “To Do” and wonder why “Notes” is in Mail.

Thanks for the post and sorry for the ramble.

By: msbob

msbob — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:08:00 +0000

couldn’t AGREE more. What a shame. The bubble for events info and so, so many unneeded extra clicks is a crying shame.

I think Apple sent this one to bizarro world usability lab for design and testing, b/c it’s the opposite of useful.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:36:23 +0000

@Emily: Only if Apple reinstate the drawer in a future version I imagine. You can suggest it to them here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ical.html

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:30:50 +0000

ARGH!!!!! I was hoping i would eventually find a way to put the draw back onto ical. I had been using a powerbook on tiger for a few years and just got a brand new imac which is stunning, but i use ical all the time at work and not having that drawer for info makes it sort of redundant for me!

Is there any chance in the future that i will be able to ‘update’ the ical on my imac so that it has a drawer? Or am i stuck with this version of ical forever…

By: Brad

Brad — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:10:13 +0000

Damn straight on the lack of the side panel. Let’s hope Apple pays attention and, at least, swaps out those bubbles for the Tiger-style interface.

By: boney

boney — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:01:52 +0000

How about this stupid inconsistency. If you add an event, you can edit the event name in the calendar. When you’re done, you press the “return” key. BUT, if you edit an event, once you’re done, you press the “escape” key.

Hey, I always thought Escape meant “Cancel”! Why does it suddenly mean “Save changes”?

By: Ricardo Gurgel

Ricardo Gurgel — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:06:32 +0000

Very disapointed too.

- Very poor Palm’s sync;
- No To-do Recurrence;
- No greate alarm snooze;
- No nag me for complete tasks day-after-day;

No way to trust that Apple looks for their customers.

Shame on You Apple !!

By: 7om

7om — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:29:55 +0000

I also used iCal happily for the past few years. Removing the info pane and requiring excessive button clicks to edit an event has been crippling. The productivity loss is enough to make me want to reinstall Tiger. Apple ought to be required to eat their own dog food here. If they used this internally at Apple, we would never see this abomination. What is the point of Apple making a calendar program that they themselves cannot use?

By: Rrraven

Rrraven — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:45:10 +0000

I have lived an iCal scheduled life for years, and while I’ve always had a few things on my wishlist, it did the trick. Having to dive, dive, dive to get to the notes is a real deal-killer! The worst thing about upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. There’s not a way to fake it out and use the old iCal, is there?