App deletion now more thorough and iOS-like

Various sites combing over the pre-release developer versions of Lion have made two further discoveries of changes to OS X, both influenced by Apple's other operating system, iOS. A more thorough uninstalling option appears when users click-and-hold on an application in Launchpad, making it "wiggle" and offering the chance to uninstall. In addition, Safari in Lion sports a new icons that appears to the right of the search bar with a visual progress indication of downloads.

AppleInsider reports that the pop-up button, when clicked, offers users a similar view to the existing separate Safari Downloads windows (which is still available), showing the progress of downloads, a list of previous downloads and the option to reveal the downloaded file in Finder or cancel an in-progress download. Similar pop-up buttons are widely seen in iOS applications as an efficient way to present options such as saving or printing that avoids the multi-windowed approach of a mouse-based interface.

Meanwhile, another iOS technique is migrating over to Lion, at least in a limited way, according to Apple iGuide -- apps installed from the Mac App Store can now be uninstalled using a more thorough technique that also removes associated files such as preferences and application support files. To do so, users simply click-and-hold on an app in the Launchpad view (which itself is modelled on iOS's home screen idea) until the app begins to "wiggle" and a white "X" in a black background appears in the upper left corner of the app's icon. Clicking again brings up a dialog asking the user to confirm that they want to delete the application.

Both changes -- along with others in Lion -- appear to be aimed at making new users who may already be comfortable with iOS more at ease in the Mac OS, or vice-versa. Although this alternative deleting option in Lion is actually somewhat more complex than simply dragging an application to the trash as was the default manner before, it could be seen as more logical to new users to the platform as well as those preferring that apps be completely uninstalled rather than simply deleted, which sometimes left behind inert support files and preferences. [via AppleInsider and Apple iGuide]

by MacNN Staff