Bring back one tap dragging in Mac OSX Lion

One Tap Drag LockSomething else that has been bugging me lately about OSX Lion is that “One Finger Tap Dragging” has changed to “Click and Drag”. By default, you can’t just move the cursor to the windows top bar, tap once and drag it around the screen. It’s really difficult to break the habit if you have been a Mac user for several years. Thankfully, it is still available in Lion, but it is REALLY hidden away.

I spent ages going through every aspect of the “Trackpad” preferences pane, and watching all the little videos on gestures, but it turns out that this feature isn’t even in there. To turn One Tap Dragging back on, you need to go into “Universal Access”! How do you like those APPLES! Thanks APPLE!

Universal Access Preference PaneOnce you have opened Preferences and clicked Universal Access, click the “Mouse & Trackpad” tab, and then “Trackpad Options” towards the bottom.

Trackpad PreferancesNow, by checking one simple checkbox, all of that anguish and suffering will go away! Simply check the box next to “Dragging” and One Tap Dragging is restored. And if you were used to the “Drag Lock” feature in previous versions (where you have to tap again to release”, you can also restore that feature in the drop down to the right of “Dragging” as well.

Dragging Check Box

Below is a screen capture of an option I would REALLY like to see Apple implement in coming versions of their operating system.

Trackpad Option Recommendation for future OS's

Bringing back the Icon Size Slider in OSX Lion

Mac Icon Size SliderBeing a web designer, graphic artist, and a photographer, well you could say I use my mac to deal with images quiet a lot. I estimate that in my “Resources” folder on my server (made up of stock photos and graphics) and my own photograph collection, I have around 100,000 images. When I need to find a texture, or a stock photo to suit a specific purpose, I may need to browse through a folder with up to a 1000 images in it. The great thing about having a 30″ monitor is that you can open the folder up, fill the screen and see a lot of the files quickly. My FAVORITE thing in Snow Leopard was the icon size slider. Just by dragging the slider located at the bottom right of every folder view left or right, you could make icons small to fit more on screen for faster browsing, and when you think you found what you need, you could drag it up to enlarge the icon for a closer look. It was GREAT!

One of the first things to piss me of in Lion was that the slider is gone. (Literally, It only took me about 3 mins to notice it missing).

Grrrr!!!In search of a solution, I found a icon slider in the “View Options”, but this meant each time I need to change icon sizes I had to open another window, and it was a real pain.

Today, I stumbled upon the solution – The slider is still there in Lion (YAY!), but it is just turned off by default (BOO!). To turn it back on, click any blank area on your desktop to select the finder, then open the View menu, slide down and select/check “Show Status Bar”

Show Status BarIt seems a bit ambiguous when you are looking for the icon size slider to have to select “Show Status Bar” to bring it back, but at least it is still there!Icon Size SliderAnother cool feature available in this view menu, is to select/check “Show Path Bar”. Once it is checked, you see a “breadcrumbs” style path to where your file is. Very Handy!

Show Path