Treating URL Protocol Schemes as Cruft

post from Daring Fireball on 24 November 2008 09:12:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

One of the more visible changes in last week’s iPhone OS 2.2 update is a new toolbar in Safari. Here’s the previous toolbar from Safari in iPhone OS 2.1:

It now looks like this:

The new toolbar looks much more like an iPhone-sized version of the desktop Safari toolbar, with the rectangular location text field on the left and the oval search text field on the right. But the new toolbar is functionally equivalent to the old one, with the same three tappable targets: location field, search, and reload.

I prefer the old 2.1 toolbar, but, at this point, I’m hesitant to say that the reason amounts to anything more than 17 months of (very frequent) habit. Here’s what the differences amount to:

The location field is shorter, so you see less of the URL.
The reload button seems to be a smaller target, and, becauseit’s so close to the search field, it seems too easy to mistakenly tap the searchfield when aiming for the reload button.
The search field is now a bigger target, and therefore easierto tap, but the old 2.1 search button never felt too small tome. They’ve made something bigger that was already big enough.

So two of the three items in the toolbar have been made worse at the expense of improving the other one needlessly.

But I have a theory why Apple did this anyway. My guess is that testing showed that many iPhone users didn’t know that the magnifying glass in the toolbar was a button they could tap to start a web search. The new layout makes it unambiguous what the search item in the toolbar does, and that may well make the small usability hit to the size of the location field and reload button worth it.

To make better use of the available space in the location field, Safari no longer shows the “http://” or “https://” protocol scheme. You do see the protocol scheme, however, when you tap the location field to edit the URL:

But it’s hidden, sort of like file name extensions in the Mac OS X Finder, in the normal display view.

The best argument in favor of always displaying the protocol scheme is to make it visible when you’re connected via HTTPS, but the lock icon in the location field serves the same purpose, and is almost certainly better recognized by typical users than the extra “s” in “https://”.

This is a pretty clever idea, and once seen in action, it seems so obvious that I’m now surprised that the iPhone version of Safari hasn’t been doing this all along. And it makes me wonder whether the desktop version of Safari will follow this lead — space isn’t at such a premium there, but it’s always struck me as somewhat ungraceful that we spend all day staring at dozens of URLs that all start with the same repetitive prefix.

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http://daringfireball.net/2008/11/treating_url_protocol_schemes_as_cruft

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Dare to be Creative releases Sponge: New Mac
System Cleaner

post from prMac on 24 November 2008 08:09:00 PM. © prMac

Dare to be Creative Ltd. today announced the release of Sponge 1.0, a system clean and optimize tool for Mac OS X Leopard. Sponge combines three effective techniques to reclaim disk space into a single tool: removing applications, sweeping disk hogs and finding duplicates.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-3513.htm

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Bjango introduces Darkness 1.2 for iPhone and
iPod Touch

post from prMac on 24 November 2008 08:03:00 PM. © prMac

Bjango is proud to introduce Darkness 1.2, an advanced world clock with some unique and interesting features. Darkness lets you see the current moon phase, the next 3 major moon phases, time for sunrise, noon, sunset, moonrise and moonset for any city in the world. A special 'Current Location' city can also be used, which will track your position dynamically using GPS, giving you sunrise, sunset and other information for exactly wherever you may be.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-3512.htm

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Office Black Friday deal

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 24 November 2008 07:50:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has announced 75-percent-off pricing for Office 2008 for Mac: Special ...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/11/24/office.black.friday.deal/

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Shields Up! Twelve Security Holes Fixed by New
iPhone/iPod touch Firmware

post from TheAppleBlog on 24 November 2008 07:00:30 PM. © TheAppleBlog

Weldon did a phenomenal job covering the visible and functional changes in the iPhone/iPod touch 2.2 firmware release. If you are holding off on the update, or just haven’t gotten to it yet, you may want to pencil in some time with iTunes as there are a twelve security fixes in this firmware release, each [...]

Related Posts

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAppleBlog/~3/Zhg_cMyI3Vs/

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Gizmodo Reviews Opera Mini 4.2 Beta for Android

post from Daring Fireball on 24 November 2008 06:36:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Doesn’t sound fully baked. And using the Android hardware Back button this way sounds like it’s completely against the Android interface guidelines. Something like this wouldn’t fly on the iPhone. (Opera Mini is the cross-platform mobile-optimized version of Opera that I wrote about a few weeks ago.)

?

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http://gizmodo.com/5098162/hands-on-opera-mini-42-beta-for-android

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Safari 3 2 1 update

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 24 November 2008 05:45:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Apple has already released an update to its browser software, Safari 3.2.1. The latest version is cl...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/11/24/safari.3.2.1.update/

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Call for Entries: Holiday RiffRumble Song Contest
Judged by Rooney

Sonoma Wire Works announces a Holiday RiffRumble song contest for RiffWorks recording software users. Contestants worldwide will compete for $4120 in prizes. The power pop band, Rooney, will choose Grand Prize winner. Entries will be accepted for two weeks: November 24 - December 7, 2008. Votes accepted November 24 - December 14th. No purchase necessary and no entry fee.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-3511.htm

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iPhone patent infringement

Apple is involved in yet another patent infringement lawsuit targeted at the iPhone. The plaintiff, ...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/11/24/iphone.patent.infringement/

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Carbon Fiber case shipping

For iPhone owners looking for a strong but light case to protect their phones, DRO says it has launc...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/11/24/carbon.fiber.case.shipping/