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Apple Releases Updated iCal 1.5.1

Posted by pudge on from the coolio dept.

An anonymous reader writes "iCal 1.5.1 is easier and faster use with its enhanced Info Drawer, To Do alarms and notes, and more keyboard short cuts. iCal 1.5.1 also includes improved time zone support and personalized calendar colors. You can visit the iCal homepage. Also, if you synchronize you'll need the latest iSync 1.2.1 for it to work with the new iCal." You can also update via Software Update, of course, and you need to update iCal before iSync.

18 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Software update by Mark+Hood · · Score: 4, Informative

    will automatically present you with them in the correct order - i.e. when you first update it ONLY shows you iCal.

    Next time, you'll get the chance to download iSync.

    Neither needs a reboot.

    Mark

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  2. Drop the drawers... by Incongruity · · Score: 4, Interesting
    iCal 1.5.1 is easier and faster use with its enhanced Info Drawer

    No it's not.

    I really don't see the value in having a "drawer" that isn't always attached to the primary (calendar) window but is there often enough that I have to keep that main window smaller in order to see the drawer when it is there. The alternative is to move the window because the drawer appears all but off-screen when I double click on any item/appointment in the calendar. (it used to bring up a small window that could be moved/resized inpendent of the main window.) I don't see the UI wisdom in forcing this on people -- there's no pref. to use to old windowing style and that is a real flaw, IMHO.

    -tcp

    1. Re:Drop the drawers... by sg3000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I prefer the drawer. The pop up window was an annoyance, particularly because you couldn't see enough information. First you type in the info, then you click the pop-up menu to set the alarm, and then you click the popup menu to write a note. Inputing a meeting was a six step process. Now, with the drawer, I can see all the info at once, without dealing with that floating window. And, it doesn't use up more desktop space.

      Of course, I've got a 17" PowerBook, so I've already got a surplus of desktop space anyway.

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    2. Re:Drop the drawers... by greenhide · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, well, they could always have gone ahead and made a pop-up window with the same layout as the info drawer.

      I hate slide out drawers. They're not intuitive at all. They're eye candy based. That's my main gripe with Camino -- bookmarks and history have to be accessed from a side drawer.

      It breaks the system because you either have to purposefully make your window narrower, or the side bar will be offscreen when it "pops up" (or out, rather). Also, because it's on the side, it doesn't have a featured focus. When I first tried adding an event using 1.5, I doubled clicked to create an event, and wondered why the info window wasn't showing up. Because the drawer was opening to the side, I didn't notice it because I wasn't looking for it. In any case, most of the drawer was offscreen, because I didn't know that I was supposed to provide space on the left for it to show up.

      If someone can give me an example of a side drawer that really makes sense and is more useful than a floating pop-up window, please let me know.

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    3. Re:Drop the drawers... by greenhide · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Okay, yeah....I was just realizing that I use the "mailboxes" window all the time in Eudora, which is *kind of* like a drawer.

      However, in both of these cases, it's being used for navigation and organization, much like a finder listing. In those cases, it makes sense. I don't think it makes sense when you're looking at a single item.

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    4. Re:Drop the drawers... by vonFinkelstien · · Score: 2, Funny

      I have a 12" iBook and the drawer needs to go on a diet before I will date it.

  3. Poor Interface Design Gets Worse by positive · · Score: 5, Informative

    Like many other people, I've had problems with iCal's interface from the start. I had hoped for some usability improvements with this upgrade but it seems to have actually gotten worse! Instead of the popup window to show details/information for an event, there is now a drawer that slides out from the side of the main window. The problem with this is that the tray is HUGE. If you keep your iCal window zoomed (like I assume most people do), you don't even realize at first that the drawer has slid out because it is completely off the screen. The solution to this is to make the main iCal window narrower, compressing the already-small calendar view even further. I have no idea why they chose to design the program this way, but I guess I'll keep hoping for the right changes in the NEXT version.

  4. Sync with P800 - anyone? by capmilk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In theory, iSync and iCal now sync with Sony Ericsson's P800 phone. In theory...

    I did get the contacts syncronized, but was not lucky at all with calender dates. iSync always ends up with "NSRangeException: [NSCFString substringWithRange:]: Range or index out of bounds"

    Anybody got an idea what that is about?

  5. No security yet for shared calendars by sld126 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I submitted this as feedback for the first version of iCal. Guess it didn't make it.

    iCal doesn't support WebDAV in digest mode, so your password is passed in cleartext. Digest mode may not be the strongest encryption, but some is WAY better than none.

    Of course you could mount the WebDAV disk in digest and just copy it over, but that's not the easy integration Apple promotes. And even then, don't try it in the Finder...

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  6. Other things they forgot by sld126 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Publish to multiple places.

    Anyone have an internal work calendar and an external work calendar that would like them to be the same without duplicating each entry?

    Multiple authors.

    My wife(yes, I have one) & I share a family calendar, but only she can write to it. Isn't multiple authors the point of WebDAV?

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    1. Re:Other things they forgot by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 4, Funny

      My wife(yes, I have one) & I share a family calendar, but only she can write to it.

      Isn't it what marriage is all about?

    2. Re:Other things they forgot by sld126 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, one morning, every other week, I'm in charge of my own time, and I need to let her know what I'm doing (and get approval) :-)

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  7. Time zone support is a big improvement by nickovs · · Score: 4, Informative

    As a frequent traveller the biggest benefit for me from this release is the proper support for time zones.

    You need to tick a box in the preferences panel to enable it but once on you get to specify the time zone as well as the time of the meeting (it defaults to the zone set for the clock). The display presents the time of the meeting in the view time zone, which also defaults to the zone for the clock. Dinner next Tuesday in Boston is showing up for me as 1AM on Wednesday because I still have my clock set for here in the UK. It now also seems to properly support timed events that span more than one day.

    I sent in a feature request for exactly this six months ago. I'm sure that I was not the only one but it's gratifying to see that they listen to their customers :-)

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  8. Finally! by inertia187 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Finally, an Apple Update that doesn't require a reboot! My uptime has been preserved.

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  9. Still Buggy by lordDallan · · Score: 2, Informative

    I just experienced a problem with iCal (1.5.1) where all the menu items worked as well as some push button controls, but the calendar itself, all appointments, and the mini-calendar on the left part of the screen would not respond.

    This problems persisted through quitting and re-starting iCal, but was solved by logging out and logging back in. Has anyone else experienced this?

    Also, you can add an attendee with no e-mail address as the first attendee, but any subsequent attendees (2..N) must have e-mail addresses, or they can't be added. This seems like a bug.

    On the plus side, iCal events can span multiple days (i.e. go past midnight) which never worked for me in any previous versions. Useful for those of us who schedule things in the wee hours. This is a nice plus.

    I'm neutral on the drawer. It's too big, but tolerable if you leave it open. It's the constant opening and closing that drives me bonkers.

  10. Re:Does dock icon keep up to date? by sld126 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tell ya tomorrow...

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  11. No, digest does work by mughi · · Score: 2, Informative
    iCal doesn't support WebDAV in digest mode, so your password is passed in cleartext.

    That must just be some problem with your implementation. A few months ago I setup WebDAV on a linux box just for supporting my iCal. I switched to digest and all non-digest access was properly blocked, but iCal had no problems using it.

  12. Window size tied to calendar view by Clith · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The "feature" that bothers me the most is how the size of the window is tied to the view of the calendar you are using. If you resize the window in "week" view, for instance, as soon as you click "month" view the window snaps to the size it was last time you used "month" view.

    I think the main reason this bothers me is that the view controls are at the bottom of the window, so to go back to the previous view, I now have to go hunting for where the controls moved to.

    If they put the view-switching buttons at the top of the window I think this problem would be much lessened.

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