Hello again, everyone! If you were here with us last week you’ll recall that we kicked off our coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2015 software development event by covering
iOS 9 and what it’ll mean for your workflow. This week on
#TechTuesdays, we’re turning our gaze to the personal computer to investigate what Apple’s upcoming new OS X version, El Capitan, holds in store for you and your workflow.
Like iOS 9, there are a number of benefits that El Capitan promises for small businesses. Let’s check those out now, shall we?
Split View
You may recall that iOS 9 is bringing enhanced multitasking to the iPad in the form of Split View. Well, the Mac is getting the same treatment. In OS X El Capitan, users will be able to work in two side-by-side programs at once. Sure, Windows has offered this feature for some time, but it’s new to the Mac and that’s what counts here, right?
Split View in El Capitan works in one of two ways. Thanks to the operating system’s redesigned Mission Control feature, you can now simply drag a window into Mission Control at the top of your desktop screen to automatically create a full-screen look at the application. Then, you can drag another application of your choice over the top of the first program you added to Mission Control. Once you release your mouse/trackpad, the two applications will merge, forming a split screen view (Split View) for multitasking. There is a middle divider between the two windows that can be dragged to resize the screen real estate distribution between the two applications, just like in iOS 9.
Alternatively, Split View can be activated in El Capitan by clicking and holding the green button at the top left of the application in question, then dragging it to one side of the screen. Repeat this process with another application and drag it to the opposite side of the screen to activate Split View. Regardless of the activation method you choose, Split View will allow you to get work done more quickly in El Capitan than was previously possible under certain conditions.
Spotlight Search Gets Beefed Up
The magnifying glass at the far right of OS X’s menu bar activates Spotlight Search, of course, but now the functionality is stronger than ever. Aside from offering users the ability to search their computer for files the old-fashioned way, Spotlight is now a lot smarter. You can input conversational strings of language such as “photos from the last year” to pull up pictures that correspond to that time frame, for example. Or, you can type “documents I worked on last week.” Planning to jump out of the office and wondering if you’ll be slowed down by inclement weather? Just type in “weather” to get the forecast.
Spotlight hasn’t been completely overhauled since last year, but the new search options make finding files easier. Oh, and you can resize the Spotlight search box now, too. Will this particular change rock your world? Nope. Is it nice to have such an obvious no-brainer addition? Sure.
Pinned Tabs and More in Safari
Safari gets some love in El Capitan, as well. The new Safari Pinned Tabs feature lets you pin individual open tabs to the left side of the browser’s tabs menu, a la Google Chrome. These important pages will remain open as long as you have them pinned, so if you click on a link within one of these tabs, the link will always open as a new, separate tab, leaving your pinned tabs untouched. Further, if you close the browser altogether, the pinned tabs will still be available upon reopening. Nifty!
Oh, and have you ever been embarrassed — or maybe just completely thrown off — when music or sounds start playing randomly from an ad in one of your many open tabs, and you have no idea where the annoying racket is coming from? Safari in El Capitan lets you mute all tabs at once from the address bar, or mute individual tabs. And if you’re not sure which individual tab to mute, Safari will intelligently let you know which tab is causing the ruckus so that you may quell the riot. Wonderful!
Metal
No, we’re not about to talk about 80s hair bands. (That’s next week.) When we say “Metal,” we mean the
developer tool that Apple is bringing over from iOS and incorporating into OS X El Capitan. We’ll spare you the technical description, but Metal will be used to render graphics faster on your Mac while also using less CPU power. Yes, this applies to games, but it also applies to photo and video editing applications. If you’re a business owner that ever utilizes these, Metal in El Capitan should boost performance and may even aid in preserving your laptop’s battery life. Rock on.
Wrap-Up
So, there you have it. Split View, Spotlight, pinned/muted tabs, and Metal. All will be in OS X El Capitan, helping you get just a little more work done each day. And, oh! Don’t forget about the most crucial feature of all: a redesigned
“Spinning Beach Ball of Death.”
Jokes aside, while a lot of the changes in both iOS 9 and El Capitan are “beneath the hood,” the combination of a smattering of important new workflow-enhancing features and battery performance optimizations should prove quite beneficial to your small business. Not a bad WWDC this year all-around — now, Apple, how about those
new iPhones?
