New controls and performance tweaks for OS X El Capitan
Apple moves its computer OS even closer to the mobile version with new gestures and faster app launching.
Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications.
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2 min read
Apple's OS X operating system for desktop and laptop computers received a major overhaul in 2014, with Version 10.1 Yosemite adding new design elements and new features. At WWDC 2015, OS X is being updated to Version 10.11, and while the changes are less significant than last year's, there are still several noteworthy upgrades, especially in adding iOS-like gesture functionality to Mac-native apps.
Following the geographic lead set by Yosemite, OS X 10.11 is code-named El Capitan, and as described by Apple's Craig Federighi, it focuses on experience and performance.
New gestures help with productivity. In Mail, two-finger gestures mimic the iOS mail app, allowing you to save or delete emails easily. In Safari, open tabs can be "pinned" to the side of the top bar of the browser, allowing you to get back to them quickly. More impressively, audio can now be muted by browser tab, which should cut down on annoying autoplay music and videos.
Spotlight search has been updated to work with more organic language, such as searching for documents about a certain keyword, or unread emails from a specific person. Spotlight will also be able to provide weather information as well.
Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan: A first look at the next Mac operating system (pictures)
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Working with multiple apps and windows is now easier as well. Clicking and holding on the green button of an open app allows you to snap it onto one side of the screen or the other, and puts all your other windows, even in Exposé mode, onto the other side. That's surprisingly Windows-like, as a similar feature was a major part of Windows 8.
The El Capitan OS also brings performance improvements, says Apple. Opening apps, switching between apps and opening file previews are all suppposed to be 1.2 to 4 times faster.
Apple's Metal programming language, originally for iOS, now runs on OS X. That will potentially allow graphics to render faster, and let companies such as Adobe create new user interface tools that rely on heavy GPU performance and potentially improve the still-anemic level of game development for OS X.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan is available for developers to download and try right now. A public beta will follow in July, and the final version will come in the fall.
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