I found something I like in Big Sur!

[Xairbusdriver]

Have to admit I've not had it installed for a whole 24 hours, but I already see lots of little things that irritate me. I think a little irritation is good for the soul...

I tend to copy text of a post I might be writing into a TextEdit window. You never know when a computer will crash and you would lose an important, helpful-to-mankind and artfully written manuscript! Who could bare the loss?!! Who said you can have too many backups?!

I always usually remember to delete these "important notes", otherwise I'd soon fill up my drive space. Of course, Apple understands the importance of things we write in TextEdit, so they have this huge, detailed 'error' dialog pop up when you try to close a TE window without saving it! Then, prior to Big Sur macOS 11, you have to find the mundane and small "YES!! I REALLY WANT TO DELETE THIS PIECE OF JUNK!" button!!!

I am happy to report that BS has now decorated that button with red text on the otherwise drab window! What a concept; add a bit of contrast !! Of course the text size is even smaller than in Catalina, which is smaller than earlier versions of the OS...

What is your favorite improvement in Big Sur? OK, in fairness to those who dislike irritations, what is the littlest irritation?

[kimmer]

Only running my new blue iMac for around 4 hours and I'm quite happy.

• One item I wanted to use requires Rosetta. So that's gone now.    
• I can't figure out how to enlarge the font size on the menu bar. I'm older. My eyes like bigger print. Give me a break, Apple.
  
• In the dock, I can't figure out how to turn the folders into folders instead of ugly stacks.

So far, that's the extent of my complaints. They may grow with time, but, hey ... it's pretty BLUE, and in 4 hours I haven't had to reconnect to my network over and over. Initial connection is holding, even after a test restart.

[jchuzi]

For the font size issue, TinkerTool may be able to do this for you. It is free and has a Fonts tab. I can't guarantee that it will work for you, but the price is right! For the stack issue, hold the mouse down on a folder in the dock and click Options. Select List view (that does it for me).

There is a peculiarity to TinkerTool (and its cousin, TinkerTool System). If you want the app to be in /Applications, you must Option-drag it to that folder. Otherwise, it will remain in Downloads (or wherever you put it) and you will only get a disk image when you want to use it. Simply dragging it into /Applications without pressing Option will install an alias in that folder, while the actual download remains wherever it went originally.

[kimmer]

Down the road I'll consider TinkerTool. I'm not adding anything non-Apple until I've this iMac for a good few weeks.

For the stack issue, hold the mouse down on a folder in the dock and click Options. Select List view (that does it for me).

There's the rub, I don't have that option -- which is quite puzzling to me as it's always been there. I'm still poking around, it may be something that is on by default that I'm not aware of.

On by default ... just discovered that everything is being saved to the cloud. I need to figure out how to change that.

[jchuzi]

TinkerTool has been around for a long time and has no downside. All it does is to provide a GUI for hidden features that otherwise can be accessed only via Terminal. Rest assured that TT is totally harmless.

[kimmer]

TinkerTool has been around for a long time and has no downside. All it does is to provide a GUI for hidden features that otherwise can be accessed only via Terminal. Rest assured that TT is totally harmless.

I trust your recommendation. I'm simply going to keep this iMac super clean until I get used to it, then I'll be willing to tinker. 😜

[kimmer]

One item I wanted to use requires Rosetta. So that's gone now.   

Okay, I installed Rosetta and all is working in that area.

I would like a recommendation on external drives that work with this iMac. I have 2 Thunderbolt ports available.

[jchuzi]

Take a look at Other World Computing I have been completely satisfied with everything that I have bought from them.

[kimmer]

Take a look at Other World Computing I have been completely satisfied with everything that I have bought from them.

Thanks. I'll check their website.

[jwboyd]

What Jon said. For several years now, OWC has been my only non-Apple source for computer stuff hardware.

[jchuzi]

I can't figure out how to enlarge the font size on the menu bar. I'm older. My eyes like bigger print.

Since you didn't want to use TinkerTool, perhaps the solution suggested in How to increase text size in macOS Monterey will be good for you. Despite the title, it works in Big Sur as well.

[kimmer]

I can't figure out how to enlarge the font size on the menu bar. I'm older. My eyes like bigger print.

Since you didn't want to use TinkerTool, perhaps the solution suggested in How to increase text size in macOS Monterey will be good for you. Despite the title, it works in Big Sur as well.

Thanks. Since I got my new glasses, the one to the left of default works great for me.