One of new features in OS X Lion will be automatically hiding scrollbars.
I think usability-wise it's terrible decision. Let me explain why...
It makes sense in iOS - which operates on mobile devices - where screen estate is precious.
But the gain of mere 20px (or so) of screen width on desktop? All that while most desktop screens are wide enough for majority of content.
What we loose on the other hand, is important indicator (working from the very first glance) that document has more content than you can see.
Indicator that was there since beginning of GUI and working well.
It seems to me that OS X devs started blindly copying iOS features, without thinking about reasons why they were there.
Maybe I just overlooked something... What do you think?
You're absolutely right. You can't always tell whether there's more content below if there's no scrollbar. I don't want to have to scroll just to see if there's more content.
The bar shows up briefly while scrolling. I can't remember the last time I clicked on a scrollbar to scroll... That said, I'm sure some do but without playing with it, we don't know if it appears if you hover the mouse over that area or not. It's one of those you gotta play with it but for me not an issue
No, it's a great decision. It's less clutter on the screen.<p>FYI, the scrollbars are always visible on my MBP 2011 using just a trackpad. I love it.<p>If they did disappear, it's merely a quick two-finger touch of the trackpad to see where I'm at and how much is left.
For the record, it only hides scrollbars when you're using a trackpad. If you use a mouse, the scrollbars stay visible at all times.<p>As for whether or not it's a good idea, in practical experience it seems to be fine.